THE FAMILIAR STRANGED ANTOINETTE M. WILEY Bachelor of Arts in English Cleveland State University May 2009 Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH at the CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY December 2017 We hereby approve this thesis For ANTOINETTE M. WILEY Candidate for the MASTER OF ARTS degree for the Department of ENGLISH And CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S College of Graduate Studies by Committee Chairperson, (Imad Rahman) Department & Date Committee Member, (Mike Geither) Department & Date Committee Member, (Dr. Adam T. Sonstegard) Department & Date Student’s Date of Defense: December 7, 2017 DEDICATION I dedicate this project to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Outside of you I am nothing, but with you, I can do all things. Thank you, Abba, for blessing me with grace, creativity, strength, and endurance to press toward the mark and complete this project. May it bring glory to your name. ACKNOWLEDGMENT To my mother, Barbara Ann Wiley—thank you for allowing me to dream. You’ve always nourished my creativity. Thank you for every gift that revealed to me my purpose. I love you more than words can say. Sheila Schwartz, Nuala Archer, Tamara Guirado, and Emily Mitchell—thank you for every workshop and for believing in me as a writer. Jane Dugan—thank you for making this journey easier. You are appreciated. Mike Geither—thank you for your input in this project. Why haven’t I taken a class with you before? Dr. Adam Sonstegard—I’ve taken so many classes with you over the years, I’ve lost count. Thank you for exposing me to a canon of literary greats. Imad Rahman— thank you for teaching me how to read and write short stories, and for opening my eyes to writers I never would have been exposed to. George Saunders changed my life! Amber Allen—thank you for every comment, every suggestion, and long talks spent discussing revisions and drafts. You will never know how you’ve shaped and molded my writing. THE FAMILIAR STRANGED ANTOINETTE M. WILEY ABSTRACT The Familiar Stranged is a collection of four horror stories written in the vein of George Saunders, Kelly Link, Shirley Jackson, Tananarive Due, and Brandon Massey. Focusing on the unusual point of view and voice, these stories follow unsuspecting characters—an artificial intelligence, dead writers who seek revenge, mannequins who come to life at night, and an imaginary “friend” who all reside in an upside down, familiar made strange, slightly off kilter world, bound and imprisoned by various circumstances. These stories are intended to feel episodic—paying homage to The Twilight Zone in tone and theme. There is a critical introduction, followed by the text. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………..v CRITICAL INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 THE FAMILIAR STRANGED Desires in 4D .................................................................................................. 14 Revenge of the Harlem Renaissance Writers ................................................... 39 The Secret Society .......................................................................................... 60 The Girl on the Stairs ...................................................................................... 87 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 113 vi CRITICAL INTRODUCTION A Childhood Obsession with Things That Go Bump in the Night My fascination with horror started when I was eight or nine years old. I’d turn out the lights, pull the covers over my head, and read scary stories with a flashlight. Corny, eh? You might think so, but oh was it fun! My heart beating like it was going to jump out of my chest, my arms covered in goose bumps, all of these reactions were what made me excited and happy to get lost within the pages of a scary book. I loved that reading could transport me into another world, and the authors of the books I read could influence my emotions that way. I vowed to one day do the same for my readers. That same eight and nine year old was also obsessed with reading R.L. Stine’s Fear Street novels, Choose Your Own Adventure series, and young adult horror novels by Christopher Pike. I was also into horror movies, binge watching Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Creepshow, and Chainsaw Massacre. I can remember back in the 80’s and 90’s when channel 43 would show horror movies every night at 8 o’clock from October 1st until Halloween. I lived for those blustery Fall nights when I got to stay up late, eat insane amounts of buttery popcorn and reeses pieces, snuggled beneath my pink My Little Pony sleeping bag. I scared myself half to death to the point I couldn’t go to sleep. 1 As I look back, what made me interested in these horror movies were the villains. In the Halloween franchise, Michael Myers never spoke a word. It was his brooding presence that was the most intimidating. He seemed as if he stood 7 feet tall! I enjoyed the creepy way that he cocked his head to the side right before he murdered his victim, or the way he breathed heavily underneath his scary mask. I often wondered what he looked like beneath that pale, rubber face and wild, scruffy hair. In Nightmare on Elm Street, the idea of one dying in their dreams and then dying in real life was mind boggling. The whole notion of what if rattled my mind as a kid. What if this could really happen? What if Freddy Krueger visited me in my dreams? I couldn’t afford to die in my sleep. I had school the next day. Believe it or not, my love for scary movies wasn’t about the blood and gore. I’d turn my head or cover my eyes when blood splattered, or when a head was severed off. My thrill came from wanting to know more about the fictional killers. What made Freddy, Michael, and Jason loose cannons? How were these movie killers created? How did the screenwriters determine whether the killers wore a mask, or jeans and sweat pants? What were the background stories behind these movie killers? On a side note, they all had pretty interesting back stories. As a writer, I know that a lot went into creating these fictional maniacs, with their motives, needs, and wants. Instead of focusing on the victims, what if the stories were told from the killer’s point of view? I know this sounds a bit cray cray, but it’s so interesting. For me, the real stories were in the strange or unusual point of view of the killers. Viewers and readers always get the point of view of the victims—the normal or 2 traditional point of view. Viewers and readers are always fed the human side, and I found that boring. I craved something different, something more. I wanted to see the familiar stranged. That’s when I got into The Twilight Zone. This brilliant masterpiece of television omitted blood and gore. Instead, there was a focus on the psychological. These episodes made me think about the fictional characters and their situations long after the end credits rolled. I often thought about how these unsuspecting characters suddenly slipped into a whole new dimension. Their fictional lives as they knew it was forever changed. I loved the aspect that these situations were so relatable one minute, and then so unfamiliar the next. This blending of two different worlds was fantastic, and the idea of the weird world dominating the normal took me over the edge. The whole premise of the show is there being this alternate world where things are not as they seem. It is totally opposite of the world we live in—aliens can be the dominant species, children can never grow old, mannequins can become human, and children can wish things and they happen. Bad things. This sense of an alternate world where things are not as they seem, that a double can take over one’s life, or where one can live in a society where being beautiful is weird is what chilled me to the bone (in a good way). This upside down, familiar made strange, slightly off kilter world inspired me to create similar worlds of my own where the horror stories would be told from the unfamiliar/strange point of view. Inspiration, Craft, and Freud’s Uncanny My thesis project, The Familiar Stranged, explores unsuspecting characters bound and imprisoned by various forces and circumstances. It was derived out of an ENG 3 512: Craft of Literature course with Emily Mitchell, where we read weird tales by Poe (Berenice), Hawthorne (Young Goodman Brown), Edith Wharton (Afterward), M. Rickert (The Chambered Fruit), Michael Chabon (The God of Dark Laughter), and Lovecraft (From the Mountains of Madness). We discussed Freud’s Uncanny, and how his idea applies to literature. Freud defines the uncanny as a feeling of anxiety or dread. He utilizes Jentsch and his research on the German word heimlich which means familiar, native, belonging to home. Freud explores unheimlich which is the opposite of familiar, native, belonging to home, and applies the unfamiliar or uncanny to the novel. He explores several different themes that invoke uncanny feelings in readers. For example, when it is hard to determine whether an inanimate object is alive or not, the uncanny is awakened. That is, when mannequins for example become too much like humans. Next, the theme of the double also awakens the uncanny. It ties to the idea of disturbing the ego creating fears that the double will become one’s competition, delete one’s existence, live a better life, or haunt and torment its other. In relation to the ego, there is the subconscious that houses the traumatic experiences one has shoved down and has chosen to forget. Freud explores the idea that individuals are afraid of their repressed feelings which can apply to the uncanny and the theme of recurrence.