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The Unstoppable Anthropocene Engine: Animal Studies In Literature And The Lack Of Individual Animal Study, Paul Spampanato

Theses and Dissertations

Animal studies is a growing field in the Humanities and, in particular, Literature studies. This dissertation, The Unstoppable Anthropocene Engine, focuses on canonical literature of the fin de siècle and Modernist eras that utilize animals in their narratives. Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood are the literary texts examined throughout the dissertation to discuss the importance of looking at specific animals that represent particular groups. Through these novels and poem, readers will see that when we …