| This thesis is comprised of an original creative manuscript of short stories and a critical analysis of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Joyce Carol Oates' The Female of the Species, and Aimee Bender's The Girl in the Flammable Skirt. These short story collections are brought into discussion with one another with regard to grotesque characters, imagery as motif, magical realism, and varying psychic distance serving to unify the collection into a cohesive whole. The original creative manuscript that follows examines how short story collections can become intrinsically linked given the effective combination of psychic distance, narration, grotesqueness in characterization, and magical realism. The collection of short stories poses the question of what it means to be a woman and fulfill the various roles available to women throughout their lives. |
