Date of Award

2018

Type

Thesis

Major

English Language and Literature - Creative Writing Concentration

Degree Type

BA

Department

English

First Advisor

Carey Scott Wilkerson

Second Advisor

Becky Becker

Third Advisor

Natalia Temesgen

Abstract

In this thesis, I propose three parallel projects. The first is an introductory exploration of the narrative conventions that have become, over time, established tropes in Fantasy Fiction as a brief discussion of my conscious strategy to reject the normative structures set in modern fantasy literature in my own fiction project “Era of Black.” Second is an excerpt from my novel-in-progress, in which I deploy specific stylistic and narrative gestures that mark my effort to move beyond the received “rules” of the Fantasy mode. The third and final project here is to frame an analysis of my protagonist’s complex psychological decay, one that both acknowledges and reaches beyond the traditional arc of fictional heroic-isms. The three psychological situations that add to her psychological decay are as follows: 1) Her relationship with her physically and psychologically abusive father, 2) her relationship with her psychologically abusive mother who contributes to Noire’s emotional deprivation and 3) her relationship with her sister, the only positive relationship she has within her immediate family. Noire’s poor coping skills, the abuse from her parents, and her relationship with her sister all contribute to her psychological decay and ultimately her decline into the trope of the fallen hero in a non-traditional fashion for traditional Fantasy literature.

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Fiction Commons

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