Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Exploring African American Identity In Harlem: Carl Van Vechten's Nigger Heaven, Michelle Lynn Simone

Theses & Honors Papers

Carl Van Vechten became a predominant figure within Harlem Renaissance literary circles because of his patronage of black artists and his 1926 novel Nigger Heaven. The novel depicts scenes of cabarets and Harlem night life, emphasizing themes of racial prejudice and the struggle for identity in the black culture. Van Vechten's fictional portrayal of Harlem received mixed reviews--to say the least. Many black authors and critics aligned themselves with W.E.B. Du Bois and lambasted the bawdy scenes and racially derogatory title. Others, including James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes, defended Van Vechten' s astute observations of Harlem and his skillful …

Anne Sexton's Poetic Quest For God, Heather Lee Lustig

Theses & Honors Papers

Critics including Alicia Ostriker and Diana Hume George believe Anne Sexton's poetic quest for God to be a failure. Ostriker asserts that Sexton's pursuit of a loving God in whom she can have faith ends merely as "a heroic failure." Her statement echoes George's description of the "pathetic end of Anne Sexton's quest for the Father." These critics view Sexton's quest through the perspective of orthodox Christianity's patriarchal system. However, while sexton seeks a Father figure who will not oppress her but rather save her from self destruction, she redefines her "religion" and God to include women. She merges with …

Coyote Tracks: Examining The Trickster In The Works Of Leslie Marmon Silko, Jeffrey A. Green

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of the current work is to extrapolate an understanding of the trickster figure as it is used in the literary works of Leslie Marmon Silko, a contemporary Laguna Pueblo author. Trickster analysis in Native American literature is primarily relegated to the study of traditional myths and stories, and only a few scholars approach the topic in contemporary Native American literature. Of those who do, none have chosen Silko’s works as the primary focus of their analysis. An examination of this type will contribute to and expand the existing literary criticism of Silko’s writings. Leslie Silko utilizes the traditional …

A Certain Threatening Picture: Images Of Rape In Eudora Welty's "The Golden Apples", Laura A. Hannett

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

"Recurring In This Body": James Dickey And The Quest For Transcendence, Stephen R. Hawkins

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Between "Word-Play And Evasion": Reading And Writing Lily Bart In "The House Of Mirth", Atisaya Vimuktanon

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Going Nowhere Fast: The Car, The Highway And American Identity In Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" And Robert Frank's "The Americans", Scott Patrick Moyers

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Quest As Poetic Sequence: Theodore Roethke's "North American Sequence" And Its Relation To T S Eliot's "Four Quartets", Rebecca Eldridge Hurst Hurst

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Benjamin Franklin And His Critics: John Adams, Mark Twain, And David Herbert Lawrence, Marzuki Jamil Baki Bin Haji Mohamed Johar

Masters Theses

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) provided the paradigm for special qualities in each of his multiple careers which have since been regarded as characteristically American. Franklin's Autobiography is the epitome of Franklin's spirit. The first edition of the Autobiography appeared in French in 1971 and the first edition in English, published in 1793, was actually an anonymous retranslation of the French edition. Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin prepared Parts One, Two, and Three in 1818. In John Bigelow's 1868 edition, all four parts appear for the first time in English. In the twentieth century, there have been three major editions, each more …

Tar Baby And The Black Feminist Literary Tradition, Priti Chitnis Gress

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Flannery O'Connor And The Reader, Kelly Lynne Haggard Beaty

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Authenticity And Blackness: Defining The Conflict In "Tar Baby", Kathy Nicole Meadows

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Silk And Society: Silk Manufacturers And Users 1870-1930. Based On A Study Of The Haskell Silk Company, Westbrook, Maine, Jacqueline Field Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis makes several contributions to the history of American silks. It shows that some of the most exemplary and well known U.S. silks were manufactured by Haskell despite its location at the far periphery of the major Mid Atlantic silk manufacturing region. It traces the changes in the domestic silk product over time and argues that changing consumer tastes and lifestyle exerted a major influence on what was made and sold.

The Reception Of David Mamet's "Oleanna": The Politics Of Interpretation And Received Opinion, Emily Kathleen White

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

"Pudd'nhead Wilson", Ambiguity, And Enslavement By Language, John Andrew Lyman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Ruins Of Childhood: Jim Thompson, Erskine Caldwell, And William Faulkner Expose Guilt And Consequence, Robert Thomas Newell

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine the novels of Jim Thompson, Erskine Caldwell, and William Faulkner and, in turn, depict their exploration of poisoned childhood. This theme is prevalent in many of these authors' works, and I not only illustrate what horrors children are put through in their novels, but I also show that uncaring and unthinking adults are the root cause. The ruining of a child's life is a rippling problem; often times, adulthood is ruined because of a person's childhood.

I explore the devastation that irresponsible adults can have on their impressionable children. Through either neglect or selfish values, …

Sites Of Southern Memory: The Autobiographies Of Katharine Dupre Lumpkin, Lillian Smith, And Pauli Murray, Darlene O'Dell

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This study argues that Katharine DuPre Lumpkin, Lillian Smith, and Pauli Murray used sites of regional memory in their autobiographies, particularly Confederate burial sites, to discuss how segregation divided not only the southern landscape and the southern people, but southern minds and bodies as well. In the southern graveyard, memory of the Confederate South was stored in tombstones and memorials, in Confederate flags driven into grass plots, and in Memorial Day speeches and rituals associated with the burial of the dead. Cemeteries housed the language of southern memory. Here, identity was spoken in ritualistic form--inscribed on tombs, in texts, and …

The "War Between The Mind And Sky": The Poet, The Soldier, And The Centrality Of The Epilogue To "Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction", James Craig Yard

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Schoolhouses Remembered: The Story Behind The Nostalgic Image: An Active Pursuit Of The Truth, Michelle Dawn Cude

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Performing Menken: Adah Isaacs Menken's American Odyssey, Renee M. Sentilles

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation explores notions of self-invention and performance in mid-nineteenth century America by examining the life and writings of actress and poet, Adah Isaacs Menken, from roughly 1835 to 1868. During America's Civil War years, Menken became an international star in the controversial title role of Mazeppa, an equestrian play. at the climax, soldiers forcibly stripped Mazeppa (Menken) to reveal her body in a costume suggestive of nudity. The soldiers tied her to a horse and sent her careening up a steep mountain into the theatre rafters. This provocative "breeches part" allowed Menken to pursue unusual freedoms for a woman …

Born Into Slavery: The American Slave Child Experience, Melissa Ann Mullins

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Mistakes Of Yesterday, The Hopes Of Tomorrow: Prison, Pop Music, And The Prisonaires, John M. Dougan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Yoknapatawpha As Camelot: The Influence Of The Arthurian Legends On The Writings Of William Faulkner, Sally Dye

Masters Theses

In my thesis I examine works of William Faulkner which show the influence of the legends of King Arthur. In the introduction to the thesis, I discuss evidence that Faulkner was not only familiar with the characters of the Arthurian legends but was also aware of many of the different versions of these stories.

The main sections of my thesis consist of character studies of various characters from Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha works in light of their similarities to their Arthurian counterparts. The King Arthur section includes the characters of John Sartoris of The Unvanquished and Thomas Sutpen of Absalom, Absalom!, …