Date of Award
5-2008
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Committee Chair/Advisor
Morris, Keith L
Committee Member
Koon , G. W.
Committee Member
Hilligoss , Susan
Abstract
What I hope to create in each of my stories is a piece of fiction that is exact in expression and that can be felt by my reader. I hope but do not expect that my work will move my reader; that takes a combination of chance, circumstance, and skill, and my skills as a writer are still developing. I can say, though, that that is what I have attempted to do with the stories in this collection.
The name of the collection comes from the title of its first story, 'In Hand.' I chose this title, both for the individual work and for the collection, for a number of reasons. With the first story itself, my intention is to call into question the notion of control--what the characters do and do not have in hand.
The stories here are about relationships. At the core of each one is the idea of communication and, in one way or another, the struggle to communicate effectively. I do not know whether these characters fight with each other, fight with themselves, and fight to communicate because their relationships are flawed or whether their relationships are flawed because they do not express themselves effectively. I suspect that both are true, and that ambiguity interests me. I cannot answer the question, but I can consider it. In different ways, that is what I attempted to in the stories here: I tried to show that this phenomenon is, what it is, and how it is. For me, for now, that is enough. I leave the why alone.
Recommended Citation
Lee, Geoffrey, "In Hand" (2008). All Theses. 340.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/340