Overlook

Abstract

The project consists of an introductory essay, three main short story sections, and finally the titular novella as the anchor. I found inspiration in Tommy Orange’s There There to open with a nonfiction prologue that contextualizes the fiction. The essay encapsulates my reckoning with place and the realization that I belong in a rich lineage of Southern literature in more ways than one. The essay, like the thesis as a whole, is a meditation on my inheritance of storytelling—the complex relationship between life and fiction, what we remember, who remembers what, and how we remember it. My work reflects my journey in the program: At first feeling apart from or ashamed of the place I’m from, to reflecting on my origins, and ending with a symbolic embracing of my identity as an Arkansan writer. Foregrounded by each of the “Arkansas Traveler” sections, the short stories follow that thematic arc while interrogating a blend of mythologies. The final section, “Overlook,” is the natural progression from acceptance to celebration where I set out to create an original Southern mythos of my own