Abstract

This creative thesis includes five short stories that explore paradoxical ways in which people can feel alone, even if they are together. Although a combination of isolation and intimacy can occur in any human relationship, the stories in this collection spend much of their time with family circles in particular, considering the way that our closest, most permanent relationships can simultaneously prove the most intimate and the most isolating. The critical introduction that precedes the collection examines each story individually, discussing strategies and subject matter in terms of the collection's guiding concept. The introduction discusses the binary of intimacy and isolation, and how it relates to fiction's ability to evoke sympathy in its readers.

Degree

MFA

College and Department

Humanities; English

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/