English Language and Literature Commons^™

Living Between The Lines: Intersectionality And Self-Actualization In Shakespeare's Plays, Morgan L. Green

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

More than four hundred years after his death Shakespeare is still the most performed playwright in the English-Speaking World, and even in some cultures vastly different from Shakespeare’s England. Theatre companies continue to make him relevant by exploring new themes and tailoring the productions to the social mores of contemporary audiences. One particular theme being examined more and more by both scholars and theatre artists is diversity and the role of identity in Shakespeare’s works. Three works in which this can be easily examined are Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello with particular attention paid to …

Jessie Fauset’S Not-So-New Negro Womanhood: The Harlem Renaissance, The Long Nineteenth Century, And Legacies Of Feminine Representation, Meredith Goldsmith

English Faculty Publications

Fauset’s texts offer a repository of precisely what critic Alain Locke labeled retrograde: seemingly outdated plotlines and tropes that draw upon multiple literary, historical, and popular cultural sources. This essay aims to change the way we read Fauset by excavating this literary archive and exploring how the literary “past” informs the landscape of Fauset’s fiction. Rather than viewing Fauset’s novels as deviations from or subversive instantiations of modernity, I view them as part of a long nineteenth-century tradition of gendered representation. Instead of claiming a subversiveness that Fauset might have rejected or a conservatism that fails to account for the …

Bayard Vs. Drusilla: The Burden Of War And Legacy, Kate Shillingford

Student Writing

No abstract provided.

Appropriating The Restoration: Fictional Place And Time In Rose Tremain’S Restoration: A Novel Of Seventeenth-Century England, Judith Bailey Slagle

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: It was the sixties—albeit the 1660s—a time for tricksters, rakes, subversive women and sexual energy on the stage. It was a time of fun for those with the means to partake of it. The “good old days” are, of course, always better from a distance, but writers on through the twentieth century found the Restoration an apt setting for their fictions about prostitution, political intrigue, and tragic or comic historical events, especially for the cinema.

Setting Fires: Literary Women Blazing Trails For Contemporary Women, Laura Salinas

Senior Honors Projects

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim” — Nora Ephron

Literature has always provided an outlet for writers to express their commentary on society tracing from Shakespeare’s plays in the 1600’s to Jane Austen’s classic novels to the modern literary narrative. These writings are often more than just tales to entertain a crowd or a reader; they create dynamic characters that call into question the standards and expectations that society deems acceptable.

Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy has created an iconic and dynamic character that resists and challenges what it means to be a woman in terms …

‘I Am Not Your Justification For Existence:’ Mourning, Fascism, Feminism And The Amputation Of Mothers And Daughters In Atwood, Ziervogel, And Ozick, Mitchell C. Hobza

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the complexities of mother-daughter relationships in twentieth-century women’s literature that includes themes about fascism and totalitarianism. Of central concern is how mothers and daughters are separated, both physically and psychically, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Meike Ziervogel’s Magda and Cynthia Ozick’s The Shawl. Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born provides the theoretical framework for considering maternity and the institution of motherhood. These separations occur through two modes: physical separation by political force; and psychical separation through ideological difference and what Rich terms as “Matrophobia.” The physical separation is analyzed through a synthesis of Rich’s theory …

Peering Into The Jezebel Archetype In African American Culture And Emancipating Her From Hyper-Sexuality: Within And Beyond James Baldwin’S 'Go Tell It On The Mountain' And Alice Walker’S 'The Color Purple', Zakiya A. Brown

Student Publications

Literary authors and performing artists are redefining the image of the Jezebel archetype from a negative stereotype to an empowering persona. The reformation of the Jezebel’s identity and reputation, from a manipulating stereotype to an uplifting individual may not be a common occurrence, but the Jezebel archetype as a positive figure has earned a dignified position in literature and in reality. Jezebel archetypes wear their sexuality proudly. Her sultriness may be the first aspect of her identity that readers see, but readers must be cautious not to overlook her merit and moral standards as a character that has the potential …

From England's Bridewell To America's Brides: Imprisoned Women, Shakespeare's Measure For Measure, And Empire, Alicia Meyer

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the experience of largely single women in London’s house of correction, Bridewell Prison, and argues that Bridewell’s prisoners, and the nature of their crimes, reveal the state’s desire for dependent, sexually controlled, yet ultimately productive women. Scholars have largely neglected the place of early modern women’s imprisonment despite its pervasive presence in the everyday lives of common English women. By examining the historical and cultural implications of early modern women and prison, this thesis contends that women’s prisons were more than simply establishments of punishment and reform. A closer examination of Bridewell’s philosophy and practices shows how …

The Rise And Fall Of Female Stereotypes In Looking For Alaska, Alina Zabolotico

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

No abstract provided.

Treasure Hunt Without A Map: Archival Research At The University Of Pennsylvania, Meghan Strong

English Independent Study Projects

Under the supervision of Meredith Goldsmith in the English Department, I spent this semester developing archival research projects for lower level students in the humanities. My project corresponded with the aims of the Council for Undergraduate Research, which works to develop undergraduate research skills throughout the disciplines. The Kislak Center is a nearby resource that has the potential to provide students with opportunities to develop crucial research skills while discovering little pieces of history that are hidden away in the archives. The final exercises presented here focus on the subjects of Walt Whitman, Marian Anderson, and Michel de Montaigne.

Dutiful Daughters (Or Not) And The Sins Of The Fathers In Iqbalunnisa Hussain’S Purdah And Polygamy, Teresa Hubel

Faculty Publications

Poet and editor Eunice De Souza has described the neglect of 19th and 20th century writing by women as a “distortion” of “the history of Indian writing in English which is far more rich and varied than the accounts in these histories would suggest.” Iqbalunnisa Hussain's 1944 novel Purdah and Polygamy , though superbly clever in its irony and always brave in its depiction of injustice, is one such piece of literature that has fallen away from history. Against the historical representation of Muslim women as followers of the minority politics of their men, this essay situates Hussain within a …

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Elizabeth Akers Allen Materials, Elizabeth Akers Allen, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, and first publications of Maine writer, Elizabeth Akers Allen. The bulk of the collection consists of manuscripts and published writings written by Allen between 1846 and 1906. The collection also contains correspondence, an Autograph book, clippings, and a few photographic prints. Elizabeth Akers Allen grew up in Farmington, Maine, and first published a volume of poems under the pen name Florence Percy. She traveled through Europe as a journalist reporting for the Portland Transcript and Boston Evening Gazette, and was later a regular contributor to Atlantic Monthly.

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Sarah Orne Jewett Materials., Sarah Orne Jewett, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, and first publications of 19th-century Maine writer, Sarah Orne Jewett. The bulk of the collection consists of letters written by Jewett to various correspondents between 1879 and 1908. The collection also contains manuscript items of varying length, an Anecdote Book, clippings, published writings, and a few photographic prints. Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) of South Berwick, Maine achieved note as an author and poet. The daughter of Dr. Theodore Jewett, she was educated at Berwick Academy, though her studies were frequently interrupted by illness. She never married and lived most of her life in her home …

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Vernon Lee Materials, Violet Paget, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

The Vernon Lee Collection at Colby College contains over 1000 letters, 136 manuscripts and articles, 117 photographs, and a small number of personal documents and artifacts, spanning the years 1866-1960. First and subsequent editions of Vernon Lee titles are described in the Colby Libraries web catalog. Materials arranged in seven series: Correspondence from Vernon Lee, Correspondence to Vernon Lee, Manuscripts, Published Writings, Photographs, Personal Items and Artifacts, and Clippings.

The Rise And Fall Of The New Edinburgh Theatre Royal, 1767-1859: Archival Documents And Performance History, Judith Bailey Slagle

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: In 1859, the Edinburgh house of Wood and Company published a Sketch of the History of the Edinburgh Th eatre-Royal in honor of its fi nal performance and closing, its author lamenting that “Th is House, which has been a scene of amusement to the citizens of Edinburgh for as long as most of them have lived, has at length come to the termination of its own existence” (3).

Cumulative Index Of Clcweb: Comparative Literature And Culture (1999-), Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Past The Bloom: Aging And Beauty In The Novels Of Jane Austen, Stephanie M. Eddleman

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.