Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Teaching Italian Romanticism Through Philately And Choral Works, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

Philately and choral works can be excellent integrative pedagogical tools when teaching Italian Romanticism at the undergraduate level. In the classroom, postage stamps provide an historical narrative for students and can help clarify the political, artistic and cultural mood of the time. The intrinsic symbolism of stamps represents the way a nation wants to be seen by the rest of the world. Instrumental and choral music, in their infinite combination of tones, combine sound with sung words, creating an artistic subtext that reveals the complexity and variety of human aesthetic expression. For the current generation of students accustomed to visual …

Impartiality: A Comparison Of Legal Processes In The United States And Italy, Robert Borden

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the constitutional guarantees of impartiality granted in both the United States and Italian constitutions. Aided by the presentation of these two constitutional legal systems, this paper will attempt to break apart the elements of each system and point out key differences. By pointing out the differences in these systems including variations in their founding documents, the structure of the courts, the role of the judges, the role of the advocates, and the role of other key players, this paper will show that while individual cases in both countries are exposed to multiple biases throughout the legal process, …

When Good Girls Go Bad (Or Do They?): Nymphomania And Lycanthropy In Verga’S “La Lupa”, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

At some point during early development, most children are afraid of the imaginary wolf under the bed or the wolf that hides in the closet at night. Traditional bedtime stories such as Little Red Riding Hood certainly do not help assuage such fears: these are atavistic dreads, similar to being scared of the dark or of death.1 In childhood culture, the wolf represents the “other,” the “furry non-human,” and almost always the viciously violent. Later, as adults, the occasional dream of wolverine violence, or of human transformation into a wolf (a lycanthropic aversion) might very well create anxiety and apprehension.2 …

Dante’S Divine Comedy: A Pastoral Subversion, Katie Francom

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

This paper attempts to widen the scholarly understanding of Dante’s use of pastoral modes within The Divine Comedy. By examining typical pastoral themes, Dante’s use of Virgil as a guide, and the presence of pastoral themes within the Comedy, this paper will ultimately assert that Dante completely reshapes the pastoral genre, taking it from its typically pagan history and giving it new, Christian meaning. By so doing he makes his beautifully artistic story into an enlightening spiritual journey for the reader.

Redefining Place Through The Mazarinades: The Pont-Neuf And The Place Royale, Nathan Kent Jellen

Theses and Dissertations

In 1649, during the Fronde Parlementaire (1648-1650), Paris was teetering between opposing political camps that were trying to seize control of the city. The city's bourgeois parliament, in open rebellion to the political policies of King Louis XIV's Chief Minister, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, was raising an army and threatening to oust the Italian imposter. With the rise in violence within the city limits, Parisian printers and booksellers began circulating political propaganda in the form of booklets, mini-plays, brochures, and pamphlets that came to be known as mazarinades. Because these mazarinades—which took their name from the very man they were either …

The Multidimensional Quality Metric (Mqm) Framework: A New Framework For Translation Quality Assessment, Valerie Ruth Mariana

Theses and Dissertations

This document is a supplement to the article entitled “The Multidimensional Quality Metric (MQM) Framework: A New Framework for Translation Quality Assessment”, which has been acepted for publication in the upcoming January volume of JoSTrans, the Journal of Specialized Translation. The article is a coauthored project between Dr. Alan K. Melby, Dr. Troy Cox and myself. In this document you will find a preface describing the process of writing the article, an annotated bibliography of sources consulted in my research, a summary of what I learned, and a conclusion that considers the future avenues opened up by this research. Our …

Decanting The Rabelaisian Casks: Democratizing Neoplatonic Poetic Fury In Baudelaire's “L’Âme Du Vin”, Kristen Ballieu

Theses and Dissertations

The following document is a meta-commentary on the article "Decanting the Rabelaisian Casks: Democratizing Neoplatonic Poetic Fury in Baudelaire's 'L’âme du vin'," co-authored by Dr. Robert J. Hudson and myself, which will soon be submitted for publication. It contains an annotated bibliography of all our primary and secondary sources and an account of the genesis of the argument and the writing of the article. Our article is based upon an analysis of "‘L’âme du vin," the threshold poem of "Le Vin," the central section of Charles Baudelaire's celebrated volume Les Fleurs du Mal. As we demonstrate, previous scholarship on this …

Remembering The Haitian Revolution Through French Texts: Victor Hugo's Bug-Jargal And Alphonse De Lamartine's Toussaint Louverture, Irene Joyce Kim Stone

Theses and Dissertations

The Haitian Revolution was the first successful slave revolt in history. And even though Haiti declared independence from France in 1804, most French civilization textbooks do not include this important event. From an economic standpoint, France depended on its imports from Saint-Domingue (Haiti's pre-revolutionary name); and from a philosophical standpoint, the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue originated from ideas that came from French philosophers preaching the Rights of Man. Studying the Haitian Revolution within the context of the French Revolution provides a perspective that highlights the complex relationship between France and its colonies as well as religion's displaced role after 1789. …

From Theory To Practice: Translating Ying Chen's Les Lettres Chinoises, Sunny Ann Hendry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Ying Chen's Les Lettres Chinoises through the lenses of literary translation, migrant writing and epistolary genres, as well as through critical theory of Chen's poetics in order to inform a translation of said novel from French into English. This theoretical groundwork is accompanied by analysis of the process of the translation, including specifications, methods used, and justifications for translation decisions. Les Lettres Chinoises is Ying Chen's second novel, written in French rather than her native Chinese language. Spanning a fifty-seven letter exchange between Shanghai and Montreal, Chen's choice to write in language other than her first, as …

"Une Transformation Profonde": Decay And Beauty In Cléo From 5 To 7, Susan J. Garver

Theses and Dissertations

Cléo from 5 to 7 is perhaps the most famous work of influential French filmmaker Agnès Varda, who is often called the "Grande Dame of the New Wave". The depth of symbolism, the richness of imagery, the beginnings of cinécriture (a Varda-ism describing cinema as a form of writing that uses all the tools available to a filmmaker, not just words), and the charm of the story have guaranteed Cléo's popularity with scholars and audiences alike. Current scholarship has tended to focus on a few aspects of Cléo, including her role as a flâneuse, the use of …

Governing Gorée: France In West Africa Following The Seven Years' War, Andrew G. Skabelund

Theses and Dissertations

In 1763, France had just suffered a devastating loss to the British in the Seven Years' War. In almost an instant, France's claims to West Africa shrank to the tiny island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal and a few trading posts on the mainland. This drastic reversal of fortunes forced France to reevaluate its place in the world and rethink its overall imperial objectives and colonial strategies, and in an effort to regroup, the French Empire sent a new governor, Pierre François Guillaume Poncet de la Rivière, on a mission to regain its foothold in West Africa. From …

Knightly Bird Vows: A Case Study In Late Medieval Courtly Culture, Liel Y. Boyce

Theses and Dissertations

In the late Middle Ages, there was a series of instances wherein knights vowed upon birds. Two of these, the first and the last, are historical events: The Feast of the Swans with Edward I in England on 22 May 1306 and the Feast of the Pheasant with Philip the Good in the duchy of Burgundy on 17 February 1454. Edward I held the Feast of the Swans as part of his son's dubbing ceremony, including the entire court taking vows on two swans. The Feast of the Pheasant was an elaborate banquet that Philip the Good used to gather …

Redemption In The Life And Work Of Camille Claudel, Haleigh Heaps Burgon

Theses and Dissertations

Camille Claudel is a sculptor who has traditionally been approached in terms of her relationship to Rodin and his influence on her work. Indeed, the two shared a passionate relationship and there are certainly similarities between the two sculptors' work which provide for fascinating analyses. However, one of the acknowledged but previously unexplored speculations on Claudel's art suggests that it involves a measure of veiled spirituality sealed within its stone. It is precisely this sacred element within her sculptures that offers viewers an opportunity to experience transcendence while identifying with fundamental themes. Furthermore, Claudel created her figures as a method …

A Comparative Analysis Of Text Usage And Composition In Goscinny's Le Petit Nicolas, Goscinny's Astérix, And Albert Uderzo's Astérix, Dennis Scott Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to analyze the textual composition of René Goscinny’s Astérix and Le petit Nicolas, demonstrating how they differ and why. Taking a statistical look at the comparative qualities of each series of works, the structural differences and similarities in language use in these two series and their respective media are highlighted and compared. Though one might expect more complicated language use in traditional text by virtue of its format, analysis of average word length, average sentence length, lexical diversity, the prevalence of specific forms (the passé composé, possessive pronouns, etc.), and preferred collocations …

Maurice Scève, Lyonnais: Identité Régionale, Topographie Urbaine Et Lyrisme Dans La Délie, Elise Agathe Alice Danguy

Theses and Dissertations

Ce document est une méta-narration de l‘article « Maurice Scève, Lyonnais: Identité régionale, topographie urbaine et lyrisme dans la Délie » écrit par Professeur Robert J. Hudson et moi-même, et que nous espérons voir publier d‘ici peu. Il contient une bibliographie annotée de toutes les sources primaires et secondaires consultées, d‘un compte rendu du processus d‘écriture de l‘article ainsi que l‘analyse de plusieurs dizains nécessaires pour soutenir l‘argument principal de l‘article. Notre article traite la façon dont Maurice Scève, un poète lyonnais du 16e siècle, utilise la topographie lyonnaise afin de se définir comme Lyon mais aussi comme auteur …

Sacred Union And Sacred Violence In Tournier's Gilles Et Jeanne, David Doyle Drake

Theses and Dissertations

Written in 1983, the novella Gilles et Jeanne seems to be one of Michel Tournier's simpler works at first glance. Yet, for all of its simplicity, Tournier does not repress his desire to lace the tale with metaphoric and metaphysical symbolism. It is through a symbolic marriage on the battlefield that Tournier links the two characters in a sort of mystical union. All of the crimes following this ritual that precipitated Gilles descent into depravity were in fact an attempt to reunite with the departed spirit of his "spouse", either by mimetically recreating the circumstances of her death, or by …

The War Without A Name: The Use Of Propaganda In The Decolonization War Of Algeria, Benjamin J. Sparks

Theses and Dissertations

The Algerian war for independence, 1954-1962, also known as the War Without a Name due to its lack of recognition as a war by the French government, remains an indelible scar on the face of France. The Algerian war represents one of the most critical moments in modern French history since the French Revolution (Le Sueur 256), putting into question the motto of the French republic, "liberté, égalité, fraternité". This thesis will show that although the French won the war militarily they lost the war of ideas, that of propaganda and persuasion. Thus, this thesis will demonstrate that propaganda by …

The Partisan And His Doppelganger: The Case Of Primo Levi, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

Published in 1982, Se non ora, quando? (If Not Now, When?) is Primo Levi's first novel proper. Perhaps Primo Levi is regretted not fully living life as an Italian Jewish partisan that he re-created his lost dream through its pages, and had his partisan brigade not been captured, perhaps Levi's underground fighting might have continued until the end of the war. If Not Now, When? thus might reflect Levi's need to explore that sought-after life as a partisan, which he had been denied after only three months of activity. Did Live write If Not Now, When? as a …

Reconciling The Controversy Of Animal Cruelty And The Shoah: A Look At Primo Levi's Compassionate Writings, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

Is it ethically admissible to compare the suffering of Jews during World War II to the general suffering of animals in the Western world? Who considers this parallel to be morally obscene, and who supports the comparison? Based on the historical evidence of Nazis insulting Jews with animal verbiage and herding them into the gas chambers of concentration camps, this study looks at a few textual examples by the Italian Jewish author Primo Levi, finding a conciliatory position in his poetry and prose.

Walters Ms W720: Chapters To Be Observed By The Singers Of The Cappella Giulia (1574), Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

The manuscript W720 that bears the title Capitoli che hanno da osseruare gli Cantori della Cappella di San Pietro is an unstudied and unpublished document held in the archives of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the earliest surviving written texts of its kind, W720 documents in detail the rules that the singers of the Julian Chapel had to obey during the year 1574. The following critical edition of the manuscript and the accompanying English translation are intended to provide materials that will assist Renaissance specialists in a number of areas (art history, philology, history, musicology, …

Queening: Chess And Women In Medieval And Renaissance France, Regina L. O'Shea

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the correlation between the game of chess and social conditions for women in both medieval and Renaissance France. Beginning with an introduction to the importance and symbolism of the game in European society and the teaching of the game to European nobility, this study theorizes how chess relates to gender politics in early modern France and how the game's evolution reflects the changing role of women. I propose that modifications to increase the directional and quantitative abilities of the Queen piece made at the close of the fifteenth century reflect changing attitudes towards women of the period, …

Sport As Art: The Female Athlete In French Literature, Christina Ann Tsaturyan

Theses and Dissertations

The modern conception of organized, codified sport originated in Europe during the 19th century. At this time, instructors began to institute the practice of certain physical activities at school as a means of teaching morals, forming character, and initiating social exchange. Sport is particularly appropriate for forming men because of its public, physical nature. The values it instills—courage, strength, leadership—are also decidedly masculine. What, then, is made of the female athlete? Are the noble qualities that sports affirm inapplicable to women? In this thesis, I argue that female participation in sports often leads to masculinization, unless the sport is transformed …

« Pour La Patrie, Par La Montagne » : Illustration De L’Imaginaire De La Conquête Dans Tartarin Sur Les Alpes D’Alphonse Daudet Et Là-Haut D’Édouard Rod, Anabelle Stephania Selway

Theses and Dissertations

La période 1870-1914 est une ère de paix relative pour la France. Apres la défaite de 1870, la politique revancharde française ranime les efforts impérialistes de colonisation en Afrique et dans les iles. Cet élan colonialiste se traduit dans la pratique du sport qui gagne de popularité et devient le moyen idéal d’acheminer les idéaux républicains. L’alpinisme et la course aux sommets des Alpes deviennent alors symboliques de l’imaginaire de conquête présent dans l’esprit de la bourgeoisie européenne.

Bien que ce phénomène soit l’objet de plusieurs études historico-culturelles, telles que celles d’Olivier Hoibian, Philippe Joutard et Dominique Lejeune, rares sont …

Nationalism In Charles De Gaulle's Speeches During World War Ii, Mayavel Amado

Theses and Dissertations

In a world where conflicts and supranational entities have emerged, nationalism has become an important topic for scholars in different fields. While much debate exists on what this term actually means and encompass, little attention has been paid to the rhetoric of nationalist leaders. Through scholarly and popular literature nationalism has often been confused with patriotism and populism. This work intends to look at what nationalism is, based on patterns drawn from observations in the rhetoric of nationalist leaders (sometimes opposing them to populist rhetoric) and at the same time it intends to expose Charles de Gaulle's nationalism in his …

La Misogynie À Visage Féminin: Hircan's Role As Marguerite's Anti-Feminist Voice In The Heptaméron (Vii & Xlix), Gregory Richard Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

The following document is a meta-commentary on the article, "La misogynie à visage féminin: Hircan's Role as Marguerite's Anti-feminist Voice in the Heptaméron (VII & XLIX)," co-authored by Dr. Robert J. Hudson and myself, which will shortly be submitted for publication. It contains an annotated bibliography of all our primary and secondary sources and an account of writing the article. Our article examines what Marguerite de Navarre, the sixteenth-century French Renaissance author of the Heptaméron (a collection 72 nouvelles, all supposedly true stories being told by a group of ten devisants to one another), intended by her …

"Life Is Beautiful, Or Is It?" Asked Jakob The Liar, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

In 1999 the 71st Academy Awards ceremony awarded to the film The Last Days the prize for Best Documentary Feature. Underwritten by Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, this documentary depicts in a compelling, historically objective fashion what the Nazi regime called the "Endlösung" ["Final Solution"]: the effort to annihilate all of European Jewry. In the film, five Hungarian survivors are interviews with honesty and compassion. Their answers record history as it unwound. Clearly, the intent of the interviews is to assure that historical facts are not falsified, nor taken for granted. Documentaries of this kind can …

The Search For The Sacred In Gabrielle Roy, Ann Elizabeth Sumsion

Theses and Dissertations

Many anthropological studies have shown the prevalence of the sacred in primitive societies, manifested primarily in significant gestures such as exchanges, rituals, festivals, and the use of time and space. Some studies, in particular those of Roger Caillois and Mircea Eliade, have demonstrated that traces of the sacred, though seemingly displaced, remain present in modern and secular societies. This thesis will examine and bring to light these remnants of sacred behavior in the contemporary settings of the stories of Gabrielle Roy, focusing primarily on food-sharing, gift-giving, and festivals. Each analysis presented will detail how different aspects of the sacred are …

Images Of Corsica In France: Travel Memoirs And 19th Century Writers, James Oliver Mayo

Theses and Dissertations

Considered an integral part of Metropolitan France, the island of Corsica is situated nonetheless on the very periphery of the modern state that claims it. Actually situated geographically closer to Italy than to any part of France, its culture and its people are likewise more closely related to their Italians neighbors than to the rest of what Corsicans term "Continental France." Following the acquisition of Corsica, both government officials and bourgeois travelers would seek to visit the island, often recording their findings and publishing these memoirs for others to know of their travels. This concept of travel memoirs, specifically those …

Female Allegory As Anti-Nationalist Satire In "L'Attaque Du Moulin" And "Boule De Suif", Deborah Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

The year 1880 was rife with nationalist fervor and a general glorification of the French nation through imagery, literature and legislation. However, at this same time, Les Soirées de Médan, a collection of stories concerning the Franco-Prussian war also appear, bringing with them a distinctly anti-nationalist, harsh, and unforgiving view of the war and France's role in it. This thesis will examine personifications of France within L'attaque du Moulin and Boule de suif, the first two texts of Les Soirées de Médan, and their definite lack of the nationalist enthusiasm that characterized the time of their creation. The study of …

In The Company Of Cheaters (16th-Century Aristocrats And 20th-Century Gangsters), Mark Cammeron Murdock

Theses and Dissertations

This document contains a meta-commentary on the article that I co-authored with Dr. Corry Cropper entitled Breaking the Duel's Rules: Brantôme, Mérimée, and Melville, that will be published in the next issue of Essays in French Literature and Culture, and an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources featuring summaries and important quotes dealing with duels, honor, honor codes, cheating, historical causality, chance, and sexuality. Also, several examples of film noir are cited with brief summaries and key events noted. The article we wrote studies two instances of cheating in duels: one found in Brantôme's Discours sur les duels and …