Back to results

University of New Mexico

Skinning the Deer: A Love Story

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This dissertation consists of a novel entitled Skinning the Deer: A Love Story. Alternating between the landscapes of New Mexico and rural Maine, the novel examines the life of tortured lesbian Hannah Huff and the brutal excision of her glorious wings—those magical appendages she grew in secret—the two downy white miracles she believed would be her ticket out of Monkstown, Maine, a desperate landscape of backwoods trailers, dogs, and family members, where her only interactions are either detached or violent. While the novel alternates between Hannah as an adult and Hannah as a child, it is first and foremost a coming-of-age story and a journey into the past to reclaim lost innocence. Inspired by the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Dorothy Allison, and Salman Rushdie, Skinning the Deer weaves together magical realism, trauma narrative, and myth; it is a novel about sexuality, betrayal, and what we sacrifice for redemption.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
MFA Creative Writing
Level thesis:degree_level
Masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Year
2013

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Campbell, Heather
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Mueller, Daniel
  • Shigekuni, Julie
  • Hofer, Matthew
  • O'Donnell, Patricia

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

Language dc:language
English

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:engl_etds-1071

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of New Mexico
Base URL
digitalrepository.unm.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Campbell, Heather. Skinning the Deer: A Love Story. Masters thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1928/23095