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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

On And On And On, Rachel Hansen Apr 2023

On And On And On, Rachel Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

One defining root of the essay is its goal to articulate thoughts, simple and complex, into a piece that readers might deliberate and rest and even rely on. On this or that or the other-- "on" being a word suggesting sturdiness and foundation. On and On and On is a collection of personal essays which intends to examine the theories of "truth" (another word associated with sturdiness,) within personal experiences, as they are delivered through creative means. When truths in life are examined and explored in essayistic ways, we discover more profound axioms of the soul that would otherwise remain …


Making Sounds, Patrick Costello May 2018

Making Sounds, Patrick Costello

Theses and Dissertations

Using collaboration and performance as tools, I situate my personal story, my body, and my skills and interests within a contemporary landscape that is intersectional, full of partialities, and rooted in evolving ecologies.


Blue Heron Goodbye, Holly Rose Hansen Jul 2008

Blue Heron Goodbye, Holly Rose Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

As is typical to the way I write essays, I did not understand the goal of this collection until I wrote the last essay, “Blue Heron Goodbye.” Up until that point I was calling the collection “Why We Need Bloodhounds.” This title felt sufficiently representative to me of the goal of the collection because in this essay, I use discussions canvassing the Bloodhounds' strong sense of smell to focus my discussion about the world of the heart. However, when I wrote “Blue Heron Goodbye,” I realized I wasn't only interested in the struggles of the human heart (a broad topic …


Keeping Gardens: Poetry And Essay, Deja Anne Earley Jul 2005

Keeping Gardens: Poetry And Essay, Deja Anne Earley

Theses and Dissertations

This creative thesis includes two creative non-fiction essays and twenty-two poems, introduced by a critical essay that examines my work. The poems and essays share an origin in personal experience as well as an interest in language. Specifically, the poems and essays explore issues of family, relationships, spirituality, and observations of the natural world. The introductory essay discusses my interest in re-fashioning individual vision through the act of writing, relating to Helene Cixous's idea of creating a "portrait of God" through the act of art. The essay also examines the connections between the genres of creative non-fiction and poetry, in …


Finding Where I Am: A Collection Of Creative Nonfiction - Creative Thesis, Jana Lloyd Mar 2005

Finding Where I Am: A Collection Of Creative Nonfiction - Creative Thesis, Jana Lloyd

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a collection of five pieces of creative nonfiction written over the academic years 2003—2005. Creative nonfiction is a genre that, in some form or another, has always existed, though trends in form and style are constantly in flux. Based on the experiences of the actual author, creative nonfiction seeks to present the journey of a mind at work, in a style that is candid, quirky, and insightful. It seeks to persuade its reader by establishing a likeable and trusted narrator; by relating interesting facts that teach the reader something about the subject at hand; and by appealing …


Learning To Create: A Collection Of Personal Essays, Naomi Lund Christiansen Jul 2004

Learning To Create: A Collection Of Personal Essays, Naomi Lund Christiansen

Theses and Dissertations

This is a creative thesis that focuses on the infertility experiences of the author. The introduction examines the author's justification for choosing personal essay as a genre and French feminism as the guiding theory in writing the essays. Six personal essays center on the author's attempts to have a child and the discoveries and failures along the way. Throughout literary history, women's bodies have traditionally been viewed from the outside looking in, as objects to be reified and preserved or exploited and used. Using the writing the body critics as a theoretical framework, the essays discuss the comforts and discomforts …


A Voice From The Fire: The Authority Of Experience, Colleen C. Bernhard Dec 1996

A Voice From The Fire: The Authority Of Experience, Colleen C. Bernhard

Theses and Dissertations

Over all, this thesis was written to be a "ramble" of its own around and through three issues that are central to the writing of the personal essay-voice, authority, and experience-and central to the emergence of this author's own sense of "self."
Drawing upon years of voluminous journals, this collection of six personal essays demonstrates what the scholarly introduction proposes: that the personal essay is both a valid genre and a magnificent bridge from informal life-writing to genuine literary accomplishment. Drawing on Phillip Lopate's differentiation of "memoiristic" essays from the more classic autobiographical form, this collection includes three of each …