Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emily Binkley

Date

2025

Document Type

Thesis (Access Restricted)

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

Creative Writing

Committee Chair

Mark Mayer

Committee Member

Courtney Santo

Committee Member

Kendra Vanderlip

Abstract

Catastrophists is a collection of nine short stories which explore loss and loneliness in physical and emotional isolation, with an emphasis on gender and masculinity, the relationships between mothers and children, neurodivergence, and disability through injury. These stories examine the alienation inherent in the transformative experience of loss—of self, family, home, childhood. Contrasting settings of claustrophobic homes and vast outdoor landscapes set the boundaries within which characters grapple with their intersecting desires and wounds, where wounds represent the limits and isolation inflicted by trauma. The collection’s response to this isolation is to seek comfort and self-discovery in company and community. These narratives are presented in first and third person perspectives, in the genre of literary realism with speculative influences in the vein of Mary Shelley and Clive Barker.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

No access

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