Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Uncertain Identity: Medical Practitioners In Doctor Thorne And Middlemarch, Denis Illige-Saucier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The medical practitioners who play leading roles in the novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope are examples of a new breed of professional medical men that emerged during the middle of the nineteenth century in England. The new class of general practitioners held licenses from the old hierarchical system of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, but they were the driving force in favor of reform and professionalization in medicine. The 1858 Medical Act was an important step on the path toward a new conception of the medical practitioner, and the development of that new medical identity …

Replacing The Priest: Tradition, Politics, And Religion In Early Modern Irish Drama., Leslie Ann Valley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Ireland's identity was continually pulled between its loyalties to Catholicism and British imperialism. In response to this conflict of identity, W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory argued the need for an Irish theatre that was demonstrative of the Irish people, returning to the literary traditions to the Celtic heritage. What resulted was a questioning of religion and politics in Ireland, specifically the Catholic Church and its priests. Yeat's own drama removed the priests from the stage and replaced them with characters demonstrative of those literary traditions, establishing what he called a "new …

The Passions And Self-Esteem In Mary Astell's Early Feminist Prose, Kathleen A. Ahearn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the influence of Cambridge Platonism and materialist philosophy on Mary Astell's early feminism. More specifically, I argue that Astell co-opts Descartes's theory of regulating the passions in his final publication, The Passions of the Soul, to articulate a comprehensive, Enlightenment and body friendly theory of feminine self-esteem that renders her feminism modern. My analysis of Astell's theory of feminine self-esteem follows both textual and contextual cues, thus allowing for a reorientation of her early feminism vis-a-vis contemporary feminist theory. An entire chapter in the dissertation is devoted to Astell's use of Descartes's theory of regulating the …

Pow/Mic: Prisoners Of Words/Missing In Canon: Liberating The Neglected British War Poets Of The Great War., Larry T. French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the First World War ended in 1918 and anthologies began to emerge, limited attention has been paid to the poets of this era. While a few select male poets have achieved canonicity, women war poets of this era have fallen into enigmatic obscurity.

The intention of this paper is to expound, explicate, and expose the difficulties relating to gaining entry into the canon of English literature, especially where the poets of The Great War are concerned. This paper discusses the absence of the most profound and foreshadowing poems written during the war through research of scholarly journals and out-of-print …

In The Wor(L)D But Not Of It : Literacy Practices Of An Amish Community In Southeast Ohio., Tabetha Adkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following in the tradition of scholars who treat literacy in context such as Deborah Brandt, Shirley Brice Heath, and David Barton and Mary Hamilton, I conducted my dissertation research not in an academic classroom but in the valleys of Hanley, a (pseudonym for a) town in southern Ohio, where I visited Amish homes, farms, and businesses. Using Brandt's model in Literacy in American Lives , I interviewed 25 Amish men, women, and children to study the uses of literacy in school, church, work, and daily life. I also attended community events such as an auction and a wedding to observe …

Jean Toomer And Carl Van Vechten: Identity, Exploitation, And The Harlem Renaissance, Phil Shaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jean Toomer's Cane is considered one of the literary achievements of the Harlem Renaissance, though the many of his philosophical ideas which inspired it are dismissed. Inversely, Carl Van Vechten's influence as an advocate and patron of African American art is foundational though his Nigger Heaven is dismissed. However, there are commonalities in each authors identity positioning and subsequent exploitation of the black Harlem Renaissance ethos. Further, their utilization of Gurdjieffian principles of objectivity and primitivist images of blacks links and explains, in part, how their identities contributed to the ideas expressed in the novels.

One Of Us: Joseph Conrad's Under Western Eyes And A Personal Record, Torgeir Ehler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This present work explores the relationship of Joseph Conrad's status as a Polish exile to his creative and biographical work. Its main focus is on the tandem publications of the novel Under Western Eyes and his autobiographical volume A Personal Record, both published within a year of each other and written contemporaneously. The first chapter is a short biographical survey of Conrad's life and addresses some later biographical works by his wife, among others. An overview of critical works that deal with Under Western Eyes is presented in the second chapter. An investigation into narrative structure and its use in …

Bloudy Tygrisses: Murderous Women In Early Modern English Drama And Popular Literature, Alexandra Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines artistic and literary images of murderous women in popular print published in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England. The construction of murderous women in criminal narratives, published between 1558 and 1625 in pamphlet, ballad, and play form, is examined in the context of contemporary historical records and cultural discourse. Chapter One features a literature review of the topic in recent scholarship. Chapter Two, comprised of two subsections, discusses representations of early modern women in contemporary literature and criminal archives. The subsections in Chapter Two examine early modern treatises, sermons, and essays concerning the nature of women, the roles and …

Cultural Power And Utopianism In Laurie Halse Anderson's Prom And M.T. Anderson's Feed, Leah Dinatale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: Resourcefully and responsibly obtaining a sense of power is central to quality young adult literature. Laurie Halse Anderson's Prom and M.T. Anderson's Feed show their adolescent protagonists' struggles with identity formation, consumerism, and the adult world. In order to address power relationships, the two novels address the rise of a global electronic and print media system that collapses traditional notions of time and space and the excessive consumption associated with the culture such a system creates. However, these two novels explore postmodern consumer culture from different perspectives. Prom functions as a utopian, revisionist fairy tale in which the …