American Literature Commons^™

Postwar Media Manifestations And Don Delillo, Joshua Adam Boldt

Online Theses and Dissertations

Media's influence on postwar American culture is undeniable. Don DeLillo's fiction is often a commentary on that influence. Hyperreality, Simulacra, Consumerism, and News Addiction are all regular themes in DeLillo's novels; this paper explores all of these concepts through the lens of media theory. Special attention is given to the novels White Noise, Americana, and Mao II, as well as to the media theorists Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, and Antonio Gramsci. The paper is both a history and a critique of postwar consumer culture and the role that media plays in the construction of that culture.

Principles Of Thomas Pynchon's Literary Realities, Ira Anthony Walker

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Thomas Pynchon's literature is unique in subject and style. Postmodern by definition, Pynchon illustrates physics as a societal metaphor; Guy Debord's text The Society of the Spectacle suggests that these societal, literary, metaphors constitute and/or lead to a Spectacle. Through the analysis of an unpublished text: Minstrel Island, an early written short story: "Entropy," and a short novel: The Crying of Lot 49 the reader is capable of seeing a developing theme of physics as metaphor constituting multiple Spectacles. The narrative devices offered by Thomas Pynchon become Spectacular in nature and reflect the characteristics and environment of the tumultuous 1960s …

Lit From Within: Contemporary Masters On The Art And Craft Of Writing, Kevin Haworth, Dinty W. Moore

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Lit from Within offers creative writers a window into the minds of some of America’s most celebrated contemporary authors. Witty, direct, and thought–provoking, these essays offer something to creative writers of all backgrounds and experience. With contributions from fiction writers, poets, and nonfiction writers, this is a collection of unusual breadth and quality.

Contributors: Lee K. Abbott, Rick Bass, Claire Bateman, Charles Baxter, Ron Carlson, Billy Collins, Peter Ho Davies, Carl Dennis, Stephen Dunn, Robin Hemley, Tony Hoagland, David Kirby, Maggie Nelson, Francine Prose, Mary Ruefle

"Theah's Life Anywheres Theah's Booz And Jazz": Home To Harlem And Gingertown In The Context Of National Prohibition, Kathleen Morgan Drowne

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Sentimental Ideology, Women's Pedagogy, And American Indian Women's Writing: 1815-1921, Christine Cavalier

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Sentimental Ideology, Women's Pedagogy, and American Indian Women's Writing: 1815-1921 by Christine Renée Cavalier Washington University in St. Louis, 2011 Professor Vivian Pollak, Chairperson This dissertation examines how sentimental notions of respectable womanhood and refined education shaped the polished poetry and prose of four seminal female figures in the history of American Indian literature: Jane Johnston Schoolcraft: 1800-1842), the earliest American Indian female author recovered thus far; E. Pauline Johnson: 1861-1913), the most successful nineteenth-century Native writer who became Canada's iconic poetess and Native national symbol; S. Alice Callahan: 1868-1894), the first American Indian female novelist; …

"Their Past In My Blood": Paule Marshall, Gayl Jones, And Octavia Butler's Response To The Black Aesthetic, Williamenia Miranda Walker Freeman

Dissertations

Paule Marshall’s The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (1969), Gayl Jones’ Corregidora (1975), and Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979) enhance our conceptualization of black aestheticism and black nationalism as cultural and political movements. The writers use the novel as genre to question the ideological paradigm of a black nationalist aesthetic by providing alternative definitions of community, black women’s sexuality, and race relations. Because of the ways in which these writers respond to black aestheticism and black nationalism, they transform our understanding of movements often perceived as sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic. An examination of their works reveals the need for additional …

History And Transnational Identities In Junot Díaz’S The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, Brian Joseph Flores

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of my thesis is to analyze Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and evaluate the role literature plays within the larger context of the relationship among the different countries and cultures in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the place historical events play within this understanding. In Díaz’s novel, there is an understanding of the presence of multiple cultural identities. This awareness of multiple cultural identities leads to the difficulty the characters encounter when trying understanding themselves as individuals. On a much larger scale, the characters also try to understand their cultural, social, and historical …

Your Presence Is Requested At Suvanto, Maile Chapman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This creative dissertation is a novel set in a fictional private hospital on the southwestern coast of Finland. The main character, Sunny Taylor, is an American nurse whose loneliness and isolation give the novel its distant emotional atmosphere and outsider’s perspective on life in Finland (a densely forested country long perceived as linguistically, culturally, and geographically remote from the rest of Europe). Other main characters include a reserved, chronically ill Finnish woman born before independence from Russia and educated as an architect; an unpleasant expatriate Danish woman who once gave ballroom dance lessons in Finnish cafés; an American obstetrician who …

The Crooked Median, Monica Zarazua

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Words search. There are specific points designated by written language, where one might stand for just a little while until the satisfaction of a pattern is revealed. In this collection of stories, one of the forces that serves as a catalyst for this search is the outside gaze. The gaze exerts itself onto characters. The characters may or may not be conscious of it, may or may not welcome it, but they must grapple with it. The gaze projects its needs and desires onto the characters. It seeks to control them, and it desires to be viewed with admiration, lowered …

Must Pay Now, David C. Perkins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

These poems attempt to stand amidst the towering shadows of Enlightenment. One of these pillars involves the newfound land from a collective western European vantage and these lands are called the Americas. This space is where these poems are located. They suckle at the monolithic breasts of Enlightened Romance as did Romulus and Remus to the She-Wolf. The poems in their own originality engage with writers such as Jonathan Edwards, Alice Notley, Susan Howe, Frank O’Hara, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, Christina Rossetti, William Blake, and John Cage. If there ever was such a thread in tradition, these people might …

Beeler, Andrew J., Jr. (Sc 2362), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Mansucripts Small Collection 2362. "Elizabeth Madox Roberts: Her Interpretation of LIfe" by Andrew J. Beeler, Jr., a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree, University of Louisiville, Louisville, Kentucky, 1940.

Bere, Jenny Rose, D. 1987 (Sc 2371), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2371. "Cale Young Rice[:] A Study of His Life and Work" by Jenny Rose Bere, "a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts," University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, 1939.

Reaves, Gary R. (Sc 2389), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2389. "The Significance of Time in the Novels of Robert Penn Warren," a thesis presented "in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree," Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, 1963.

Chaney, Thomas Peyton (Sc 2395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2395. "An Analysis of the Poetry of Robert Penn Warren for Oral Interpretation," a thesis presented "in partial fulfillment of the requirements [for the] degree of Master of Arts," Baylor University, Waco, Texas, 1966.

Political Satire And British-American Relations In Five Decades Of Doctor Who, Marc Dipaolo

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

“Political Satire and British-American Relations in Five Decades of Doctor Who.”

Originally published in the Journal of Popular Culture. Vol. 43, Issue 5. 964 – 987. October 2010

To see more or purchase works by Marc DiPaolo, visit his Amazon page here: https://www.amazon.com/Marc-DiPaolo/e/B004LV7W6Y%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Did A Woman Write “The Great American Novel”? Judging Women’S Fiction In The Nineteenth Century And Today, Melissa J. Homestead

Department of English: Faculty Publications

In the fall of 2009, as I was preparing to teach a senior capstone course for English majors on the nineteenth-century American novel and questions of literary value and the canon, I went trolling for suggestions of recent secondary readings about canonicity. The response came back loud and clear: “The canon wars are over. We all teach whatever we want to teach, and everything is fine.” My experiences with students suggest that, at least in American literary studies before 1900, the canon wars are not over, or, perhaps, they have entered a new stage. Most of my students had heard …

Moving Through Fear: A Conversation With Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Jennifer L. Fabbi, Amy L. Johnson

Library Faculty Research

Prior to its release in August 2010, Susan Campbell Bartoletti's newest book, They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group (2010), received an incredibly positive response in the form of starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, Horn Book, and Kirkus Reviews. Through her impeccable research and ability to weave a compelling story out of the place "where darkness and light smack up against each other" (Bartoletti & Zusak, 2008), she has made it possible for children and young adults to access and understand the horror of the Third Reich …

It's (Not) All Small Stuff: The 2009 Lion And The Unicorn Award For Excellence In North American Poetry, Michael Heyman, Angela Sorby, Joseph T. Thomas Jr.

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Robert E. Gard Reader : To Change The Face Of America, From Writings By Robert E. Gard, Robert E. Gard, Maryo Gard Gard Ewell, Lamoine Maclaughlin

Scholarship Collection

This Reader draws from the works of Robert E. Gard, professor at the University of Wisconsin, Extension. His chief areas of activity were in the theatre arts and in creative writing, with a strong side activity in collecting and publishing the folklore of the state. He established the functional area of arts development under University Extension and remained a specialist in the arts in smaller communities and rural areas.

Table Of Contents

The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard & Pulp Studies

Editorial, by Mark Hall

The Man Who Helped Conan: An Interview with Roy Thomas, by Jeffrey Kahan

Fandom at a Crossroads: Jonathon Bacon and The Legacy of Robert E. Howard, by Lee A. Breakiron