Keywords

short stories, magical realism, Brazilian literature

Abstract

The Uglier Animals is a collection of short stories exploring themes of change, impermanence and bodily transformation through a speculative lens. The characters in these stories struggle with the friction between place and desire. The body becomes a place on its own, to be trapped in or freed by. Humans and animals alike navigate the challenges of being, existing in relation to others and the space between us. Their bodies are burdens and tools, prisons and possibilities, and they morph accordingly, flesh inscribed with trauma and yearning. A bear fears going into hibernation. Unable to get an abortion, a young girl begins to absorb anyone who touches her pregnant belly. After a friend survives being beheaded by the farmer they worship, a rooster reckons with the tangled web between faith, love, and violence. In modern Brazil, a chicken coop, or under the sea, characters grapple with abandonment and longing. Bodies shrink and grow, cling to life and return from death, are opened up and torn apart. The stories swim in the gaps between emotional connections, characters wrestling with our reasons to leave, our reasons to stay, and everything we must carry along the way.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Kolaya, Chrissy

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

Creative Writing

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028404

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0028404

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

May 2029

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Campus-only Access)

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

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Restricted to the UCF community until May 2029; it will then be open access.

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