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Full-Text Articles in Italian Literature

Auctor In Fabula: Umberto Eco And The Intentio Of Foucault's Pendulum, Douglas Stephens Iv Apr 2015

Auctor In Fabula: Umberto Eco And The Intentio Of Foucault's Pendulum, Douglas Stephens Iv

Senior Honors Theses

Umberto Eco’s 1988 novel Foucault’s Pendulum weaves together a wide range of philosophical and literary threads. Many of these threads find their other ends in Eco’s nonfiction works, which focus primarily on the question of interpretation and the source of meaning. The novel, which follows three distinctly overinterpretive characters as they descend into ruin, has been read by some as a retraction or parody of Eco’s own position. However, if Foucault’s Pendulum is indeed polemical, it must be taken as an argument against the mindset which Eco has termed the “hermetic”. Through an examination of his larger theoretical body, including …


Speed And Convulsive Beauty: Trains And The Historic Avant-Garde, Marylaura Papalas Jan 2015

Speed And Convulsive Beauty: Trains And The Historic Avant-Garde, Marylaura Papalas

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

The train, an invention and evocative symbol of the 19th century, somewhat ironically continued to fascinate avant-garde artists and writers of the 20th century, when faster and more exciting modes of transportation were in use. Locomotive imagery in Italian futurism and French surrealism, however, demonstrates a lasting fascination with speed, locomotive space, and their effect on perceptions of reality. Considering the work of more recent theorists like Paul Virilio, Michel Foucault, and various others who have contributed to the growing field of mobility studies, this paper aims to understand the persisting presence of the train as a symbol …


The Obstacles To And Solutions Of Female Characters' Speech: Beatrice In Dante's Vita Nuova And Purgatorio And Susan In J. M. Coetzee's Foe, Tamara Savage Jan 2015

The Obstacles To And Solutions Of Female Characters' Speech: Beatrice In Dante's Vita Nuova And Purgatorio And Susan In J. M. Coetzee's Foe, Tamara Savage

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the speaking and silencing of two female characters, Beatrice from Dante’s Vita Nuova and Purgatorio and Susan from J. M. Coetzee’s Foe. The texts are viewed through postcolonial and feminist lenses to show the problems with male characters speaking for female characters and the obstacles the female characters face when attempting to speak. Dante’s solution to this problem is to transform Beatrice from a silent and demure woman into a character who issues commands with a powerful voice. Coetzee’s solution is instead to refuse to provide a solution, since no one but Susan can speak for …