Digital Commons Network^™

Decadent Gothic: The Horrors Of An Urban World, Kyle Willis

Honors College

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and understand the rapid popularity of horror literature in the 1880s and 1890s through a literary style known as decadent Gothic. To do this, I will analyze two keystone texts of the style: Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. This analysis will be done using a framework of London’s nineteenth-century urbanization to understand the represented fears in both texts. This thesis shows that urbanization created a decentralized environment full of frightening stimuli, and that decadent …

Shaping Character: The Role Of Mythology In Society, Jaclyn Weist

Masters Theses

Throughout history, man has told stories. Some stories were written on walls, tablets, or bits of parchment. Others have been passed down to posterity through oral tradition. Every culture worldwide has a rich tapestry of legends and myths. It is my intent to demonstrate that these stories use the tools of character development within their various plot lines to both express and shape beliefs, superstitions, and life lessons. Whether they are religious in nature or simply trying to make sense of the world, these stories, myths, and legends have played a part in shaping society into what it is today.

Defining Gastrocriticism As A Critical Paradigm On The Example Of Irish Literature And Food Writing: A Vade Mecum, Anke Klitzing

Doctoral

The aim of this study is to map out the gastrocritical approach, using Irish literature and writing to test its premises, and to provide a vade mecum for its practical application, particularly for interdisciplinary scholars. The gastrocritical approach furnishes a “culinary lens” for reading food and foodways in imaginative texts, informed by work in the field of food studies and gastronomy. The approach was broadly characterised by Tobin in 2002, but only sparsely used since. The past fifteen years have seen an increasing self-awareness and reflexivity in the field of literary food studies. As the field matures, there have been …

Evading Oblivionland, Caitlin Faria

Honors Program Theses and Projects

When I initially started this project, I hoped to tell stories in genres that I love while exploring the impact my father has had on my life. Although I prefer to write fiction, the nonfiction essays of this piece show who my father is through my eyes as well as provide me with the space to explore and find words for my own fears of losing him one day. The fictional stories interwoven throughout also show how my father inspires my writing even when it does not directly involve him, or a character exactly like him. For example, my dad …

Fair Folk, Jamie M. Good

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This is the outline for an upcoming novel centering retold Celtic fairy tales. The project includes research about fairy lore and Celtic mythology, as well as modern Irish customs surrounding cultural beliefs surrounding fairies. This story prioritizes the Pagan versions of folklore, rather than the more modern Victorian and Christian depictions of Celtic traditions and fairies.

The outline includes an introduction, short synopsis, short summaries and goals for fifty-four chapters (the full length of the novel), a list of characters, and a short reflection.

Synopsis:

Three children, Molly, Cal, and Jack, are abducted into the fairy realm. Molly and Cal …

In The Straits: Making History Accessible Through The Parent-Child Relationship, Grace Elizabeth Crocker

Masters Theses

Historical fiction gives its readers the chance to meet historic figures, fight alongside their favorite characters in past wars, and experience forgotten ways of life. This genre also offers an alternate route for those who enjoy learning about history but who do not particularly enjoy reading the classics. With my chosen creative work, In the Straits, I invite my readers to explore the lesser-known past of Malaya and what it was like during the days leading up to the bloodiest war in history, World War II, through the eyes of a separated father and daughter who will do anything to …

What It Was & What I Know: Attempts At Family History, Katherine Reardon

Honors College

Family stories and family histories are contingent on how they are remembered. As these stories are passed down, the ways that they are remembered can change, with the truthful aspects of these stories disappearing over time. As a result, many family stories are not necessarily truthful, but this does not discount their value. The aim of this project is to explore these ideas while also answering the following question: to what extent are family stories bound by the ‘truth’? In order to answer this question, I have explored my own family stories that I know may not be true and …

C.S. Lewis Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The C. S. Lewis Collection features a variety of books and articles by and about Lewis. It also includes letters and manuscripts written by Lewis, as well as rare and first editions of his books.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Dark Magic Part 1, Rachel Quaid

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Dark Magic is a novel that mixes old folklore with fantasy and a splash of modern day. This first part of the novel readies the readers to enter the world of the old Irish Aos Sì. Ophelia is a witch, living in the land of the fae. She signs up to help with a research study to better her chances at succeeding as a healer. Rhea is a member of the Tuatha de Danann, the fae folk who rule the land from their courts of old. She is sent by her caretaker to observe this study. Everyone knows witches and …

Building Eden, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Ralph Deigh is the most famous vernacular American architect you've never heard of. After a military career spanning two wars and struggles with homelessness and PTSD, he is invited to design an entirely new rural community for the 21st century. Twin disasters (fire and flood) in Dare County, West Virginia, set up the circumstances for him to join with Rosemary Mueller and the wealthy Ohio-based Mueller Foundation and a mysterious group of local Dare County residents led by Adam Sennett, County Clerk of Dare County. Together, they design and build the new town of Eden, West Virginia.

The whole story …

Ua12/2/2 Talisman: Movement, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

2018 Talisman yearbook.

• Good, Hannah. Movement
• Kinser, Nicholas. Tunnel Trap
• Cozer, Claire. A Day in the Life of a Food Truck – Mike Wilson, Pop’s Street Eats
• Fletcher, Griffin. Beauty in Power – WKU Women’s Rugby Club
• Gordon, Zora. The Mixed Experience
• Hornsby, Morgan. Bonfire
• Waters, Adrianna. Mispoken – Communication Disorders
• Chu, Phi. Home Base – Jessica Barks
• Cooksey, Catrina. Rerouted – Sydney Clark, Austin Clark, Blake Perkins, Sheila Flener, Handicapped Persons
• Good, Hannah. Not Safe for Work – Prostitution
• Chu, Phi. Transfigured Night
• Carter, De’inara. Passing the Plate – International Students, Recipes
• Robb, Hayley. From Sole to Soul – …

Scholars Day Program Of Events 2018, Carl Goodson Honors Program

Scholars Day

No abstract provided.

Emergent Fiction, Brandon Mcfarlane

Publications and Scholarship

The sixty-four works of emergent fiction of 2015 evidence several noteworthy transitions in Canadian prose. While it is admittedly problematic to discuss the novels and collections of short stories as some form of unified whole, several patterns emerged that merit highlighting and demand critical attention because they represent new directions for Canadian fiction.

The texts mark the arrival of a new wave of literary experimentation that embraces risk-taking and the pursuit of novelty as fundamental characteristics of good art and great storytelling. The featured texts created wonderfully new ways to tell stories by inventing narrative techniques or breaking with generic …

The Internal Compass, Joshua Dyer

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Civil Rights Gone Wrong: Racial Nostalgia, Historical Memory, And The Boston Busing Crisis In Contemporary Children’S Literature, Lynnell L. Thomas

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

On May 14, 2014, three white Boston city councilors refused to vote to approve a resolution honoring the sixtieth anniversary of Brown v. the Board of Education because, as one remarked, “I didn’t want to get into a debate regarding forced busing in Boston.” Against the recent national proliferation of celebrations of civil rights milestones and legislation, the controversy surrounding the fortieth anniversary of the court decision that mandated busing to desegregate Boston public schools speaks volumes about the historical memory of Boston’s civil rights movement. Two highly acclaimed contemporary works of children’s literature set during or inspired by Boston’s …

On Marie Curie And Me, Sharon L. Stephenson

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

When people discover I am a nuclear physicist, they often say, "Oh, like Marie Curie!" And yes, I am like Marie in that I have woman parts, I study nuclei, I have two children and a physicist husband. But had I lived in her time, I would not have been that rare female admitted to the Sorbonne. I could not have quietly made the top scores on the math and physics examinations. I am impulsive and thin-skinned, my occasional cleverness passing for deeper talent. I would probably have been a cleaning girl, pregnant at 15, unable to speak any language …

The Short And Surprisingly Private Life Of King Bolo: Eliot’S Bawdy Poems And Their Audiences, Jayme Stayer

2017 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Janice Holt Giles And The "White Caps” Of Kentucky, Michael R. Brown

Library Staff Presentations & Publications

Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979) has more to say about the Brethren in Christ than any other novelist or popular writer;' in fact, she stands alone. Her 25 books, written from 1950 to 1975, sold four million copies in her lifetime, and some remain in print and have recently attracted renewed interest. Primarily noted for her historical fiction about the Western frontier, she is also noted for novels and memoirs set in her adopted state of Kentucky. Of these, four describe or characterize the Brethren in Christ at varying length and another three mention or make allusions to them. One novel, …

Metamorphosis Through Modern Poetry, Emilee D. Kilburn

Senior Honors Projects

I have memories of being in my room with a notebook, scribbling lines and rhymes about cats and fireworks. I have proof of these memories—a staple- bound booklet of poetry, illustrated with clipart and colorful text. I was so proud of the work; it was the project of a third grader’s time, effort, imagination, and mind. Even in my movement from that childhood room to the campus at the University of Rhode Island; and my maturity from nursery rhymes to Chaucer and Shakespeare, I have always carried a passion for language and creativity.

For the Honors Project, I wanted to …

A Former Liar Armed With Truth And Aiming For Greatness, Jonathan Gallardo

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

This portfolio is a collection of my favorite works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that I wrote during my final four semesters at Cedarville University. “Cicadas at Lorelei” has been accepted for publication in The Merrimack Review, and “I Don’t Share My Grandfather’s Love for Mathematics” has been accepted for publication in *82 Review. This collection deals with my discovering the truth about Jonathan Gallardo and using that truth to create art. I present to you A Former Liar Armed with Truth and Aiming for Greatness.

Global Youth: 2016 The New York Times Writing Competition: "Word (World) Of Yours", New York Times

Student Publications

"Word (World) of Yours" is a yearly writing competition organised by International New York Times (INYT). This year's topic is "Global Youth" and SMU's law student Chow Zi En has won the runner up in the University category. Listed below are articles written by SMU students:

• What is the Global Youth? by Chow Zi En, pp. 16-17
• The Vitality of the Global Youth by Chim Sher Ting, p. 43
• Global Youth for Global Change by Nicole Jo-Anne Varella, p. 44
• Youth without Quality Education - a Great Waste; a Great Threat by Rex Lee Jia Hor, Averill Chow Mingni, p. …

In Restless Character: A Short Story And Writing Analysis, Emily Buechner

Senior Honors Theses

Creativity is the process of making something new. For those who desire to use their creativity, this process is discouraging because so many things have already been created. Originality becomes a battle to find a subject that remains untouched. However, Salman Rushdie, author of the1981 Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight's Children, gives a theory for "how newness enters the world" as written in his 1992 essay "Imaginary Homelands." In this essay, he explores the negative and positive consequences resulting from the co-mingling of cultures, and he comes to the conclusion that the merging of two or more things unalike will …

In Solidarity: Collaborations In Lgbtq+ Activism, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D., Kathryn L. Norsworthy

Faculty Publications

What follows is a fictional account. Our “characters” bear our real names; the other eight are composites of students we have taught and from whom we have learned; activists with whom we have worked; and staff, faculty, and administrators we have trained in venues such as Safe Zone. We portray our ally (Lisa)-lesbian (Kathryn) relationship this way for two reasons: one, we had not secured permission from real students, colleagues, or community members to represent their lives and experiences, and two, we seek a way to show our partnership, both personal and professional since 2000, in action. To each of …

Revisiting Don/Ovan, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

In this piece, the author, a heterosexual woman, travels to her hometown of Lake City, MN to reconnect with Donovan Marshall, a gay man she last saw in 1986. "Revisiting Don/ovan" explores opportunities and challenges of coming out, leaving, and returning to live in a small town.

Brigid's Peace: An Examination Of The Influences Of The Catholic Intellectual Tradition On One Writer's Creative Work, Marie A. Hulme

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

The genesis of my novel, Brigid’s Peace, which I began in the spring of 2013 coinciding with my studies in the Presidential Seminar, was an interest in examining the need for luminosity, for transcendence, for beauty in the face of dark despair and evil. My work centers on the story of an Irish Catholic family living in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the time of sectarian conflict known as “the troubles,” but more specifically on the impact of events related to that time on one young woman, Brigid Donegan, an artist and one of seven sisters. Through a close, third person …

As Close As You'll Ever Be, Seamus O'Scanlain

Publications and Research

Short story collection featuring Victor McGowan - set in Galway, Belfast, Boston and New York. Irish crime fiction noir collection.

Mom, Dad, And Johnny, John Condry

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

''They All Seem To Have Inherited The Horrible Ugliness And Sewer Filth Of Sex'' : Catholic Guilt In Selected Works By John Mcgahern (1934-2006), Eamon Maher

Articles

No abstract provided.

Smooth As Raven's Claws, Kyle Farnworth

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This Creative Honors Thesis titled Smooth as Raven's Claws is a novel that focuses on a young mixed martial arts fighter named Dennis Lopes after his release from prison and his struggle to find a place in the corrupt world he is entering. The piece is populated with many characters whose lives intersect as they form a radical group of young outcasts and misfits that try to create positive change in the fictional Chatgrove City, though not by positive means. Dennis becomes a masked vigilante known only as “The Raven”, and he uses his newfound persona and followers to try …

Revisiting Walter Macken’S Connemara, Eamon Maher

Articles

As a writer, Macken was attuned to the menacing depths that lay behind the physical exterior: the infertile bogland that makes farming problematic, the harsh character of the inhabitants, their callous treatment of one another, their superstitious religiosity and frustrated love affairs. I read most of Macken’s novels as a teenager and enjoyed them enormously. It is a shame that there is little or no critical attention now paid to someone who had such a successful career as a novelist, playwright, actor and director. Even the publication by his son Ultan of a biography, Walter Macken: Dreams on Paper, by …