Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

English Language and Literature Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

ETD Archive

Identity

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in English Language and Literature

First Person Plural: Short Stories, Justin R. Lazor Jan 2018

First Person Plural: Short Stories, Justin R. Lazor

ETD Archive

I decided to title this collection First Person Plural after observing that one of the most prominent motifs common among these stories concerns the instability and multiplicity of identity. Horror is one of the traditions that most influences my writing, particularly the claustrophobic psychological horror of writers like Edgar Allen Poe. I mainly deploy the tropes of horror in an effort to destabilize my characters’ inner and outer realities. Another important influence on my writing has been that brand of fiction which exists within the liminal space between horror and realism, such as Dan Chaon’s collection Stay Awake, Bringing Out …


Liminal Identity In Willa Cather's "The Professor's House", Alexandra D. Debiase Jan 2013

Liminal Identity In Willa Cather's "The Professor's House", Alexandra D. Debiase

ETD Archive

Willa Cather develops the Professor and Tom Outland's identities in the novel The Professor's House through the lenses of domesticity, masculinity, and memory. For the Professor and Tom Outland, these identities are liminal and influenced by the landscape and space around them. Although both liminal, these identities are ultimately different, as the Professor's liminality seems to artificially have an affect on Tom as the novel reads on. Through defining the two main characters in the novel as liminal, Cather makes a comment on a modern shift in the concept of identity, suggesting that as time goes on and values change, …


The After Effects Of Colonialism In The Postmodern Era: Competing Narratives And Celebrating The Local In Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost, Priyanthan A. Pillainayagam Jan 2012

The After Effects Of Colonialism In The Postmodern Era: Competing Narratives And Celebrating The Local In Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost, Priyanthan A. Pillainayagam

ETD Archive

Through the utilization of Jean-Francois Lyotard's views on the Postmodern condition, this paper highlights the failure of metanarratives to accurately convince, as well as convey information and understanding in a postmodern society. This is due in part to what Lyotard believes is an increasing skepticism towards the grand totalizing nature of metanarratives and their reliance on some form of universal truth. In order to reverse the overarching effect of the metanarrative, its all-encompassing nature, and its power to legitimize illegitimate versions of institutionalized truths one must focus on what Lyotard describes as "petit recits" or "little stories". This theoretical framework …