Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

2015

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Christine Stewart

Keywords

memoir, adoption, creative writing

Abstract

Adoption writings span across various forms, such as fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry, theatre, and scholarly fields of study. While many of these adoption writings speak to the complexities of adoption, the general public still tends to see adoption “such a beautiful thing” to do—as the best plan for the child, a noble act, a selfless decision, and a solution to a long-standing social issue. This thesis explores the “literary adoption memoir”—artful writings about real life happenings; my contribution to this genre addresses the complexities of the closed adoption era, transnational/transracial adoption, and parenting an adoptee as an adult adoptee. For this project, I share my process and the theories that validate and inform my felt experiences as an adoptee and as an adoptive mom. I use the literary tools in the creative nonfiction genre to write not a mere record of events of my adoption, of adopting our daughter, of searching for my birth family. I offer pieces of creative nonfiction that represent my desire for a final project: a literary adoption memoir—a memoir of real life that borrows from the literary world, and a memoir that speaks to the complications in adoption—to loss, abandonment, belonging, identity, and rejection.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Adoption

Adoptive parents -- Biography

Description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 88-90)

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

98

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Rights

Copyright 2015 Jamie K. Nagy

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