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University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

The story that cannot be told: nine chapters of historical fiction with a craft essay

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Alternating between folktales, family lore, and historical fiction, The Story That Cannot Be Told is based on the final few months of Nicolae Ceauşescu's reign in Communist Romania. Ten-year-old Ileane's uncle has been captured by the Securitate after publishing anti-communist poetry. When her father discovers their apartment is bugged, he destroys his daughter's life's work—a Great Tome of stories—and sends her to live with her grandparents in a mountain village. There, Ileane begins transcribing tales that range from her grandfather's participation in the Holocaust to a code disguised as a local legend. She must use these stories to save not only her family but the village itself. The thesis consists of the first nine chapters of the completed novel and a craft essay: “The Slow and the Strange: Deceleration and Defamiliarization in All the Light We Cannot See, The Tiger’s Wife, and The Story That Cannot Be Told.”

Degree

thesis:*
Grantor dc:publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Year dc:date.available
2027

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Miller, Jessica K.
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Einstein, Sarah
  • Baker, Sybil; Balazs, Thomas
  • College of Arts and Sciences

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
English, eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/506
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1658

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Tennessee - Chattanooga
Base URL
scholar.utc.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Miller, Jessica K.. The story that cannot be told: nine chapters of historical fiction with a craft essay. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 2027. https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/506