Date of Award

Spring 5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

Creative Writing

Committee Director

Kent Wascom

Committee Member

Kristi Costello

Committee Member

Remica Bingham-Risher

Abstract

TERRENCE LOVES YOU is a novel that highlights the queer, working-class South and the lifelong navigation between past trauma and present adversity - how these upheavals nourish a lifelong resignation for the future, convincing us we have no control over Fate.

In stories irrational as they are visceral, we follow Damian as he experiences the world on the heels of his transient and independent mother. From the backwoods of Kentucky to a nightmarish carnival, from a guitar store heist to the criminal underworld of Music City U.S.A., Damian is left stumbling behind, bearing witness to a disfigured love. When Damian no longer follows his mother’s every move, he continues on a misshapen path. TERRENCE LOVES YOU illuminates how family possesses the horror - and honor - of polluting for us the way we handle life’s conflicts: choosing to stand your ground or flee, that is.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/cewe-b628

ISBN

9798379735951

Available for download on Thursday, June 19, 2025

Included in

Fiction Commons

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