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Full-Text Articles in Creative Writing

The Bengali Oil-Eaters: A Speculative Approach To New Materialism And The Nonhuman In Contemporary Petrofiction, Jenna Wayland Apr 2024

The Bengali Oil-Eaters: A Speculative Approach To New Materialism And The Nonhuman In Contemporary Petrofiction, Jenna Wayland

Honors Projects

Despite oil’s heavy saturation within the context of contemporary global life, novelistic registrations of oil frontiers and extractive drilling in contemporary world literature remain proportionally barren with regards to oil’s political and geographical importance across the world-system. Petro-cultural production, transnational in scale and imposing in material basis, relegates oil to a paradoxical literary deferment. The general invisibility of petrofiction within the petro-sphere suggests that the materialist basis of petroleum and its fraught geopolitical history has culturally transformed oil into a repressed, peripheral, and hidden material that subsequently renders the oil-encounter unseen in contemporary literature. This creative synthesis of the oil-encounter …

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The Survivors, Abigale Ralston Apr 2024

The Survivors, Abigale Ralston

Honors Theses

Set over 100 years in the future, this story follows the lives of teenagers Alex, Leon, and Paige. The world has been destroyed. In order to survive, humanity has had to learn how to survive in space, in a vehicle called simply The Ship. Lately, however, Alex and his friends have noticed problems occurring on The Ship, indicating a disaster may be imminent. Alex, Leon, and Paige are now tasked with finding the causes of the problems and saving the last of humanity from extinction.

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Phoenix Rising: A Scout Is Born, Seth Hunter Apr 2024

Phoenix Rising: A Scout Is Born, Seth Hunter

Honors Theses

The Kingdom of Taris lies in flames, a shadow of what it once was, crippled by the Brutes of the Northeast. The King and Queen’s deaths, followed by their only daughter’s capture, cast a shadow over Taris, far darker than the depths of the Old Mines.

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Emergent Narrative In Tabletop Role-Playing Games: An Application Of Concepts, Padraig Mumper Apr 2024

Emergent Narrative In Tabletop Role-Playing Games: An Application Of Concepts, Padraig Mumper

Honors Projects

This project examines tabletop role-playing games using concepts from narratology and ludology including emergent narrative and Roger Caillois’ categories of games by applying these concepts in the creation of an adventure zine for the game MÖRK BORG. The existing literature on emergent narrative primarily focuses on video games and Avant Garde texts but tabletop role-playing games provide a novel opportunity to explore emergent narrative in new ways. The dynamic of a collaborative game with multiple players and a gamemaster provides additional challenges for designers due to variance in interpretation of the game events and the lack of a digital program …

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Tarot Fabula: Radical Digital Cards, Shuffled Narrative Structures, And Playing The Future In An Era Of Algorithms, Rachel M.L. Dixon Feb 2024

Tarot Fabula: Radical Digital Cards, Shuffled Narrative Structures, And Playing The Future In An Era Of Algorithms, Rachel M.L. Dixon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since their earliest recorded use in the 1400s, tarot cards figure as objects for game play, artistic creativity, spiritual divination, and self-discovery. Tarot Fabula (https://tarot-fabula.com) introduces a ludic, interactive website interface that challenges 20th century tarot reading practices as linear narratives. Statistically random reshufflings of tarot decks from archival collections prompt the reader to become a narrative co-creator, drawing them into conversation with traditional reading and interpretive practices as they remix narrative elements portrayed on the cards. Tarot Fabula’s shuffling and reshuffling of cards as historical objects merges contemporary computational methods for generating random results with an interrogation of …

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Honeysuckles & Irises: Effigies Of The Land, Ami` L. Hanna-Huff Dec 2023

Honeysuckles & Irises: Effigies Of The Land, Ami` L. Hanna-Huff

English Creative Writing Theses

Here is a memoir of my paternal line through the lens of my Great-Grandmother and myself. A reclamation of the land I hail from and a connection to a history previously felt distant, this examination of race and gender explicitly focused on the African American Southern female experience; I try to make sense of the juxtaposing positions in our lives. The culture built from its creation through Tennessee personified. Here, I integrate history and theory with lyrics and prose to experience the eighty-one years of progress brought between our births and the lingering anxiety of slavery. My great-grandmother, Hazel Irene …

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Food As A Literary Device In The Hunger Games: World Building, Characterization, And Plot Momentum, Linzee Mitchell Dec 2023

Food As A Literary Device In The Hunger Games: World Building, Characterization, And Plot Momentum, Linzee Mitchell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Food relates to the experience of life, survival, and memory. It impacts us every day, whether we have plenty of it or not. It influences our memories and connects us to one another, while structuring details of our identities and cultures. As a creative writer and English major, I recognize that food influences a story to accentuate literary concepts and unveil them, such as a character’s compassion or the poison that a villain uses to unfold the plot. The best example of food as an impactful device within a story is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. From the first …

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Doc/U/Ment: Affinities In 20th And 21st-Century Documental Poetics, Katherine Payne Sep 2023

Doc/U/Ment: Affinities In 20th And 21st-Century Documental Poetics, Katherine Payne

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents, analyzes, and builds on the existing literary genealogy of documental poetry. In 2020 Michael Leong proposed the term documental poetry to describe the turn toward source materials in 21st-century North American poetry, seen in longform research-based poems that explicitly incorporate documentation and seek to intervene in cultural memory. Using Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concept of family resemblance, I argue that there are clear affinities between 21st-century poets and their 20th-century literary forerunners, also that an expansion of the scope of documental poetics is needed. The three nodes of connection I examine are works …

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How To Grow Blurry: Poems, Nathaniel Metz Jun 2023

How To Grow Blurry: Poems, Nathaniel Metz

Canterbury Scholars

In this collection of poems, Nathan D. Metz explores the distance between the word for a thing and the touch or feeling of a thing. Using a variety of forms both established and innovative, as well as free verse and ekphrastic response, these poems are a celebration of art, color, and the sounds of words. After the collection is a series of poems translated both from the original Japanese and Haitian Creole.

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Mothering As Feminism, Meera Patel May 2023

Mothering As Feminism, Meera Patel

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This critical essay proposes the concept of mothering-as-feminism, with the intention of interrogating American ideals of mothering and caregiving. Reforming the way we view mothering, as it relates to feminism, requires a re-evaluation of the American role of women and mothers—and how they are portrayed (and therefore seen and understood), valued, and supported. Focusing on the evolution of feminist theory throughout the past 70 years, as well as personal and secondary experiences, I demonstrate how political and social change occurs generationally and is dependent on the education of our children. Ultimately, I show the important role children’s literature plays …

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The Dark House And Its Inhabitants, Emily Bielski May 2023

The Dark House And Its Inhabitants, Emily Bielski

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

From the inception of the genre, Gothic horror has been fixated on the domestic space in distress. This essay explores domestic archetypes and roles of the Gothic novel, serving as a “tour of the house”, analyzing the iconography of the dark castle, and how it externalizes and exacerbates the fears and behaviors of its inhabitants. The power dynamic of the household is starkly divided by the expectations and authority of masculine and feminine figures. In turn the “house” becomes a vehicle for the anxieties of the inhabitants—both experienced and inflicted—regarding gender, sexuality, isolation, and abuse. Exploration of the visual and …

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Legends Of Light: Crafting Middle Grade Fantasy In The Tradition Of Catholic Philosophy And Medieval Visual Culture, Bernadette Lamb May 2023

Legends Of Light: Crafting Middle Grade Fantasy In The Tradition Of Catholic Philosophy And Medieval Visual Culture, Bernadette Lamb

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay promotes the writing and illustrating of middle grade literature that mirrors the wonder-inducing experiences of leafing through an illuminated manuscript and stepping into a Gothic cathedral. An examination of Catholic medieval visual culture moves into a discussion on its underlying philosophy and theology, which are profoundly centered on relational healing and the dignity of the human person. Christian writers including St. Pope John Paul II, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Josef Pieper, Madeline L’Engle, Dr. Bob Schuchts, Makoto Fujimura, and Andrew Peterson inform an exploration of mercy, forgiveness, and love as self-gift in the context of illustration and storytelling …

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Amplifying Tutor Voices: A Qualitative Analysis For Improving Writing Center Tutoring Practices And Pedagogy, Leah Washko May 2023

Amplifying Tutor Voices: A Qualitative Analysis For Improving Writing Center Tutoring Practices And Pedagogy, Leah Washko

English Department Masters Theses

Within the walls of university writing centers, tutors and tutees collaborate. They discuss writing, but even more than that, they communicate about ideas and theories bigger than themselves, all while discovering their identities. Exploration of how tutors define their authority and agency, while also highlighting the importance of tutors’ voices, is necessary for the continuation of writing center studies. Writing center tutors’ roles may be understood by some, but the mental hurdles, the questioning natures, and the care-giver roles they are emersed into need to be further investigated. Through a study conducted at Kutztown University’s Writing Center, tutors were surveyed …

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Vinyle Zine: The Execution Of The Pedagogy Of Pro-Blackness, Kandice Fowlkes May 2023

Vinyle Zine: The Execution Of The Pedagogy Of Pro-Blackness, Kandice Fowlkes

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Vinyle zine, is a Black literary magazine pedagogically driven to increase cultural literacy within the African-American community. In order to do this, this magazine must have the foundation of Pro-Blackness as a driving force towards advancing Black people in the ways this platform can offer its service. Vinyle zine allows Black individuals to practice using writing and any art form as their medium of expression –a tool that has been utilized to extol African American truths and increase cultural knowledge. By encouraging expression in art and provoking cultural knowledge, Vinyle zine will continue to encourage Black artists and writers to …

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A Life Of Work, David Labounty May 2023

A Life Of Work, David Labounty

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A Life of Work is an examination of workplace nonfiction where work is, for good or bad, a defining moment in a personâ??s life. This collection of creative nonfiction essays about the jobs that have shaped me was created to encourage people to tell their own tales. There is nothing groundbreaking about the work I have done (and continue to do); however, by sharing my experiences, I hope to spark other workplace remembrances, be they stories about slogging away for fifty years on one job or having multiple rewarding careers. The work we do has an enormous impact on the …

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Desert Body, Lauren Mckinnon May 2023

Desert Body, Lauren Mckinnon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis is a collection of poems examining certain paradoxes of my body. As a survivor of sexual violence, my body relives trauma which makes it feel uninhabitable. I compare my experiences with the Southern Utah desert. The physical beauty, destruction and inhabitability of the desert teaches me to accept my body as both beautiful and full of grief. The poems move chronologically through my life, beginning with an abusive relationship at the age of sixteen, a move to Moab at nineteen, and becoming a mother at twenty-five. Ultimately, with the desert as my guide, I learn to accept my …

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The Black Testament: A Portrait Of Female Genealogy In The African Diaspora, Raven Mcshan May 2023

The Black Testament: A Portrait Of Female Genealogy In The African Diaspora, Raven Mcshan

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

The Black Testament: A Portrait of Genealogy in the African Diaspora is a hybrid work of creative nonfiction and poetry. These pieces are based on my genealogical research into my family history. The collection traces from my discoveries in the present time back through my lived experiences, the lives of my relatives, and the lives of my ancestors. The subject of the work focuses on the women in my family and the various influences they have had in my life. The collection grapples with themes such as black womanhood, diasporic existence, and complex heritage. The traveling back of genealogical research …

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Confessional Poetry And The Human Experience: When Art Imitates Life, Caroline Winnenberg May 2023

Confessional Poetry And The Human Experience: When Art Imitates Life, Caroline Winnenberg

Honors College Theses

The year is 1959. America sits in silent fear at the constant threat of nuclear warfare. The Red Scare had hit its peak just five years earlier with Joe McCarthy’s Communist witch hunt. Neighbors no longer trusted neighbors and marginalized groups have had enough. The LGBTQ+ community begins to unify, people of color march for civil rights, and women march for equal rights. The people are using their voices, but the fight for social justice is draining. The constant feelings of anger and depression are boiling over, searching for an outlet. Enter the author Robert Lowell and his volume Life …

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Adapting The Classics: Making The Invisible Visible, Kate Isabel Foley Apr 2023

Adapting The Classics: Making The Invisible Visible, Kate Isabel Foley

Theater Honors Papers

This project seeks to answer the question, “How can a writer use an old story to shine new light on modern issues and make the invisible visible?” My adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a genderbent retelling with queer themes while my adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is a dark reimagining of Mrs. Darling as an antihero protagonist who must become Captain Hook to try to save her children. Both my research and these two plays focus on bringing visibility to marginalized communities, specifically women and members of the queer community.

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Confessions Of Crooks: An Analysis Of How Art Influences Society's View On Antiheroes And Redemption Through An Original Short Story Collection, Connor Thomas Wilkerson Apr 2023

Confessions Of Crooks: An Analysis Of How Art Influences Society's View On Antiheroes And Redemption Through An Original Short Story Collection, Connor Thomas Wilkerson

Undergraduate Theses

The twenty-first century has successfully bred the notion that everyone who commits a morally reprehensible action is themselves a morally reprehensible individual with absolutely no redeeming factors. This notion, however, simply isn’t accurate as it is shown in not only some of the most popular media of the age but also some of the most famous crimes of the age that people who commit heinous actions aren’t always entirely heinous. With this thesis, I plan to make an argument that condemns judgement on the morality of individuals without knowing their full stories. Specifically, I plan to write a short story …

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Are We Good Or Bad Or Somewhere In Between?: An Original Novel, Faith Lymburner Apr 2023

Are We Good Or Bad Or Somewhere In Between?: An Original Novel, Faith Lymburner

Honors Theses

This thesis is an original fantasy/crime/mystery novel that takes a look at the concept that no one is just good or bad; instead, everyone is somewhere in between. The process/challenges of writing my first novel and leading into writing a mystery/crime novel (this is the first draft).

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Mountains In The Deep, Andy Strauss Apr 2023

Mountains In The Deep, Andy Strauss

Honors Theses

When Evan, prince of the Fourth Quadrant, sees a vision of a ghost-like crown hovering over his father's head, he is sent on a dangerous mission to face the mystical shadow beast ravaging his kingdom--the same beast that has marked him as its prey and that will stop at nothing to hunt him down.

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A New Atticus Is Afoot: The Portrayal Of Lawyers In Popular Culture, Anna Thrush Apr 2023

A New Atticus Is Afoot: The Portrayal Of Lawyers In Popular Culture, Anna Thrush

Senior Theses

This project analyzes the stereotypical image of lawyers in popular culture, focusing on either overly demonic or unrealistically heroic. Both stereotypes that are common portrayals of attorneys in popular culture are unrealistic and deny society a true comprehension of the profession. Popular culture has molded the image of lawyers to the characteristics that sell, rather than focusing on a realistic portrayal. Therefore, popular culture creates a falsely dramatized image of attorneys to generate revenue, putting the reputation and future of the profession as risk. These stereotypes are exemplified in this project through a close literary analysis of lawyer characters from …

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Samozvanets (The Pretender), Matthew Garrell, Alikzandr Malakov Jan 2023

Samozvanets (The Pretender), Matthew Garrell, Alikzandr Malakov

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

he Russian word Samozvanets most directly translates to Imposter in English. However, for this thesis, I have selected the alternative interpretation of Pretender. Imposter implies the taking or assuming of another’s position. Pretender, more personally, carries the meaning of presenting self as something one is not. It is through the lens of the Pretender that I examine the idea of what it means to be a member of a particular ethnicity, and to engage with one’s cultural heritage. I do this through a collection of fictional stories, investigating various lives within the Russian diaspora following the dissolution of the Soviet …

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Naruto And Naruto: Shippuden Through The Lens Of Campbell’S Monomyth, Victor Ayon Jan 2023

Naruto And Naruto: Shippuden Through The Lens Of Campbell’S Monomyth, Victor Ayon

Literary and Intercultural Studies | Senior Theses

“Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden through the lens of Campbell’s Monomyth” is a comparative analysis of the anime television series Naruto (2002-2007 Japan, 2005-2009 USA) and its sequel Naruto: Shippuden (2007-2017 Japan, 2009-2019 USA) with Joseph Campbell’s monomyth as delineated in his The Hero with the Thousand Faces. These Japanese anime television series that are considered one of the most popular worldwide, and yet the hero’s quest in each series is often overlooked. This study both compares and contrasts how the Campbellian stages of monomyth intersect with Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden animation narratives.

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Writing For A “High Purpose”: Examining Charles Chesnutt’S Antiracist Manipulation Of Genre And Language In The Conjure Woman, Sheniah Lanier Jan 2023

Writing For A “High Purpose”: Examining Charles Chesnutt’S Antiracist Manipulation Of Genre And Language In The Conjure Woman, Sheniah Lanier

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

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Writing Young Adult Fiction: Reflections On Narration And Theme In Young Adult Literature, Kimberly Davidson Jan 2023

Writing Young Adult Fiction: Reflections On Narration And Theme In Young Adult Literature, Kimberly Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to Young Adult Library Services, “Young Adult Literature is a genre that is separate from Children's Literature. It emerged in the twentieth century when teenagers became a powerful force of the economy in the 1930s and gained prominence in the sixties.” Various sources list common elements that make YA literature a distinct category. 1) YA books appeal to the interests of readers from ages twelve to eighteen. 2) YA books typically explore a teenage character’s entry into an unfamiliar “world.” 3) YA books usually feature a protagonist’s self-reflection on events that influence their forays into the adult world. 4) …

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Nothing About Us: Three Models Of Disability In Three Works Of Literary Fiction, Mary Lipiec Jan 2023

Nothing About Us: Three Models Of Disability In Three Works Of Literary Fiction, Mary Lipiec

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explores how the three umbrella models of disability (medical, functional, and social) are shown in several disabled characters from three novels published after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and Good Kings, Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum. Through the utilization of literary analysis from a cultural studies perspective, this project shows that the models of disability, despite the various flaws in their respective designs, prove to be useful lenses to see disability through, both in these novels and in real life, …

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Mrs. Blackbird And The Visiting Chair, Taylor Barnhart Jan 2023

Mrs. Blackbird And The Visiting Chair, Taylor Barnhart

MSU Graduate Theses

The following thesis is a middle grade novel exploring the events of one summer in the lives of two siblings, Susannah and Sawyer. The siblings are grieving the recent death of their mother and, at the same time, attempting to navigate the emotional withdrawal of their father. During the summer, the siblings get to know their eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Blackbird, who communicates with the spirit of her dead husband through an old armchair which is rumored to have magical powers. The novel deals primarily with the theme of grief and its pervasive nature in people’s lives. The story looks at …

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Wayfinding, Kalani N. Padilla Jan 2023

Wayfinding, Kalani N. Padilla

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

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