English Language and Literature Commons^™

Identifying Genes Involved In Suppression Of Tumor Formation In The Planarian Schmidtea Mediterranea, Erin Dorsten

Best Integrated Writing

Erin Dorsten makes a proposal for a scientific study of experiments to identify genes involved in protecting an organism with negligible senescence from tumor formation in this piece written for the Integrated Writing course BIO 4020: Current Literature: Biology of Regeneration, taught by Labib Rouhana at Wright State University.

The Barb Report, Elizabeth Schoppelrei

Best Integrated Writing

Elizabeth Schoppelrei explores issues of sexuality, kindness, masculinity, discrimination, and respect in this short story written for the Integrated Writing course ENG 4830: Advanced Fiction Writing Seminar, taught by Dr. Erin Flanagan at Wright State University.

How To Recover From The Great Recession And Reduce The Government Debt, Hunter Cregger

Best Integrated Writing

Hunter Cregger proposes how to recover from the Great Recession of the 2000s and reduce government debt in this essay written for the Integrated Writing course EC 2050: Principles of Macroeconomics, taught by Dr. Hee Young Shin at Wright State University.

Inter-Tribal Disunity: An Analysis Of Inter-Tribal Conflict During The Black Hawk War Of 1832, Megan Bailey

Best Integrated Writing

Megan Bailey explores the effects of inter-tribal disunity and conflict on the Black Hawk War of 1832 in this essay written for the Integrated Writing course HST 3000: Introduction to Historical Analysis, taught by Dr. Noeleen McIlvenna at Wright State University.

Effects Of Caffeine And Vitamin E On Wisconsin Fast Plant, Sarah Ferguson

Best Integrated Writing

Sarah Ferguson examines the effects of caffeine and vitamin E on the growth of Wisconsin Fast Plant in this piece written for the Integrated Writing course BIO 3450: Concepts of Biology I for Early and Middle Childhood Education, taught by Mr. Len Kenyon at Wright State University.

Best Integrated Writing 2015 - Complete Edition

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University. The journal is published annually by the Wright State University Department of English Language and Literatures.

Mother's Bed: Gender Representation In Children's Literature, Karin Hanni

Senior Theses

This children's book and accompanying research paper both address gender inequity in children's literature. There is a significant imbalance of gender representation in children's literature, with the number of central male characters almost doubling that of central female characters. Additionally, the roles of males and females still tend to be stereotypical: boys are action-oriented and heroic, while girls are nurturing and passive. Further, it is believed that boys will only enjoy books about boys, while girls will enjoy books about both boys and girls. This imbalance in children's literature hurts both genders. Children not only learn to read from books, …

The Law And The Lady: Consent And Marriage In Nineteenth-Century British Literature, Heather Lea Nelson

Open Access Dissertations

While many scholars have written on women and marriage in nineteenth-century British history and fiction, this dissertation, The Law and the Lady: Consent and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, is the first to apply consent theory to those unions. Modern consent theory dictates that for individuals to consent, they must be autonomous, capable, educated, mature, and volunteering, and they must express consent with opportunities to retract those expressions. This dissertation asserts that because nineteenth-century British women usually lacked these components, their marital consent was partial, illegitimate, or absent. Fiction frequently equivocated about this social problem of contemporary female marital consent. …

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 …

Jane Austen's Heroines--And Some Others, Neda H. Jeny

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Jane Austen’s Heroines--and Some Others

Jane Austen is the earliest English novelist whose novels are still widely read today; in fact, they are becoming more popular all the time.

Of course, there are good reasons for this popularity. Apart from Austen’s creation of unforgettable characters, and her exquisite irony and sense of humor, there is one other thing I’d like to discuss today: her heroines could be called, in a sense, brilliant (and often unorthodox) adaptations of universally recognized types. For example, Elizabeth Bennet is so remarkable a character because she is, at the same time, a sort of Cinderella …

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

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

No abstract provided.

Dark Matter: Susan Howe, Muriel Rukeyser, And The Scholar's Art, Stefania Heim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Instead of describing poetry as a set of constraints or history of practices, Muriel Rukeyser calls it "one kind of knowledge." Dark Matter heeds Rukeyser's call, theorizing a poetics of the "scholar's art," in which documentary investigation, autobiographical exploration, and formal innovation are mutual, interwoven concerns. The dissertation pairs American poets Susan Howe (b. 1937) and Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980), reading their hybrid works not through the received categories of American poetry, or through common generic and disciplinary divisions, but using an inductive methodology that takes its lead from the poets. Understanding Howe and Rukeyser's literary experiments as serious interventions in …

The Sadistic Reader: Gender And The Pleasures Of Violence In The Novel, Pamela Burger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project seeks to explain the prevalence of narratives that feature sexual violence against women in the tradition of the Anglophone novel. To this end, it posits the existence of a sadistic reading practice that coincides with readers' sympathetic identification. A sadistic reader takes pleasure in the bodily violation of the woman at the center of a novel; such a reader enters the text expecting violence, and experiences a sense of narrative gratification when the inevitable violation plays out. These expectations emerge from repeated interactions with a literary tradition in which victimized heroines are routine. To explore such sadism, I …

Journey With No Maps: A Life Of P.K. Page By Sandra Djwa, Mckay Mcfadden

The Goose

Review of Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page by Sandra Djwa.

Crossing Boundaries: Land And Sea In Jane Austen's 'Persuasion', Laura Vorachek

Laura Vorachek

Jane Austen suggests in Persuasion the pressures that the increased mobility of the middle class placed on the established aristocratic society in her time. Anne Elliot especially brings to light the inherited assumptions of her society. She can marry within her social rank (Mr. Elliot or Charles Musgrove) or marry below her (Wentworth at age 23), but either is a choice within the limits established by her society. One owns land or one does not. But when Wentworth returns a man of name and wealth, he is not a member of the landed gentry nor is he below Anne in …

Speculation And The Emotional Economy Of 'Mansfield Park', Laura Vorachek

Laura Vorachek

At the midpoint of Mansfield Park (1814), the Bertram family dines at the Parsonage, and card games make up the after dinner entertainment. The characters form two groups, with Sir Thomas, Mrs. Norris, and Mr. and Mrs. Grant playing Whist, while Lady Bertram, Fanny, William, Edmund, and Henry and Mary Crawford play Speculation, This scene is central not only because Speculation reveals certain characters' personalities, but also because another type of “speculation” occurs during the game as the players contemplate or conjecture about one another. Moreover, “speculation” in the sense of gambling functions as a metaphor for the vicissitudes of …

Politics, Ethics, And Aesthetic Play In Diasporic Iranian Visual Literature: Neshat, Satrapi, Bashi, Soltani, Mehraneh Ebrahimi-Eshratabadi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Does the study of aesthetics create response-ability or have tangible effects in the real world? Does the ambivalent form of word/images created by diaspora artists change our gaze toward the Other and the landscape of the possible? In the age of a global march against abstract terror which seems to be only reinforcing terrorism, the sign “Muslim-woman” along with the concept of democracy have become rallying cries for novel civilizing-missions. Leaving aside the failed efforts of littérature engagée, I resonate with Jacques Rancière that the study of aesthetics is intertwined with that of politics. Gayatri Spivak, too, asserts that …

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).

Avenging Muse: Naomi Royde-Smith, 1875-1964, Jill Benton

Pitzer Faculty Books

Avenging Muse is the biography of Naomi Royde-Smith, a powerful early twentieth-century British literary editor who discovered and published the first works of such writers as Rupert Brooke, Rose Macaulay, and Graham Greene. Beginning at age 50, she became in her own right a prolific author of more than thirty novels in addition to plays, biographies, and cultural critiques posing as travelogues. She writes about fin de siècle Geneva, about London and working women between the wars, about journalism and theater, about artists and their promoters, about banal culture, about social class in disarray, about a world that lacks spiritual …

Angel Outside The House: The New Woman In Brittish Periodicals 1890-1910, Lindsay Rosa

Graduate Thesis Collection

The New Woman described in short fiction and editorial articles in British periodicals not only presented the ideal New Woman to readers, but served to shape the perceptions of the reader depending on the demographic of the targeted reading audience for that specific periodical. The audience for specific British periodicals featuring the New Woman included conservative families whose youth saw the New Woman figure as a role model. The New Woman figure easily connected to readers, particularly young, female middle-class readers, who easily identified with her because she possessed similar socioeconomic characteristics. Just as there were many New Women characters …

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

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Sowing Seeds Of Subversion: Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers' Subversive Use Of Fairy Tales And Folklore, Shandi Lynne Wagner

Wayne State University Dissertations

"Sowing Seeds of Subversion: Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers' Subversive Use of Fairy Tales and Folklore" focuses on the fictional works of nineteenth-century British women authors, analyzing their use of fairy-tale and folklore motifs to criticize social mores, in particular those surrounding domestic ideology and the institution of marriage. By situating texts within their sociocultural contexts, I explore how nineteenth-century women authors revised and adapted classic fairy tales to communicate subversive, proto-feminist social criticism to a variety of audiences. I examine fiction and poetry published in literary annuals, in fairy-tale collections, and in the more generally available collections of poetry and …

Turning Their Talk: Gendered Conversation In The Nineteenth-Century British Novel, Rebecca Beach

Theses and Dissertations--English

Turning Their Talk investigates the pressures placed upon female characters’ communication styles as they enter the heterosexual market in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Villette, and George Eliot’s Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. The title of this dissertation derives from a phrase found in each the six novels I examine--“she turned the conversation”—to suggest the subtle control female characters exercise through speech that allows them to achieve tangible forms of social agency. My dissertation argues that novelistic representations of speech mirror the paradoxical roles women historically faced as they balanced societal …

Hamlet #Princeofdenmark: Exploring Gender And Technology Through A Contemporary Feminist Re-Interpretation Of Hamlet, Allegra B. Breedlove

Scripps Senior Theses

Exploring the process of designing, producing, directing and starring in a multimedia feminist re-interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in a contemporary social media landscape.