Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Vampires In Literature: A Postmodern Study Of Bram Stoker And Anne Rice, Christina Marie Link

Theses & Dissertations

M. H. Abrams explains that postmodern authors "blend literary genres, cultural and stylistic levels, the serious and the playful, [and] that they resist classification according to traditional literary rubrics". Bram Stoker and Anne Rice both fall into this category of postmodernism. Bram Stoker puts his own spin on the literary vampire, changing the vampire from an aristocratic figure into a monster and adding such features as shape-shifting. He also utilizes various styles throughout the novel under the pretense of several different narrators and narration sources, since Dracula is an epistolary novel that combines the different characters' journals, letters, and even …

Resurrected: An In-Depth Study Of Fitzgerald's Female Found In The Basil Stories And The Great Gatsby, Therese Fields

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

When people hear the name F. Scott Fitzgerald they quickly think of his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald's Gatsby is the great American novel. Why? It withstands time and the changes of contemporary society. This novel moves us, shakes us, and reminds us of our enlightening dreams and the realistic truths behind them. Why do readers connect with and feel empathy for the flawed Jay Gatsby? We, like Gatsby, hope for the green light and all that it holds in store for us. Gatsby is driven by the green light, which represents his hope to change the past. It is …

Poetic Prophecies Of A Vintage Boy Scout: Robert Frost And Wilderness Therapy Theory, Andrew Shawn Andermatt

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Roderick Nash, in his book Wilderness and the American Mind, argues that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, "Too much civilization, not too little, seemed at the root of the nation's difficulties." With economic stability decreasing, social ties eroding, and young "up and comers" committing suicide, Robert Frost's approach to nature as a powerful, unforgiving yet playful, therapeutic force seems nothing short of realistic. For Frost, following historical patterns for development of cities and "idle hours" in the fields will only lead to increased divisions in labor and social class. Like the goals of wilderness experience programs such …

The Description Of The Characters In Herman Melville's White-Jacket, Or The World In A Man-Of-War, Toru Nishiura

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many characters who have various personalities app ear in Herman Melville’s White-Jacket . However, few critics have comprehensively examined the action and the characteristics of them in detail. In this thesis, I explore Melville’s depiction of the battleship world in this novel by clarifying the narrator ’s standard to judge ot her characters. In White-Jacket, the whole story is narrated by White-Jacket; therefore, the characteristics of his narrative clarify the theme of this novel. I start with an analysis of his narrative and examine whether he is a reliable narrator or not. Then, I explore the relationship between the battleship …

Linking Genesis To Modern Day Castaway Narratives, Shawndra Russell

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis analyzes two castaway novels, Lord of the Flies and John Dollar, and compares these novels to segments of Genesis, focusing primarily on the story of Adam and Eve. To compare and contrast these three works, I pulled out eleven similar ideas found in each text which formed eleven different chapters. This project evolved into offering an alternative way to interpret these castaway narratives as retellings of the creation story. The characters in John Dollar and Lord of the Flies become Adam and Eve type figures as they try to survive on Edenlike islands. At the same time, this …

Canary In The Dark, Andrea Fekete

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

I began researching Appalachian culture in 1998. I wanted to tell a story about conflict and beauty while revealing my vision of who my people were/are. I strived to create a fiction not unlike poetry with realistic and minimalist features to give Appalachia the most accurate face possible as perceived by me through my own lens.

I wanted to explore the idea of beauty: Virginia’s (the main character) ideas about her beauty, her culture and other cultures. What is beauty? Who defines it? Can it be found everywhere? How? What does it look like when it is somewhere you wouldn’t …

"Far Out Past": Hemingway, Manhood, And Modernism, Timothy L. Barnard

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation investigates Ernest Hemingway's authorship as an instance of international modernisms forming as sustained engagements with gender and sexuality. By focusing on four of Hemingway's most experimental texts it shows how a figure of both "high" and "popular" modernism sought to occupy a heterogeneous space of cultural queerness vitalized by masculinity, national and ethnic identities, and writing.;The introduction discusses how post-war gender, sexual, and literary discourses reflected period obsessions with authenticity in the face of a rising commodity culture. It also introduces the dissertation's argument that Hemingway's success in becoming a valuable "literary property" rested on a queer authorial …

We Should Be Like Water: Choosing The Lowest Place Which All Others Avoid: John Steinbeck As A Modern Messenger Of Taoism, Andrea Marie Hammock

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis explores John Steinbeck's Cannery Row as a taoist text. It furthers this investigation by examining Cannery Row's recently discovered precursor, The God in the Pipes; examining the question of whether or not both novels were inspired by the ancient eastern philosophy of Taoism. The thesis uses clues from The God in the Pipes to determine which version of the Tao Teh Ching Steinbeck used to compose these novels.

The Split Dark Rider: An Examination Of Labor Conflict And John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men, Richard Stephen Sabolick

Theses Digitization Project

Argues that Of Mice and Men is not only a tale of morality, but also a representation of the political themes found in In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath. Establishes that Steinbeck does not simply divorce himself from the labor themes of the other two books; rather he uses this novel as a representative account of the social events taking place in California during the 1930s. Examines aspects of the split hero as found in the novel's two main characters, George and Lennie, who resemble a dark rider coming into a ranch with nothing more than a dream …

The Literacy Event Horizon: Examining Orality And Literacy In Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, AndréA Diane Davis

Theses Digitization Project

Applies James Gee's concept of Discourses to illustrate how literacy and orality thematically constitute hybrid identity in Silko's novel Ceremony. Then, applies Wallace Chafe's linguistic framework of integration and involvement showing that the novel is a linguistic hybrid, not just a text that thematically elevates hybridity. Unlike other Native American authors who create half-breed characters merely as bridges between two cultures, Silko creates her character Tayo as an embodiment of an emergent hybrid culture.

Style: A New Perspective On Kate Chopin, Daniel Arredondo

Theses Digitization Project

Uses Edward Corbett's theory of style to help define Chopin's style and expose her rhetorical strategies (sentence and paragraph length, diction, tropes, scheme, etc.) in the short story "The Story of an Hour ." Examines the controversy over using literature to teach composition and provides an analysis of the reasons for and against using literature in composition classes. Finally, defends the use of literature in writing classrooms.

A Novel Approach: How E-Book Technology Is Impacting The American Fiction Market, Jodi L. Kastel

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Science And Imagination In Anglo-American Children's Books, 1760--1855, Sandra Burr

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Didactic, scientifically oriented children's literature crisscrossed the Atlantic in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, finding wide popularity in Great Britain and the United States; yet the genre has since suffered from a reputation for being dull and pedantic and has been neglected by scholars. Challenging this scholarly devaluation, "Science and Imagination in Anglo-American Children's Books, 1760--1855" argues that didactic, scientifically oriented children's books play upon and encourage the use of the imagination. Three significant Anglo-American children's authors---Thomas Day, Maria Edgeworth, and Nathaniel Hawthorne---infuse their writings with the wonders of science and the clear message that an active imagination is a …

(Un)Conventional Coupling: Interracial Sex And Intimacy In Contemporary Neo-Slave Narratives, Colleen Doyle Worrell

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

"(Un)Conventional Coupling" initiates a more expansive critical conversation on the contemporary neo-slave narrative. The dissertation's central argument is that authors of neo-slave narratives rely on the politicized theme of interracial coupling to both reimagine history and explore the possibility of social transformation. to establish a framework for my particular focus on interracial intimacy, this study extends the boundaries of the genre by adopting Paul Gilroy's theory of the black Atlantic. This theoretical paradigm serves as a provisional framework for both accommodating and analyzing the complexity of authorship, nationality, and influence within this large body of work.;This dissertation interprets neo-slave narratives' …

Integrating The Personal And The Political: The Body Politics In "Daughter Of Earth", Han Shen

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Envisioning Black Childhood: Black Nationalism, Community, And Identity Construction In Black Arts Movement Children's Literature, Meredith Meagan Crawford

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Behind The Bestsellers: Building The Formula For Success In Children's Literature, Zenja R. Quarles

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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