Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Electronic Books: An Overview Of The First Two Generations., Todd O. Doman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The electronic text reading device, or e-book, is an idea that has reached the implementation stage. Technology has only recently made possible the production of a device to challenge the printed book’s dominance as the media for information transmission. These microprocessor-based devices are attempts to exceed the limitations of printed texts while retaining their strengths. Two generations of these devices, and the companies that created them, have reached the marketplace.

This thesis provides a short history of electronic text readers and gives an overview of the first and second generations. The issues that will affect the adoption of the e-book …

A La Découverte D'Une Perle Francaise: L'Identité De Marguerite De Valois Définie Par Son Choix De Références [Discovering A French Pearl: Marguerite De Valois' Identity As Defined By Her Choice Of References], Jenifer Ann Branton-Desris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marguerite de Valois reveals a self-portrait through the references found in her writings. Whether the references are in the third person, the second person (the addressee), or the first person (the “self’), Marguerite always chooses references which reflect several of her own personnality traits. By studying the precise references found in each of these categories, it is possible to develop a self-portrait of this sixteenth-century queen. An analysis of the references found in all of Marguerite de Valois’s writings is the focus of this study. Her writings include the Mémoire iustificatif pour Henri de Bourbon, the Discours docte et …

Finding Poetry In Nature, Tammis Coffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Finding poetry in nature is a project about cultivating receptivity and curiosity to the experiences of the natural world. It is about using language imaginatively to deepen a responsiveness and respectfulness towards nature. The project is allied with movements in Environmental Education and Language Arts Education that address sense of place and "place-based" education. My discoveries take the form of a literature review, a set of facilitation techniques, and samples of my own nature writing. An exploration of a sense of place is enriched by actively integrating four different perceptual paths. Attentiveness to sensory and imaginative impressions as well as …

Words And Music In Communion: An Analysis Of Guillaume De Machaut's "Le Lay De La Fonteinne" In Cultural Context, Patricia A. Turcic

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fourteenth-century France exhibits the effects of an era grappling for an identity through its language, poetry and music. Amidst intellectual rigidity and diurnal despair, this transitional period enfeebled by medieval traditions yet aspired to humanist artistry. Guillaume de Machaut, illustrious poet-composer in the medieval myth, offered a means of embellishing life through a variety of secular songs. In particular, the lay, a twelve-stanza traditional form and predecessor to the “virelai,” “ballade,” and “rondeau,” permitted this versatile artist to musically integrate divergent but equally imposing strains in fourteenth- century French culture. By means of rhythmic and poetic juxtaposition, traditional and innovative …

Laurel, Mississippi: A Historical Perspective., David Stanton Key

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laurel, Mississippi, exemplifies the new southern development that occurred in the years following Reconstruction. Coinciding with continental rail building and the depletion of northern timber resources, Laurel emerged as one of Mississippi's great industrial centers. Laurel's survival after the early twentieth century timber boom predicated itself on the diversification of its industry coupled with the continued growth of its infrastructure. Although Laurel's industrial ascension is not unique in the annals of southern history, its duality regarding northern capitalistic impulses and southern labor and material serves as a successful industrial model in the era of "cut out and get out" sawmill …

Weaving Accessibility And Art In Marilou Awiakta's Selu: Seeking The Corn-Mother's Wisdom., James David Basinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Selu: Seeking the Corn-MotherÆs Wisdom, Awiakta enlists the reader to participate on the path to knowing Selu, Corn-Mother to us all. In particular, the book provides a reader with a text that blends ancient Cherokee teachings of the oral tale of Selu with contemporary Western, Appalachian-American thought and experience. Awiakta adopts and adapts Selu in order to capture and express the essence of the tale within a contemporary American aesthetic.

Though Awiakta's approach is didactic, it rises above mere teaching to achieve an aesthetic characterized by accessibility, simultaneity, and liminality. She purposely combines stories, poems, teachings, histories, and cultural …

Eliza Haywood's Feigning Femmes Fatale: Desirous And Deceptive Women In "Fantomina," Love In Excess, And The History Of Miss Betsy Thoughtless., Emily Kathryn Booth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the pages of Eliza Haywood's novels, masquerade is often used by female characters as a means by which to gain control or power. More specifically, Haywood's female characters often misrepresent themselves as a means by which to achieve sexual power and even to obtain sexual gratification.

Haywood also explores the theme of women's uses of deception and even disguise as methods by which to skirt the confines of a male dominated society and as modes devoted to escaping the boundaries they inflict upon themselves in trying to maintain their virtue.

Remembering The Forgotten Genocide: Armenia In The First World War., Dana Renee Smythe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Ottoman Empire was in serious decline by the late nineteenth century. Years of misrule, war, and oppression of its various nationalities had virtually driven the Turks from Europe, leaving the weakened Empire on the verge of collapse. By the 1870s the Armenians were the most troubling group, having gained international sympathy at the Congress of Berlin. As a result, violence against the Armenians had escalated dramatically by the turn of the century. They felt, however, that their fortune had changed when the liberal Young Turks seized power from the Sultan in 1908. Unfortunately, the Young Turks had a much …

Figurative Sculpture In Paper Clay., Valarie G. Lyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition at East Tennessee State University, Carroll Reece Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee, March 9 - 17, 2001. The exhibition marked her return to organic, gestural work. Works are figurative, ceramic, sculpture, made of paper clay, ranging from 8-inch, wall mounted, bas-relief to life sized, full round figures. Most are slab constructed, unglazed or lightly glazed with soda wash.

Topics discussed: the artist's development, including the influences of Stephen De Staebler, in his treatment of the individual in mass culture, and of Mary Frank, in psychological content and in the use of negative …

Discovery Through Numeric Strata: A Balance Of Form And Aesthetics., Marc Ian Sonenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is in support of my Master of Fine Arts exhibition in the Carroll Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University. It describes a body of work that strives for a balance of form and aesthetics. Chapter 1 charts how I refined my personal stylistic qualities. Chapter 2 gives a brief overview of the history of ceramics techique. Chapter 3 discusses the surface treatment and construction of the pieces in the show. Chapter 4 presents each piece in chronological order.

Fight The Power: Protest, Showdown And Civil Rights Activity In Three Southern Cities, 1960-1965., Kyle Thomas Scanlan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the significant events of the Civil Rights Movement from 1960 to 1965, examining the campaigns of Albany, Georgia in 1962, Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and Selma, Alabama in 1965. In the wake of the freedom rides of 1960-61, Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference was looking for a way to dramatically reveal the racial injustice of the South. Stumbling into a campaign in Albany, SCLC found thr right method in the use of nonviolent direct action. While Albany was a failure, it was this campaign that led to the campaigns of Birmingham and Selma which led …

God In The Darkness: Mysticism And Paradox In The Poetry Of George Herbert And Henry Vaughan., Elizabeth Anne Acker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While aspects of mysticism appear in the poetry of both George Herbert and Henry Vaughan, the general consensus among critics has acknowledged the mysticism of Vaughan while ignoring its roots in Herbert's writings. Among the leading authorities on the poetry of Herbert, there has been a general tendency to dismiss, ignore, or explain away mystical elements. A study of representative works by prominent critics to ascertain their positions on this issue reveals not only what can be known for certain about Herbert's theology, but also the interpretations that have been offered for his most famous poems. While these interpretations are …

Oscar Wilde: Constructing The Self, Elisabeth Erin Pankl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Oscar Wilde's construction of the self. Three major aspects of Wildean literary work serve as handles for this thesis examination. They are the Wildean interpretation of theoria, Wilde's literary technique and philosophical assertion of masks and poses and Wilde's favor of the social dandy.

In addition to these three aspects, this thesis utilizes four of Wilde's works as primary sources. These are The Pictureo f Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, "The Decay of Lying," and "The Critic as Artist."

Like most current critiques of Wilde, this thesis relies on many of the reading strategies of …

Teaching The Arts Through The Appalachian Culture: A Proposal For A High-School Class., Valerie Renee Pitts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because of a demonstrable need, there should be a course for the study of Appalachian art in the high school curriculum. This study is a proposal for the study of traditional Appalachian art and its importance to the promotion and preservation of the arts and crafts in the Appalachian region.

This course consists of background information on selected traditional Appalachian art, contact and interaction with local artists and craftspeople, and student hands-on experience in the art forms considered. Detailed unit and lesson plans are included in the following areas: Spinning and Weaving, Dyeing, Basketry, Quilting, Pottery, Woodcarving, Blacksmithing, Vernacular Architecture, …

Isaac Bashevis Singer: Speak English, Think Yiddish-- Adaptation Versus Assimilation., Susan L. Gardberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Critics use the words "vanished culture" to describe Isaac Bashevis Singer's work for Polish Jewry had been destroyed. However, Singer's characters survive the travails of anti-Semitism and resettle in America. This study explores Singer's Polish Jews to determine whether they assimilate into their new culture; or maintain their strong Jewish traditions and adapt to the freedoms of America.

Singer's life is analyzed, including the people and places that have influenced his work. Two of Singer's works are examined in this thesis. Chapters Three and Four explicate an allegorical short story, "The Little Shoemakers." Singer writes a fairytale view of a …

A Comparative Analysis Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle And Emile Zola's Germinal., Mouhamedoul Amine Niang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to demonstrate that Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was modeled upon Emile Zola's Germinal. A comparative analysis of their novels is the method by which the latter statement is substantiated. A close reading of these works unveils their overlappings in terms of characterization, theme and narrative. Following the introduction, the second chapter focuses on both authors' character constructions with the purpose of tracing the modeling process. The third chapter is a discussion of their similar thematic issues. The penultimate chapter deals with the identical formats of the writers' plots. Authorial differences are also considered in this work, but …

The End Of Camelot: An Examination Of The Presidency Of John F. Kennedy In 1963., Christina Paige Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses events and issues that occurred in 1963, how President Kennedy responded to them, and what followed after Kennedy's assassination. This thesis was created by using books published about Kennedy, articles from magazines, documents, telegrams, speeches, and Internet sources. What has been disclosed is that many of the legends attributed to Kennedy simply are not true. In examining this thesis, the reader will understand what Kennedy's political interests were and the impact of his Presidency on future generations.

Khōn: Masked Dance Drama Of The Thai Epic Ramakien, Amolwan Kiriwat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will analyze and document khon, which is a masked dance drama, This thesis will present the history and and the Ramakien, which is the Thai epic. structure of khon and show how it is used to present the story of the Ramakien. In addition, it will discuss the training artists to participate in these dramas, and the value of these traditional theatre presentations in understanding the culture of Thailand. Khon is a Thai classical court masked dance whose history dates back hundreds of years. It employs many aspects of the arts: drama, dance, pantomime, and music. The costumes …

Women At The Loom: Handweaving In Washington County, Tennessee, 1840-1860., Ann Cameron Macrae

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the evidence for handweaving in antebellum Washington County, Tennessee. The author examines probate inventories, wills, store ledgers, and census and tax materials to determine the identities of the weavers, the equipment and raw materials available to them, and the kinds of textiles that women wove. The author discusses the reasons many women continued to weave cloth at home although commercially woven textiles were available in local stores.

The author concludes that many of Washington County's antebellum weavers wove as a contribution to the country goods the family bartered at the local store. Others may have been responding …

Historical Linguistic Analysis Of Traditional English Christmas Carols., Tami Lynn Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the process of historical linguistics it is possible to determine approximate dates of authorship and meaning that establish the conventions of a particular genre. To accomplish such a study, elements of phonology, morphology, and syntax are compared and the results create a field of descriptors representative of a style of writing of a period.

By using the method on eight well-known Christmas carols, four were determined to have been written prior to the dates previously speculated, possibly originating in the Middle Ages. The remaining four were written based on the conventions set by the earlier medieval carols.

"'Tis Hard To Dance With One Shoe": The Failure Of The Fathers In Walker's The Color Purple And Mccourt's Angela's Ashes., Gwendolyn Nicole Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In his story, “The Commitments,” Roddy Doyle identifies the Irish as "the blacks of Europe" (148). This sentiment typifies the oppression of the two cultures. The overwhelmingly oppressive society of the two aforementioned groups creates an atmosphere of failure, particularly for the fathers, who, for the most part, are supposed to be the heads of their families. Through Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, the reader discovers the effects of these failures of the fathers due to tyrannical societies that impose dominance over such groups as the African-Americans and the Irish. The main characters, Celie and …

The Company Of Animals: A Nontoxic Approach., Bonnie K. Foss Boochard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This document investigates the concept of why man creates animal images and introduces the influences and focus of the artwork contained in the public exhibition. These original images focus on the similarities between animal and human personalities. Also included is a brief history of each "ink on paper" printmaking process used and a comparison of the results. All of the techniques discussed generally have a photographic process as their basis and use personal photographs and drawings for the foundation of each original print. In conclusion, areas for growth, enhancement, and future work are discussed, including a summary of the personal …

The "Jaded Traveller": John Jasper's Failed Psychic Quest In Charles Dickens's The Mystery Of Edwin Drood., Linda Poland Pridgen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a Jungian study of John Jasper, the central character in Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Jasper fails to achieve psychological wholeness because he suffers from what Carl G. Jung calls dissociation of consciousness, a malady that prevents Jasper from entering the process of individuation--a process of self-discovery. Jasper's boredom, self-alienation, hypocrisy, and secret double life impede his search for self.

Faced with projections of his anima and shadow self, Jasper has many opportunities for psychological and spiritual growth. But rather than integrate the aspects of his personality that each of the anima and shadow …

Co-Workers In The Lord: Developing Partnership Between Male And Female Majors In The Department Of Bible, Missions, And Ministry At Abilene Christian University, Jeanene Reese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this project is the creation of a model that provides training and experience for female and male majors in developing meaningful partnership with one another through their required majors' courses in the Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry at Abilene Christian University. Three central theological perspectives form the framework of the project: (1) a theology of partnership from the creation account in Genesis, (2) partnership as found in the Old Testament narrative, and (3) the establishment of a new order in the New Testament. The research model utilizes ten learning teams of men and women formed in …

An Angel's Promise, Gerald Hilaire Touchette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Castle Deuclet, the protagonist of this work of fiction, has a dream which may or maymot set off or b2 connected to a series of events that happen afte'wards. Castle is thrust into a world of the fantastic where beings calling themselves angels want to help him; where he encounters a unicorn, named Julia, that he knew as a child; where a scarecrow woman reveals herself in his dreams and tells him that she is a dooway he must go through but that first he has to find the key. Here, Castle must face and accept the dark parts of …

"The Little City In Itself": Middle-Class Aspirations In Bangor, Maine, 1880-1920, Sara K. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the inception and growth of "the Little City in Itself," a residential neighborhood in Bangor, Maine, as a case study of middle-class suburbanization and domestic life in small cities around the turn of the twentieth century. The development of Little City is the story of builders' and residents' efforts to shape a middle-class neighborhood in a small American city, a place distinct from the crowded downtown neighborhoods of immigrants and the elegant mansions of the wealthy. The purpose of this study is to explore builders' response to the aspirations of the neighborhood's residents for home and neighborhood …

The Fall Of The Wilderness King, Part Ii John Sassamon, Christopher H. White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Wilderness King, Part 11, John Sassamon is a verse play set in seventeenth century New England during the period leading to the outbreak of King Philip's War (1675-81). In per capita terms that war remains the most devastating conflict in U.S. history with a ten percent casualty rate among the English adult male population alone. Moreover, the New England colonies lost the almost de facto autonomy they had enjoyed before the war; because of it they would not recover independence until a century later. Another effect of the war was the collapse of the cooperative, pluralistic society between the …

Without Flutes Or Flowers., Jason A. Vafiades

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this collection of poetry, the scope and mode of every poem is translation. All three sections, 'Wildernesses", "Silences", and 'Translations" each bear id their creation, the sense of translating one world into another. Yet, it is only in the Last section, appropriately named 'Translationsn, where the general resemblance to any method of the usual sense of translating appears. For the first two sections, all the poems found their creation in the attempt to put into poetry a vision and emotion that had yet to be contained by language: a way of interpreting the language of the natural and physiological …

Dungeons And Dreams: The Children And Nightmares Of Emily And Anne Bronte's Gondal Poetry, Michelle Patricia Beissel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has long been acknowledged that Anne Bronte played a part in the saga of the imaginary world of Gondal, but more attention has been given to her sister Emily's role in creating the world. Each sister's Gondal poetry, however, is important: the poetry signals much about how each sister dealt with the world around her, demonstrates how adulty rather than childish Gondal became, and indicates how realistic each sister's "escapist" world actually was. Indeed, in grappling with their changing nineteenth centruy world, Anne clung to the hopeful remains of Romanticism while Emily blended and denied both Romanticism and Victorianism. …

Lobo, Bruce Pratt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

LOBO explores, The Beast, as human and animal, who appears in varying forms in the principal male characters. Of the human characters, Will Strang is the seducer, George Strang the manipulator, Dorian Hinds the paternalistic pedagogue, and Leo "Sly" Foxx Jr. is the beast in its most classic and violent form--the destroyer. Foxx is not a wholly unsympathetic character. Set in the present, the book presents three couples, one in their twenties, one in their thirties, and one in their late fifties, who are linked in various ways, and are drawn together in the Moosehead Lake region of Maine. …