Nature's Womb & Perhaps Her Grave
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Selections from Nature's womb & perhaps her grave Item Type Thesis Authors Frentzko, Brianna Nicole Download date 06/10/2021 14:41:27 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10562 SELECTIONS FROM NATURE'S WOMB & PERHAPS HER GRAVE By Brianna Nicole Frentzko, M.A. A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing University of Alaska Fairbanks May 2019 © 2019 Brianna Nicole Frentzko APPROVED: Geraldine Brightwell, Committee Co-Chair Eileen Harney, Committee Co-Chair Rich Carr, Committee Member Sara Eliza Johnson, Committee Member Rich Carr, Chair Department of English Todd Sherman, Dean College of Liberal Arts Michael Castellini, Dean Graduate School ABSTRACT Traversing a wintry landscape filled with desperate scavengers who cannot die, a witch awaits a prophecy to lead her people to the light. Meanwhile, in London, the addictive virtual reality of the Undercity tears a family apart. And, on a distant island long ago, a young girl befriends an enigmatic sailor who emerges from under the sea on top a tattered black ship. These three worlds and the women within them are connected by a single choice made long ago that ripples through time and pushes them towards their own evolving destinies. This thesis comprises the first two of five sections (“books”) in a novel entitled Nature's Womb & Perhaps Her Grave. Book I, “In Chains of Darkness,” follows Witch-Woman, a crone living in a world of night and snow. When she adopts the mysterious Twice-Born-Child, Witch Woman must navigate raising her defiant daughter as well as protecting Village by River from the threat of starvation or invading wild-ones. Book II, “The City of Ghosts,” depicts the struggles of five women in a dysfunctional family. Elena tries to retrieve her daughter from the Undercity, Orpah awaits her opportunity to plug in to virtual reality, Ruth attempts to prevent the maidservant from bearing her son-in-law's baby, Deborah works to save her sister from damnation, and Beatrice must decide what to do with the illegitimate child she carries in her womb. All the while, London ticks closer and closer to the day when the real world will give way to the virtual dreams of the Undercity. Playing with Judea-Christian mythos and science fiction themes, Nature's Womb & Perhaps Her Grave is, at its heart, a story about mothers and daughters confronting the dangerous power, tremendous responsibility, and unforeseen consequences of rebellion. i ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................... iv PRELUDE: ADUMBRATIONS ON WHAT WILL COME..........................................................1 BOOK I: IN CHAINS OF DARKNESS.........................................................................................9 Telling Tree................................................................................................................................10 Burning ......................................................................................................................................16 Twice-Born-Child...................................................................................................................... 24 Dafaalan and Rites..................................................................................................................... 32 Bubble-place ............................................................................................................................. 44 Change .......................................................................................................................................52 BOOK II: THE CITY OF GHOSTS............................................................................................. 59 Elena ..........................................................................................................................................60 Countdown: 5 Days ................................................................................................................... 93 Ruth ...........................................................................................................................................99 Countdown: 3 Days .................................................................................................................134 Deborah....................................................................................................................................141 Countdown: 2 Days .................................................................................................................172 Beatrice ....................................................................................................................................177 Countdown: 1 Day................................................................................................................... 218 Sunday .....................................................................................................................................225 Ashes to Ashes ........................................................................................................................ 250 SUMMARY OF BOOKS III-V.................................................................................................. 269 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Gerri Brightwell for offering such continuous support on this project over the last three years. Her class gave me the assignment that started this novel on a dark winter night, and her feedback has pushed the story to places I never thought it would go. I am so grateful to have worked with Gerri during my time in Alaska, and I know that I am a better writer through her guidance. Thank you to the rest of my committee. Rich Carr, Eileen Harney, and Sara Eliza Johnson read this long manuscript on top of my MA thesis and offered such insightful critiques and ideas during my defense. I am especially grateful to Sara for her thoughts on language in Book II and helping me to achieve the oral-story feeling I wanted. Thank you to Zoe Jones for stepping in at the last minute as an outside examiner and managing to somehow read all of these pages in such a short time. My gratitude extends to all those who have workshopped sections of this novel during class. In particular, a big thank you to Sarah Small for pushing this story to become more complex in its treatment of religion, Andrew Luft for inadvertently turning paradise into an Island, and Micah Allen for challenging me to break some rules. Charlotte Wheeler has my eternal gratitude for being there on the darkest day when I nearly abandoned this story. Jaclyn Bergamino and Kendell Newman Sadiick's confidence in my first novel indirectly gave me the courage to write this more ambitious one. This book would not have reached completion without my novel writing club. Thank you to Heather Aruffo and Venus Fultz for believing in this story, loving the characters nearly as much as I do, and offering so much emotional support. You are extraordinary friends and gifted writers whose books I eagerly await. iv Lastly, thank you to the late great Paula Blank, who long ago told me to wait before embarking this particular literary journey. You were quite right. v vi PRELUDE: ADUMBRATIONS ON WHAT WILL COME The ship with the black sails tore from under the sea like a shard of obsidian, spewing foam upwards with a shattering wail that shook the coconuts down to the hot sand below. Rising high into the air, the black sails cut into the noon-bright sky. Then, they sank beneath the surface only to rise again higher than before. White-capped waves crashed against the Island, startling the birds into panicked flight above us. For a moment, the flock blocked the sun, and it was as night. We shivered. Goosebumps broke out over our naked arms and legs. We smelled fire, and our tongues tasted cloying copper as if we were made to swallow our own blood. The waves battered the sand, but then, as the black sails righted themselves on the tumultuous waters, the sea suddenly stood still. It was becalmed. Waves stopped, and the water turned to glass. The black sails were held suspended atop the water, a toy ship on an endless mirror. We saw all the Island reflected in that sea and wondered whether we could see ourselves too, but we were too far away, high up in a mango tree playing at being birds. “What was that?” I signaled my own confusion with the signs we had developed to allow me to speak, but Adam was not looking at me then. His eyes were turned to the ocean. As if responding to our questions, the sea breathed in a strong breath. The birds resettled, the sun shone once more, and the waves turned back to gentle strokes against the shore. 1 The Island chattered its cheerful afternoon songs again. I looked to the shore, but the black ship had disappeared. * Seven days before London's destruction, the woman currently known as Esther Smith considered her options. She sat in her alcohol-soaked room, watching the sky flush pink. The very last of the Scotch still burned hot in her belly like the final caress of a dead lover. Three old bottles, empty of their once-dear contents, lined her windowsill. The bottles