Digital Commons Network^™

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.

Cultural Trauma Fiction: Political Violence, Rampage Violence, And Structural Violence In Contemporary American Literature, Courtney Mullis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation identifies and proposes a new subgenre of American literature, Cultural Trauma Fiction, that has arisen since the late 20^th century in response to numerous large-scale traumatic events and their representation in the media. Cultural trauma occurs when a shocking, shared event fractures collective identity and initiates a discursive process to understand what took place, why it happened, and how the affected culture can heal. Cultural traumas differ from individual trauma because cultural traumas affect a culture, rather than an individual, and because they are mediated; many members of the culture experience the trauma of these events secondhand …

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 …

Divinity School: A Novel, Ella Marie Schmidt

Honors Projects

I wrote Divinity School, an Honors Project for the Department of English, under the auspices of my project advisor, Professor Anthony Walton, and my readers, Professors Marilyn Reizbaum, Ann Kibbie, and Aaron Kitch. Divinity School is a novel whose conflicts are religious, generational, and familial. Set mostly in Hoboken, New Jersey with vignettes in Manhattan, Vienna, the west coast of Ireland, and an anonymous New England college town, it is the story of one family and the open secrets that keep them apart. Hal Macpherson is a Divinity School professor uged into premature retirement by allegations of misconduct; his …

Sometimes I Think I’M Going Crazy, Connor Kesslering

Graduate Thesis Collection

"Sometimes I Think I’m Going Crazy" is a short story collection containing three stories of more or less equal length. Each of three main characters face conflict that tests their resolve and ultimately forces them to reevaluate who they are as human beings. Stress helps people to grow and evolve and the protagonists in these stories are forced to face their greatest fears head on and (with varying degrees of success) come out the other end better for it. But not before going a little crazy in the process.

“Edna O’Brien: An Interview With Maureen O’Connor”, Maureen O'Connor, Martha Carpentier, Elizabeth Brewer Redwine

Critical Inquiries Into Irish Studies

No abstract provided.

The Lantern, 2020-2021, Adam Mlodzinski, Julian Barocas, Liam Worcheck, Sarah Buck, Jenna Lozzi, Samuel Ernst, Aurora Mckee, Jessica Schnur, Griffin Banks, Ryan Savage, Gabby Demelfi, Marie Sykes, Kayla Weil, Benjamin Tobias, Anastasia Dziekan, Emily Bradigan, Nadia El-Mourli, Isabelle Wessman, Mairead Mcdermott, Chandrasekhar Palepu, Robert Fisher, Kelsey Gavin, Kathleen Saddler, Liam Powers, Matthew Schmitz, Shayna Kushner, Yakira M. Serrano Rodriguez, Haley Bestrycki, Anaya Demota, Amy Litofsky, Vanessa Worley, Amanda Webber, Morgan Mason, Christian Ndaye, Leo Cox, Olivia Cross, Amy Smith, Valerie Eicher, Ian Abrahams, Amelia Kunko, Ava Compagnoni, Rimsha Maryam, Aviva Schuch, Cyn Ercole, Colleen Murphy, Sarah Fales, Ella Spencer

The Lantern Literary Magazines, 1933 to Present

One Thousand and One is Never Enough • House on Hazel Ave. • Crooked Men at Crooked Alley • Home • Honeybee • The Witch's Daughter • Traveling to Reyu • December 31st, 2019 • The Dominator Rolls the Dice Again • Red Flowers • Military Ball • Drowning in Color • Early Bird • Introspection • Hot Water • Reaching Into Space • Floating Marigolds Before COVID-19 • Smokestack 4 • Longing • His Fifth Year on Amstel Road • Wonderful Moments • Clean Glass • Betty, the Debutante • Teakettles Have it Easy • Fuimos, Somos y Seramos …

Of All The Fires That Ever Burned, Stephen Brophy

CutBank

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Hidden People, K. C. Mead-Brewer

CutBank

No abstract provided.

A Great Chaos Of Sound: Alternative Practices Of Working Through Madness, Alienation, And The Aesthetics Of Catastrophe In 60s Britain, Mark Harris

Counterculture Studies

After Bomb Culture, Jeff Nuttall’s valediction to 1960s relentless anti-system experimentation, what kind of call to order were the Portsmouth Sinfonia’s commitment to community DIY practice and Veronica Forrest-Thomson’s withdrawal of language from meaning? Nuttall’s Laingian references to madness acclaim culture as symptomatic of living with the H-bomb. This essay considers alternative expressions of intimacy and apartness like Doris Lessing’s writing on women’s madness, the Caribbean Artists Movement’s understanding of schizophrenic post-colonial consciousness, and Kate Millet’s and Robert Wyatt’s eulogies to friends and partners, as marginalized by the aesthetics of catastrophe of Nuttall and his Destruction in Art Symposium …

Son Of Red Earth Or The George Story: Novel Excerpt, Callie Ann Atkinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Catch Hell Blues, Nick Jebsen

Senior Projects Spring 2020

My novella features four friends attempting to navigate the transition between high school and adulthood while coming of age in the midst of political turmoil and an American epidemic of substance misuse. They attend a house party, inebriate, and drive around Los Angeles in a 1996 BMW 7 series while waxing philosophic about God, free-will, and beauty. After purchasing more alcohol, they vandalize a Confederate flag, which incites a road-rage incident. The second half of the novella details their separation from one another and struggles with personal loss and substance abuse.

The Meaning In The Music: Music And The Prose Of Chopin, Joyce, Baldwin And Egan, Colin Perry

Senior Theses

Kate Chopin, James Joyce, James Baldwin, and Jennifer Egan are collectively gifted in the art of prose, yet each author also experiments with music in their literary works. An analysis of Chopin's The Awakening, Joyce's "The Dead," Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," and Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad reveals a trend of authors utilizing music to enrich their texts and convey major themes.

Gini, Andrea O'Connor

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

You've Gotta Read This: Summer Reading At Musselman Library (2019), Musselman Library

You’ve Gotta Read This: Summer Reading at Musselman Library

Each year, Musselman Library asks Gettysburg College faculty, staff, and administrators to help create a suggested summer reading list. The result is You’ve Gotta Read This!—a booklet filled with fiction, nonfiction and film recommendations that we hope will offer a reading and viewing go-to list for the summer and beyond.

The 2019 collection has suggestions from 173 employees who offer 258 recommendations of favorite books, films, and television programs that will satisfy a wide range in reading and viewing tastes and genres.

This year’s booklet includes several special features. Two of our regular columnists return once again: James Udden …

Eulogy, Kim T. Allison

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Particular to the three short stories in Eulogyis the importance of place, as they are set in the fictional location of Potter’s Island, which is based on my childhood sense of Florida.Contradictions, complications, and disappointments can be uniquely tied to a sense of place. My own parents and grandparents moved to Florida when I was three years old, but where they lived, how they lived and worked, and what dreams they pursued was only partially an immigrant’s story of wanting a better life.

The past has weight—a weight that must be dealt with, for real people, and for …

Jeffery Duncan, February 19, 2019, Matt Jones, Rachel Burns

Oral Histories

Dr. Jeffery Duncan was professor of English Language and Literature at EMU from 1971 until his retirement in 2012. Awarded the Ronald Collins Distinguished Faculty Award in 2002, Duncan was regarded as one of the most beloved faculty members at the University for his rough and tumble Tulsa upbringing and inventive, innovative teaching methods.

Lesson Plan For Teaching Four Stories Featuring Multi/Mixed Identities, Sierra Sweeney , '21, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Sierra Sweeney, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," fall 2018.

Fiction as a genre is well known for its ability to discuss a wide range of topics in a way that is both entertaining and empathetic. But while fictional pieces, especially the short story, are famous for creating narratives that help readers understand experiences unlike their own and characters unlike themselves, I would argue that fiction can also serve as a medium of self- reflection. As someone who identifies as multi-ethnic …

You've Gotta Read This: Summer Reading At Musselman Library (2018), Musselman Library

You’ve Gotta Read This: Summer Reading at Musselman Library

Each year, Musselman Library asks Gettysburg College faculty, staff, and administrators to help create a suggested summer reading list. We hope to inspire students and the rest of our community to take time in the summer to sit back, relax, and read; or watch a memorable film.

With the 2018 collection, 102 employees offer 178 recommendations of favorite books, films, and television programs. These selections touch on everything from politics to romance.

We include several special features this year. Two of our regular columnists return once again: James Udden with his latest recommendations for the best film and TV, and …

Ben Battle: A Soldier Bold, Thomas Alan Burtelow Iii

Arrow Rock

No abstract provided.

Maiden Voyage (A Novel), Kyra Bauske

English

Maiden Voyage is an adventure story. It didn’t start out that way, but that’s what it has become. The story follows a young woman who stumbles onto her father’s secrets. Alexandra feels trapped in an 18th century English settlement on Nassau. Under her father’s protection, Alexandra is expected to marry and remain on the island. When she discovers a letter in her father’s office naming her as an “asset” she finds herself asking who her father really is. Who is the business associate who comes every month? Why does he really want her married to Lord Dewhurst? When her best …

You've Gotta Read This: Summer Reading At Musselman Library (2017), Musselman Library

You’ve Gotta Read This: Summer Reading at Musselman Library

Each year, Musselman Library asks Gettysburg College faculty, staff, and administrators to help create a suggested summer reading list. Our goal is to inspire students and the rest of our community to take time in the summer to sit back, relax, and read.

With the 2017 collection, we again bring together recommendations from across our campus—the books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts that have meant something special to us over the past year. 118 faculty, administrators and staff offer up 218 recommendations.

We include five special features this year. Two of our regular columnists return once again: James Udden and …

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 …

Ties That Bind, Sarah Louise Slack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ties that Bind is a collection of short stories that explores the lives of women. From physical danger that Rickie and her friends face in "The River's Children," to Maureen's emotional distress as she realizes she's losing her memory in "The Visit," from Mattie's work ethic as she tries to take her mother's responsibilities in "Keeping the Light," to Justine's struggle with unexpected pregnancy in "Here There Be Dragons," from Rae's confusion at her roommate's attitude in "The Tree that Holds the World," to Anya's temptation to suicide in "An Artist's eye," the first six stories stand alone and address …

Frida's Daughter, Myrta Vida

Theses

The purpose of my creative writing is to highlight a group of U.S. citizens still woefully underrepresented in literature proper: the Latinx middle class. I’m keenly interested in exploring Puerto Rican and first- and second-generation Latinx immigrant stories. Even though some of the experiences from these groups have been elegantly visited by writers such as Giannina Braschi, Sandra Cisneros, Junot Diaz, Julia Alvarez, and others, there are nuances to the Latinx middle class experience that are yet to be uncovered. Being stuck in the cultural, linguistic, socio-economic, and political middles in a country that has recently taken a largely nationalist …

Walking In Waves, Sarah David

All NMU Master's Theses

The following thesis consists of a story collection, the majority of which are flash fiction pieces. The thesis consists of two sections. The first section, “Walking in Waves,” is composed of stories about familial relationships and the balancing act of motherhood. Some of these stories play with unique formats or degrees of speculative fiction. Many are rather lyrical in nature. The second section is a novella-in-flash; entitled “Tiny’s Jazz Magic,” this series of stories tells the tale of a woman and her young daughter in 1920’s Storyville, New Orleans.

Ruth Harris: Under The Prairie Moon, Mary Hays

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Ruth Harris: Under the Prairie Moon is rooted in the rural Illinois landscape and its communities. The stories follow Ruth from childhood to old age and offer multiple viewpoints on fidelity, home, forgiveness, and finally, love. Focus on one character through a lifetime allows perspective to shift as she ages.

The Cliff, Beatrice Ann Wedd

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

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, …