Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Campus Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English/Creative Writing

First Advisor

Eileen Pollack

Second Advisor

Chelsey Grasso

Third Advisor

Susan Tan

Abstract

SMOOTH AND COARSE: STORIES is an interlinked story collection set primarily in Greater Boston. In UNION, Ernie joins a strike at Crawford’s Grocery, where his father is the store manager. Ernie returns in DOYLE’S TREE SHOP, as he and his coworkers struggle to earn enough money by Christmas to fulfill promises made to loved ones. GOOD SAMARITAN follows Nelson Jones, a mailman attempting to follow in his late father’s footsteps as mayor of Medford. In SHELTER, Marty must confront his fear of bombs and a nuclear apocalypse in order to save his wife. And in SMOOTH AND COARSE, two brothers discuss life and death in a hospital room. Together, these stories explore familial bonds and working-class strife in the communities of Greater Boston.

Comments

Free and open access to this Campus Access Thesis is made available to the UMass Boston community by ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. Those not on campus and those without a UMass Boston campus username and password may gain access to this thesis through resources like Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global (https://www.proquest.com/) or through Interlibrary Loan. If you have a UMass Boston campus username and password and would like to download this work from off-campus, click on the "Off-Campus UMass Boston Users

Available for download on Saturday, June 13, 2026

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