Abstract
Baubles is a nonfiction collage of flash prose exploring how obsession has shaped and transformed my experience of the world. As a child suffering from obsessive compulsive behavior, likely as a result of my father developing dementia when I was in elementary school, I found reprieve in what became a feverish obsession with music, namely Bob Dylan. Memorizing Dylan’s lyrics quelled the urge to hoard my memories, and tracing his many evolutions allowed me to emulate the construction of my own identity. My interest in such an icon unavoidably led to others, like Edie Sedgwick, whose fleeting fame and early demise evokes the melancholia of American girlhood. As the project unfolds in prose blocks, themes and patterns emerge kaleidoscopically to create a central narrative under the hum of musical language. In short, this manuscript chronicles the transformation of disruptive obsessions into life-giving ones, of murky memories into textured fragments of color and light.
Committee Chair
Abram Van Engen
Committee Members
Edward McPherson, Kathleen Finneran, Mary Jo Bang
Degree
Master of Fine Arts in Writing (MFAW)
Author's Department
English, Writing (The Writing Program)
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2025
Language
English (en)
Recommended Citation
Boyer, Claire S., "Baubles" (2025). Arts & Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 3659.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/3659