Epidemiology of Love: A Survey

This dissertation is a book-length collection of short stories, many of which examine the limitations of interconnectedness in relationships. Common themes include isolation, alienation, and grappling with identity, especially from a place of insecurity. The stories are set in various locations, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Argentina, Crete, and especially the South. Many of the stories feature women attempting to find or maintain intimacy while struggling with societal expectations of gender and the resulting ramifications. The title comments upon a recurring thread in these stories, which is the way that love, like disease, can manifest as a harmful yet often transformative force. Many of these stories also deal with the impossibility of knowing another human being and therefore explore the ways that people live by their projections and plans, even when these are starkly at odds with reality