Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Criterion (2024)

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Language And The Lord Of The Rings: The Expansion Of A Universe, Thomas Beutz

The Criterion

Tommy Beutz’s essay, “Language and The Lord of the Rings: The Expansion of a Universe” explores J.R.R. Tolkien’s world-building through the lens of linguistics. Beutz argues that Tolkien’s creation of Middle-Earth, anchored in his invented languages, extends beyond the bounds of the text. Drawing on Tolkien’s background as a philologist, Beutz contends that the languages of Middle-Earth are not mere literary devices but rather the foundation of its entire mythology. By examining linguistic markers embedded in the primary text, Beutz reveals how Tolkien hints at a larger world outside the narrative. Through an analysis of historical accounts and characters’ …

Milton’S Exploration Of The Demonic Consciousness, Niall Mckenna

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

The Search For Worth: How Relationship Conflicts Reveal The Universal Nature Of Insecurity, Grace C. Conroy

The Criterion

Since the beginning of time, romantic relationships and their dynamics have taken center stage in media--whether in books, plays, or other forms of literature. In this essay, a comparison of couples' relationships in James Joyce's "The Dead" and Marina Carr's play "The Mai" reveals the core human element of insecurity, prevalent in moments of marital conflict.

The Configuration Of Society In "The Dispossessed" And "Blindness", Patrick Ryan

The Criterion

In both Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed and José Saramago’s Blindness, character’s are posited into scenarios where the structure of society is either foreign, dilapidated, or outright missing. This essay aims to rationalize why the authors arranged their respective worlds this way, and illuminate points of comparison and contrast between the two works. To achieve this goal, this essay specifically analyzes the types of societies seen within the two novels, and what role individual characters have in shaping them. Additionally, through a supplementary examination of related secondary sources, this essay hopes to answer fundamental questions about the portrayal …

“No Friend Like A Sister”: Christina Rossetti’S Fantastic Departure From Pre-Raphaelite Poetics And Art In “Goblin Market”, Anna M. Lee

The Criterion

Christina Rossetti’s poetics and artistic vision in her seminal poem, “Goblin Market,” have yielded a range of critical theories, from positions on sisterhood to the ambiguous position of capitalist markets. While considering the socioeconomic and cultural context behind the poem’s development and resonance among contemporary feminist movements, readers also ought to consider the actual “goblin brotherhood” — the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) — behind Rossetti’s authorial ventures. This paper argues that Rossetti’s fantastical methods draw influence from and participate in the PRB’s poetics and artistic traditions, while subverting the same conventions within a feminist paradigm. Rossetti not only envisions a homosocial …

Downfall To Friendliness?: Analyzing Common Tropes In The Boy Who Loved Too Much, Heather Paglia

The Criterion

One of the most commonly held misconceptions regarding the disabled population is that living with any disability automatically decreases the quality of life. It is assumed that any deviation from society’s established norm for the perfect brain and body must be a burden. Both the physical and social implications associated with disability have forged in the minds of many the idea that a disabled life could not possibly be a good life. This overarching negativity, however, is turned on its head when considering Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder more accurately described as happy syndrome. This so-called disability is not …

The Facade Of Names In Benjamin Clark’S “The Emigrant”, Brad Donegan

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Eliot’S Raid On The Ineffable, Louie Alexandris

The Criterion

In the poem Four Quartets, T.S Eliot employs a fragmentary form to dramatize the disjointed continuity of time. Within the poem though, the fluctuation or fragmentation of the form is also in service to the whole by showing the unending exploration of man to reach the “still point” of divine contemplation. For Eliot, the fragmentary nature of the form in Four Quartets is in service to the whole, because the continual fluctuation of musicality embodies a journey or exploration for the “still point” of the world to achieve true contemplation. In that sense, Eliot’s poem is an artistic success, …

Moving “Passed” Life For Death, Gwyneth Morrissey

The Criterion

The paper Moving “Passed” Life for Death explores Emily Dickinson's poem #479, "Because I could not stop for Death," focusing on the theme of movement expressed through the word "passed." It analyzes the contradictory qualities of movement and stopping and how they interplay. At the same time, it looks into how the poem's periodic stopping points highlight the natural cycle of life and death, challenging the conventional and fearful understanding of dying. Dickinson's use of "passed" ultimately alludes to the persistence of life after death, altering readers' perceptions of mortality. The essay presents an intriguing interpretation of life, death, and …

“The World Withers And The Wind Rises”: Apocalyptic Language In 'The Homecoming Of Beorhtnoth' And 'The Fall Of Arthur', Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

As previously explored by the author, Tolkien’s 1930’s alliterative verses published as The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún and The Fall of Arthur make direct and repeated references to the End Times, paralleling the prominence of the apocalyptic Second Prophecy of Mandos in revisions to his Middle-earth legendarium written at that time. Similar themes can be found in Tolkien’s verse-dialogue The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth. The Homecoming’s genesis dates to the same general time period, and both The Fall of Arthur and The Homecoming describe a war-tainted world in apocalyptic tones, the environment dark (literally, figuratively, and in terms of men’s …

Orpheus And The Harrowing Of Hell In The Tale Of Beren And Lúthien, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Critics have observed that Beren and Lúthien’s tale is a Christian retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The “Harrowing of Hell” tradition is widespread in Italy as attested by the mosaic of San Marco among others, but it is in France that the Ovid Moralized reconnects it to Orpheus who descended into the Underworld to save Eurydice (an already late antique parallel) and therefore attests a happy ending version of the story that can be found in medieval England and also in various classical sources, perhaps even in the original legend of Orpheus. The apocryphal Harrowing is also …

Denial And Acceptance: A Core Myth Of Orpheus And Eurydice In The Modern Lyric, Brian O. Murdoch

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The story of Orpheus’s failed attempt to bring Eurydice back from the dead is a frequently used theme in literature and in the modern lyric in particular, and it has been the subject of sometimes excessively complex critical attention. One core of the myth, however, is the need for the living to face and to accept the fact of the death of someone close to them. Modern lyrics in different European languages—the heirs to the classical myth—make clear how Orpheus’s attempt to bring his wife back from Hades was always impossible, and that his reaction was thus a form of …

A New Nature Is Coming. We Will Be Repossessed, And The Spectres Of The Post-Natural Will Take The World. Predictions Of A New Symbiotic Earth In "Fafner" (2018) By Daniel Perez Navarro, Miguel Angel Albújar-Escuredo

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

This paper engages in the debates about decentralizing the role of men in the world we live in. Byproducts of this new mindset are concepts such as the “Posthuman” (Braidotti 2012); the status of “Holobiont” (Haraway 2016), and the experiencing of a new “Coexistence” with the non-human (Morton 2018). I suggest the novel Fafner (2018) as a perfect sample of this intellectual debate from an artistic and fictional view. Using concepts from diverse fields of thinking and applying them to literary analysis, this paper will review the in-depth transformation of nature portrayed by Fafner’s narration. Additionally, it will accomplish …

The Ghosts Of Memphis, Dale Tate

FUSION

A personal essay about one man’s musical journey to the place where it all began for him, and his battles to reconcile modern day values with the racial struggles and discrimination past times and past places. This “Personal Place Essay” was submitted for American Literature (ENGL 2130) in February 2023.

This piece was written in response to an assignment that asked students to write a personal essay based on a place to which they are connected. An experience in that place is the foundation of the essay; this experience is woven together with detailed description, reflection, and analysis of both …

Darling: An Adaptation Of "The Yellow Wallpaper", Dawniqueca A.L. Steele

FUSION

Based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the following story depicts the vacation of a young woman and her fiancé to an isolated mountain cabin. Similar to the original text, the woman gains a fixation on a specifically colored item, this being the white snow outside. The intentions of this story were to depict how misogyny and female insanity have both evolved and remained stagnant throughout time. Even though the original text featured traditional concepts of misogyny while the following focuses on modern forms, the two show the same maddening fear of a woman in the presence of inequality. …

Mother And Son, By F Odun Balogen, A Brief Analysis Through The Lens Of New Historicism, Mattie L. Frascella

FUSION

This article employs New Historicism to analyze F. Odun Balogun's short story "Mother and Son," exploring its reflection of social, political, and cultural dynamics. By examining the story through a New Historicism lens, this analysis sheds light on the complexities of navigating a rapidly changing society while acknowledging the enduring racial barriers faced by the narrator.

The essay was created in response to an assignment prompt that asked students to choose a literary theory and apply it to a story in order to argue for the story's meaning.

Protection Against Ruin: The Reality Of Judgment, Sarah B. Brooks

FUSION

This essay analyzes the works of Chekhov and Eliot in depicting the prevention of ruin in strict societies. Whether they deserve it or not, characters may face personal or societal ruin. With this understanding, this essay inspects the lives of three characters and how their decisions impact their role in society. Additionally, this essay allows readers to form their own opinions on the actions of each of the characters from Chekhov and Eliot's works. By analyzing the ideas of judgment, morality, and the merit of societal standards, this essay discusses pieces that took place in the past, but messages that …

Political Symbolism In Literature: Themes Of Colonialism, Corruption, And Greed, Ava E. Briglevich

FUSION

This Final Essay for World Literature Section 008 compares the texts “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka and “Death Constant Beyond Love” by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez while analyzing themes of colonialism, corruption, and greed. Both authors are recognized for producing works rich with political and social commentary, and reading these stories allows one to gain new perspectives on these themes. In this essay, I share insight into the events that occurred during the stories' creation that contribute to the overall themes. Additionally, I connect these themes to modern events to demonstrate how the ideas put forth by Kafka and Garcia-Marquez …

“Dito Lang Kami Sa Aming Bahay”: Kapangyarihan At Kalusugan Sa Mga Piling Aklat Pambatang Filipino Tungkol Sa Pandemyang Covid-19 (2020-2021) (“We Will Just Stay At Home”: Power Relations And Health System In Selected Filipino Children’S Books About Covid-19 Pandemic [2020-2021]), Jose Monfred C. Sy

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Sa gitna ng pandemyang COVID-19 na sumiklab noong Marso 2020, umusbong ang maraming aklat pambatang may layuning ituro sa mambabasa kung paano umiwas sa sakit at umangkop sa mga pagbabago sa pang-araw-araw na buhay buhat ng tinatawag na “new normal.” Malaki ang papel ng pagbabasa sa pag-unlad ng mga batang Pilipino na nawalan ng pagkakataong masosyalisa kasama ng kapwa bata sa mga espasyo tulad ng paaralan at palaruan. Layunin ng papel na ito na suriin kung paano inilalarawan ng mga aklat pambatang Filipino ang mga bata sa konteksto ng pandemya. Kung kinikilala ng lipunan ang pangangailangan na limitahan ang mobilidad …

The Impact Of The Gut-Brain Axis On Alzheimer’S Disease, Elissa Wakim

Best Integrated Writing

Elissa’s review for the Graduate Biomedical Review focuses on the links between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain; the gut-brain axis and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. As a student in the Microbiology and Immunology Masters Program Elissa was particularly interested in the gut microbiota and their connection to neurodegenerative disease. She tidily reviewed the literature and wrote a fascinating and compelling piece of work.

Best Integrated Writing 2024 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University. This is the first issue after a 5 year hiatus.

Western Theory’S Chinese Transformation: Postscript, Liu Kang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Out Of The Myths Of “Revolutionary China”: Liu Kang Versus Žižek & Badiou, Liu Xin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The highlight of the 2011 special issue of Positions on Slavoj Žižek is the debate between Liu Kang and Žižek on “Revolutionary China.” It unpacks the Western left’s political unconsciousness and myths about China in several respects. First, revolution is not a parody-travesty of the “tradition” that Žižek concocts from romanticized fantasies of a “retrospective tradition” drawn from Jorge Luis Borges and T. S. Eliot. Second, revolution is not Alain Badiou’s “truth event,” which tends to reduce the Chinese Cultural Revolution to an abstract “event” in process, neglecting the real calamities of the so-called utopian experiment. Third, the key problematic …

Two Imagined Chinas In Tel Quel, Wang Yichen

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

From the mid-1960s, the literary review Tel Quel shifted its anti-traditional and avant-garde stance in arts and literature toward politics within the radical political context in France. Its editor Philippe Sollers initiated a “political turn,” marked by its transformation from its “structuralist period” to its “China period.” Its “China period” inadvertently created a “textual spectacle” of two imagined Chinas: first, a poetic, static “ancient China” represented by Daoism (Taoism), Chinese ideograms, and classical Chinese art and poetry; and second, a revolutionary, subversive “modern China” represented by Maoism along with Lu Xun and other left-wing writers. Taking appropriation, rather than misreading, …

Deleuze’S Challenge To Hegel’S Aesthetics—Chinese Aesthetics In The Confrontation Between German Classical Aesthetics And Postmodernism, Wu Yuyu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

German classical aesthetics, featuring a systematic analysis of concepts and theories, plays a fundamental role in the founding of Chinese modern aesthetics. From the 1980s, when the spread of Western theories began to flourish, Chinese scholars assimilated deconstructionist thought (for example, that of Deleuze) and started to reflect on German classical aesthetics as represented by Kant and Hegel. Chinese aesthetics presents various characteristics in the confrontation between German classical aesthetics and French deconstructionist thought. From the perspective of German classical aesthetics, China has no philosophy, tragedy, or system. The Chinese culture became a thinking resource for criticizing essentialism and dualism …

French Left-Wing Literary Theory And Mao Zedong Thought, Han Zhenjiang, Zhang Yuling

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

French left-wing literary theories have continued to accept and interpret Mao Zedong’s thought (including his theories on literature and art) from the 1960s to today. This intellectual communication enabled the formation of Louis Althusser’s structural Marxism and contemporary left-wing literary theory. Mao’s theory of contradiction and his thoughts on reliance on the popular masses, aesthetics and politics, and people’s literature and art are the major intellectual resources for Louis Althusser’s, Alain Badiou’s, and Slavoj Žižek’s theories and are fully integrated into their theoretical system and critical practice. Althusser, Badiou, and Žižek innovated materialistic dialectics on the basis of Mao’s theory …

“China Form” And The Question Of The Frankfurt School, Duan Jifang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Theories of the Frankfurt School were introduced into aesthetics studies in China at the end of the 1970s. After more than 40 years of theoretical journey, the ideas of the Frankfurt School have undergone a process from “criticism/query/opposition” to “recognition/acceptance/approval,” and have also substantially completed “theoretical linkage” with Chinese aesthetics. As a Western discourse, the theories of the Frankfurt School, like other theories, are faced with scrutinization in the Chinese context. China’s acceptance of the School plays an objective role in promoting the transformation of its contemporary aesthetic discourse, making contemporary aesthetic research in China more obvious in its problem …

Knowledge Production In The Theory Of Literature And Art In Contemporary China: From A Generations Perspective, Tao Dongfeng, Zhang Chun

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In the field of theory of literature and art (i.e., the discipline of Wenyi xue) in contemporary China, the post-1930s and the post-1950s generations (scholars who were born between 1930 and 1939 and between 1950 and 1959, respectively) are the most influential ones. They are father and son generations both in a physiological and a sociocultural sense; both occupied or are still occupying important positions in Chinese academia. Their profound differences in life experiences, educational background, intellectual structures, cultural stances, and literary perspectives significantly affect their knowledge production in Chinese literary theory. This article attempts to use Karl Mannheim’s …

Chinese Modern Leftist Affect And Aesthetic-Affective Modernity In The Global Affective Turn, Yan Fang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Influenced by China’s distinctive “qing” tradition, ranging from the “affective Enlightenment” to the sentimental/affective revolution, both China’s modern Enlightenment movement and the Chinese leftists’ endeavors for social transformation and revolution heavily relied on the emotions and affect, especially those within literature, art, and aesthetics. The dyna mics of “moods” proposed by Qu Qiubai, the “national form” movement, and the Maoist affect not only foreshadowed and actualized but also enriched the conceptualizations of feelings, emotions, and affect by Western theorists such as Gramsci, Raymond Williams, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Rancière. With its meticulous portrayal and innovative theorization of the …