Year of Award
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Degree Name
Creative Writing (Fiction)
Department or School/College
English
Committee Chair
Emily Ruskovich
Commitee Members
Robin McLean, Ona Renner-Fahey
Keywords
fiction, creative writing, sofia, warsaw
Subject Categories
Fiction
Abstract
Sofia was ten when World War II broke out, her family escaped east to survive. Six years later the war ends. Sofia returns to Warsaw, the city of her life, only to find Warsaw flattened to the ground. She spends a summer in the countryside with her grandparents. She falls from a cherry tree and dislocates her tailbone. The pain of this injury evokes a prior injury, one Sofia can’t fully recall: an effect without a cause. More than a decade later Sofia will accidentally drop her ticket on a train platform and a man will pick it up. This moment will alter the fate of her life. Sofia will defect to the West. She will leave Poland, at once escaping communist occupation and making it impossible to return. Yet, Sofia will find ways to return to Warsaw and to the past, over and over. This is a story about exile, desire, suffering, love and loss. It's another iteration of the same ancient story humans have always told.
Recommended Citation
Jedrzejczyk, Anna S., "Sofia: A Novel" (2023). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12223.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12223
© Copyright 2023 Anna S. Jedrzejczyk