Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- English Language and Literature (5)
- American Literature (4)
- American Studies (4)
- Literature in English, North America (4)
- African American Studies (1)
-
- Comparative Literature (1)
- Education (1)
- French and Francophone Language and Literature (1)
- French and Francophone Literature (1)
- History (1)
- Law (1)
- Legal History (1)
- Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies (1)
- Reading and Language (1)
- Rhetoric (1)
- Rhetoric and Composition (1)
- Secondary Education (1)
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (1)
- United States History (1)
- Institution
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Christian Lady Rhetorica: Americanization Of Marian Rhetoric In Early American Sentimental And Seduction Novels, Stephanie Laszik
Christian Lady Rhetorica: Americanization Of Marian Rhetoric In Early American Sentimental And Seduction Novels, Stephanie Laszik
English Department Theses
In the larger scope of religious feminine iconography, the Virgin Mary stands out as a vessel of cultural rhetoric. As medieval studies in religion, culture, and language indicate, the Virgin Mary's biblical speeches, combined with her image as a mother and follower of God, create a unique opportunity for authors of fiction to explore the Marian manifestations in their characters. This project illuminates the occurrences of Marian Rhetoric as they are found in American sentimental and seduction novels as tools for cultural change. The American sentimental and seduction novels discussed in this project, show a need for the cultural commentary …
A Fire Stronger Than God: Myth-Making And The Novella Form In Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, Chinh Ngo
A Fire Stronger Than God: Myth-Making And The Novella Form In Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, Chinh Ngo
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
Using concepts of cognitive evolutionary theory, the author explores how narrative storytelling manifests itself in Denis Johnson's novella Train Dreams. The novella form is also discussed, focusing on its manipulation of linear time, its naturalization of supernatural elements, and its deconstruction of dichotomous relationships. Utilizing the novella's distinct structural and thematic elements, Johnson's text shows the myth of American expansionism and industrial progress and that of Kootenai holism in collision, resulting in a narrative renegotiation that seeks to affirm coexistence and complexity.
The Pleasantly Problematic Nature Of J.D. Salinger's Glass Family Stories, Ceasare Joseph Filipelli
The Pleasantly Problematic Nature Of J.D. Salinger's Glass Family Stories, Ceasare Joseph Filipelli
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
The following thesis analyzes the problematic nature of J.D. Salinger’s principal Glass family stories (“A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” “Franny,” “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters,” “Zooey,” “Seymour: an Introduction,” and “Hapworth 16, 1924”) primarily by means of examining errors in narrative structure, complications in constructing a clearly defined sense of spirituality, and a lack of a functional organization between stories. I argue that although these components of Salinger’s Glass family stories ultimately prove to be problematic and account for inconsistencies within the overarching narrative, they are a product of experimentation with form and, as such, should be viewed positively …
Creating Difference: The Legal Production Of Race In American Slavery, Shaun N. Ramdin
Creating Difference: The Legal Production Of Race In American Slavery, Shaun N. Ramdin
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This dissertation examines the legal construction and development of racial difference as considered in literature written or set during the final years of American slavery. While there had consistently been a conceptual correspondence between black skin and enslavement, race or racial difference did not become the unqualified explanation of enslavement until fairly late in the institution’s history. Specifically, as slavery’s stability became increasingly threatened through the nineteenth century by abolitionism and racial slippage, race became the singular and explicit rationale for its existence and perpetuation. I argue that the primary discourse of this justificatory rationale was legal: through law race …
A Tale Of Acadie: Le Grand DéRangement Acadien Et Son Identité LittéRaire, Molly I. Parent
A Tale Of Acadie: Le Grand DéRangement Acadien Et Son Identité LittéRaire, Molly I. Parent
Senior Theses and Projects
In 1755, close to 12,000 Acadians, the descendants of French colonists, were expelled by British forces from their home in present-day Nova Scotia. They were then dispersed throughout the thirteen Atlantic colonies of the British Empire and forced to begin their lives anew in the wake of the trauma that they had suffered. This event has since been coined the “Grand Dérangement,” a title that ultimately suggests the havoc that was caused by the disruption of a culture. The Acadians were a people who had separated themselves from the European powers that fought over their land, a people who found …
Vergilian Allusions In The Novels Of Willa Cather, Nathaniel Wagner
Vergilian Allusions In The Novels Of Willa Cather, Nathaniel Wagner
All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects
This work aims to explore the nature of Vergilian allusion in the novels of Willa Cather - how the author implicated classical language in her own texts as well as the purpose and efficacy of such allusions. By surveying traces of Vergilian passages and rhetorical techniques such as ecphrasis and anacolouthon across three of the writer's major novels, My Antonia, The Professor's House and Shadows on the Rock, this study reveals an important and persistent aspect of Cather's artistic program. The author intentionally and regularly uses Vergilian language and figures to lend a sense of grandeur to the small, individual …
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness And Mental Health In The Literature Classroom, Melissa B. Guadron
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness And Mental Health In The Literature Classroom, Melissa B. Guadron
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The purpose of this study was to observe undergraduate students’ attitudes toward mental illness and mental health in the literature classroom. This was an observational, inductive study of Jeffrey Berman’s literature course, featuring books written by Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. This setting was chosen because of Berman’s unique pedagogy, which encourages self-disclosure and psychoanalytic readings. Three questionnaires and three introspective reader response diaries were collected from fifteen participants; text analyses were performed on diaries. Research inquiries questioned a participant’s interactions with the books: How did participants respond to the portrayals of characters with mental illness or mental health …
Understanding The Role Of Literature In The Reading Lives Of Secondary English Students, Tracy Pontin
Understanding The Role Of Literature In The Reading Lives Of Secondary English Students, Tracy Pontin
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Students’ perspectives on their high school reading experiences can provide great insight into the long term influence literature has in the lives of adolescents; however, students’ voices are seldom prioritized in the current research and in the conversations about curriculum and educational policy. This dissertation presents and analyzes the narratives of high school students nearing graduation as they reflect on the texts and social practices of English. The conceptual framework of this study is informed by Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional theory and Mikhail Bakhtin’s belief that an individual’s interaction with literature inspires rethinking and reevaluation of the reader’s “inconclusive present.”