Garrett, Sydney Thesis Final.pdf

Through a blend of fairytales, superstition, memory, and a touch of magical realism, Of Bones and Air examines what is at the heart of stories, and it is almost always longing—longing for the past, for family, for beauty, for control, for love. Heavily influenced by European literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Of Bones and Air shares many hallmarks of the Victorian genre, exploring subjects such as the home, religion and science, social structures, industry and progress, womanhood, and the supernatural, occasionally employing traditional form, meter and rhyme to do so. This collection analyzes these topics with a modern, but subtle lens, speaking to the importance of the past and the light it can shed on ourselves, our hopes, and our fears.