Nightworld

Authors

Susan Renee Falco, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Major/Program

Creative Writing

First Advisor's Name

Lester Stanford

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Maneck H. Daruwala

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Julie Marie Wade

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

Fiction

Date of Defense

11-10-2020

Abstract

Nightworld is a collection of short and flash fiction pieces exploring cycles of violence and redemption. Variations in the length and style are meant to create a formally experimental continuation of the Southern Gothic tradition. Mythic heroes from Robert Johnson to Shirley Temple populate this fictional landscape of musicians, acrobats, reverends, stray children, and wild animals. Predatory wildlife reflects on the inherent violence in biology. The title story follows a pair of musicians on a night when a near fatal overdose fails to provide a catalyst for change. In Nightworld, the characters choose the myth of the Self Destructive Artist over their own futures. I am drawn to the brutal and spare beauty of Dennis Johnson, the uninhibited language of William Faulkner, and Mary Carr’s ability to tell reflect on violence with humor and perspective. I want my characters to find beauty, and even the sublime hand of a higher power, in their fractured world.

Identifier

FIDC009543

Recommended Citation

Falco, Susan Renee, "Nightworld" (2020). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4540.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4540