The Children's Book

Identifier

etd-04102016-172724

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The Children’s Book is a hybrid poetry and nonfiction text that centers around the event of a phone call the author received in July 2015, in which the caller, a ghost from the author's past and a felon convicted on the charge of sexual battery, discussed the idea of redemption through the writing of a children's book upon his release from prison. The book explores themes of violence and trauma to the female body and functions as a tool for agency for the author in reclaiming that story from the mouth of her perpetrator. It utilizes a multiplicity of forms and the languages of various disciplines, such as rhetoric, astronomy, and physics, to communicate the nuances and complexities of taking ownership of ones own body and past again; it asks if redemption is possible, and for whom it is possible. The project focuses on the experience of the author—the victim/survivor of the violence—writing through these questions of redemption, rather than on the actual violence itself. In this way, The Children’s Book pulls focus away from the spectacle of rape, and places it instead onto the process of healing, and the articulation of that process.

Date

2016

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Secure the entire work for patent and/or proprietary purposes for a period of one year. Student has submitted appropriate documentation which states: During this period the copyright owner also agrees not to exercise her/his ownership rights, including public use in works, without prior authorization from LSU. At the end of the one year period, either we or LSU may request an automatic extension for one additional year. At the end of the one year secure period (or its extension, if such is requested), the work will be released for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Mullen, Laura

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3118

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