Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Treading The Winepress; Or, A Mountain Of Misfortune, Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen, Gabrielle Brown, Eric Willey, Jean Macdonald

Undiscovered Americas

“Every life hath its chapter of sorrow. No matter how rich the gilding or fair the pages of the volume, Trouble will stamp it with his sable signet.”

So begins the novel Treading the Winepress; or, A Mountain of Misfortune by Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen, which, had it appeared in book form in 1885–1886 instead of serialized in The Boston Advocate, would have been the second novel published by a black woman in the United States. Instead, Allen has been mostly forgotten by literary history. Now, thanks to the painstaking efforts of editors Gabrielle Brown, Eric Willey, and Jean …

Fistful Of Shovel, Marcee Wardell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

My thesis project is a draft of a novel. It is literary/realistic fiction telling the story of a single father of a young daughter who struggles with navigating complicated relationships and building a meaningful life for himself and his daughter in their small town. In this draft, the protagonist, Clint, deals with developing new romantic relationships while managing his relationships with his daughter’s mother, her family, and his, as well as recognizing his portion of the blame in the dissolution of his romantic relationship with his daughter’s mother and the biases and expectations that prevent his healing and development.

Fatou Diome: Une Création Entre Les Arts, Sada Niang

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

As she began her career in the 1980s, Fatou Diome inherited a rich tradition of literary texts and media productions, African cinema among them. Since she also hailed from a country known as "francophone", it is hardly surprising that her novels resonate with the style and narratives of African, French and other European writers. In this article, we propose to unveil a few of these artistic threads which may have informed and inspired Fatou Diome.

Niodior Ou L'Économie Du Texte Diomien, Mbaye Diouf

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

To a large extent, Niodior may be considered the main biographical and discursive referent of Fatou Diome's entire literary output, to date. In addition to being the birth place of the novelist, Niodior stands as the workshop of the Diomian novel. It is at once the wrestling arena of discourses of the self vs. others, the breeding ground of other "selves" and other possible others. As a consequence, Niodior, in Diome's novels, becomes a textual place which informs the self, the community, immigration and globalization through a semiotic of place. In this article, I argue that an application of geocriticism …

Writing A Speculative Fiction Novel, Ashlyn Victoria

Honors Projects

This Honors Project is a speculative fiction novel, and its setting includes topics like artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and sustainability. Though it's not yet complete (which was expected), I was able to write forty-four pages (the equivalent of more than one-hundred pages using the standard 12-pt, double-spaced Times New Roman font) over the duration of the project. A synopsis is attached, but the manuscript remains unpublished; revealing it could reduce the novel's chances of publication in the future.

The Resurrection Of Nora O'Brien, Abigail Elizabeth Benson

MSU Graduate Theses

There is a cave, hidden in the hills, that brings the dead back to life. Its power is the driving force behind the blood feud between the Walshes and the O’Briens that lasts for generations. Jeremiah Walsh, a young boy growing up just after the civil war, is entrusted with the location of the cave and its secrets. But when he kills to protect his family legacy, he is stricken with guilt and questions his loyalties. His story parallels Nora O’Brien’s, a teenage girl who moves to the Ozarks with her family after the death of her grandfather. As she …

Sprout, Morgan Coyner

Fiction MFA Theses

Sprout is a novel that bridges the traditional storytelling of Young Adult literature with the sophistication of language seen in literary fiction. It follows a young woman in the year following her suicide attempt as she grapples with how to continue moving forward when she's still not sure if she wants to live.

The Places We Called Home, Paige Peterson

Honors College Theses

An excerpt from a novel-in-progress following the lives of three related women, told via interconnected chapters. This thesis represents the stories of two women: Esther and Robin. Borrowing the technique of memoir to tell an account of their lives in the genre of fictional autobiography, these stories are finally being shared in effort to recast societal narratives and reveal empowerment in the unlikeliest places.

Sugartown, Emma Moore

English Theses & Dissertations

Ren Baggarly, the seventeen year old foster daughter of a local minister and his wife, goes missing the day of her boyfriend’s high school graduation. Sugartown is an examination of a small, strange, sometimes spiteful Southern town and its demons. It is told through the eyes of the three women who are inadvertently charged with piecing together the story Ren left behind.

The Reason: A Young Adult Novel Exploring Efficiency And Artificial Intelligence, Kira Stussy

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The project presented was a novel written over the course of a year. It is a young adult science fiction book that takes place in a future ruled by an AI that separates everything (even people) into efficient and inefficient. The actual novel discussed in this presentation is in the process of being queried to agents for publication. Therefore, the actual content of the novel is not included. Instead, provided is the process and next steps for the book to give a general idea of the thought and work that went into this project and what hopefully awaits it in …

Review Of The Altruists, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

A book review of the debut novel by Andrew Ridker.

Black River, William Ramon Daugherty

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

None

Hedgehogs, Oscar Antonio Moreno Huizar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

An anxious college freshman who befriends a party-loving junior girl and both hatch a plan to escape from the border to California, trying to save a mutual friend and escape their dark pasts.

Still In Kushimoto (A Novel), Warren Decker

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

"Still in Kushimoto" is a novel told from the perspective of a young American man named Zim who finds himself at a campground at the southern tip of Japan's Honshu Island in the rural town of Kushimoto. He makes a New Year's resolution to write in a journal in a conscious attempt to find the narrative of his own life. The novel takes the form of present day journal entries, interwoven with recollected past events in alternating chapters. As the story of the past moves forward, towards the end of the novel it merges with the present, but Zim finds …

Between Branching Paths, Amanda Christine Silva

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.