Thesis Defence: Bramblewood: A Novel
April 1 at 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Juniper Charlesworth, supervised by Michael V. Smith, will defend their thesis titled “Bramblewood: A Novel” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
An abstract for Juniper Charlesworth’s thesis is included below.
Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person defences.
Abstract
Bramblewood is a young adult, high fantasy novel manuscript that tells the story of Jeru, Leina, and Malthias, three queer young adults who struggle to be themselves in a bigoted society that would see them shunned for their gendered, racial, and sexual identities.
Jeru is the eloquent prince of Soaren who charms problems away, but his silver tongue and privilege isolate him from being honest. As he struggles to reconnect with his estranged sibling he discovers the queerphobic culture outside the capital and must learn how to trust people or be forever alone in the world. Leina, a young woman from the Northern Forests of Soaren, must discover how to be the warrior she’s dreamed of while facing sexism, racism, and classism when abandoned in a city that names her an object and a peasant. Malthias, Jeru’s sibling and a non-binary trans woman who hasn’t fully come to terms with her identity, was taken from birth to learn Rhyme, a powerful magic that can alter the world around them. Now they struggle to kill Jeru, the only person they felt ever loved them, and failure might mean the end of the world. Tensions build in Soaren as all of their personal problems develop, and they wonder who’s quietly controlling the narrative as they approach the Festival of Winds.
Inspired by books like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, this research-creation thesis uses epic narratives within a High Fantasy setting to generate metaphorical tools for exploring trauma and queerness. Trauma empowers magic known as Rhyme to become a visual depiction of one’s mental health. Cultures are unique blends of historical aesthetics and contemporary cultural and political beliefs to provoke characters, and hopefully readers, into questioning how they formed and who benefits from them. It’s unclear if there’s a hero amongst the world, so characters are people first. Bramblewood employs these tools to create relatable protagonists who struggle with trauma after the resolution of conflict so that readers might feel seen and know they’re not alone.
