Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

"A Crack In The Ice": Attachment And Insanity In Pink Floyd's The Wall, Margaret E. Geddy

Honors College Theses

Pink Floyd’s concept album The Wall follows a musician named Pink from adolescence to adulthood as he struggles to maintain his sanity while searching for a genuine connection "on the thin ice of modern life." This paper analyzes several aspects of the album to trace the character’s break with reality and what he comes to realize, such as all of the lyrics, the track-listing and the side each song appears on, and any non-musical background noise. Through the lens of Attachment Theory, a type of developmental psychology, the inevitability of Pink’s descent into madness is shown, as is how his …

Satyrs, Syphilis, And Sailors: The Influence Of Gaius Petronius’ Satyricon Liber On Samuel Taylor Coleridge’S “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner”, Spencer Fugate

English Honors Projects

For generations, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” has befuddled readers. This project argues that many of its apparent puzzles disappear once we recognize its base text as the Satyricon Liber, Gaius Petronius’ first-century vulgar comedy. Attending to Coleridge’s broader literary corpus alongside images of sexual dysfunction in “The Rime” itself to justify this foundational claim, I then explore how a comic source transforms the reader’s experience of “The Rime” and its criticism. “The Rime” refutes cohesive readings as a horror-poem because it was never intended as pure horror: rather, the poem is Coleridge’s attempt to modernize …

A Frame More Beautiful Than The Picture: How The Frame Story Dominates The Narrative In “Habent Sua Fata Libelli.”, Matt Cowden

Modernist Short Story Project

A frame story is a popular literary technique used by modernist authors such as Joseph Conrad and P.G. Wodehouse. Despite this, there as been relatively little scholarly attention given to the function of the frame story on the narrative. Telling a story within a frame can completely change the emotion and themes of a story, and as such should be considered an any analysis of these stories. An example of a story where the frame completely changes the story is “Habent Sua Fata Libelli,” told by a man who claims to have been wrongfully accused of forging a Greek vase, …

Serving Two Masters: The Paralysis Of Early 20th-Century Women In A. E. Coppard’S “The Hurly-Burly”, Juliana Avery

Modernist Short Story Project

The theme of paralysis is evident throughout early twentieth-century British literature. Consider Joyce’s “Eveline,” in which a young woman cannot make up her mind about whether to go with her lover to South America or stay behind with her father. Eventually she stays behind, not of her own volition but rather because she is paralyzed by not knowing what her duty is, and so she cannot take the decisive step onto the boat. Joyce’s language shows this paralysis: “She stood among the swaying crowd” (15). Everyone can move but Eveline As Frank calls out to her from behind the barrier, …

E.M Forster: Discovering Connection In “Mr. Andrews”, Janelle A. Benny

Modernist Short Story Project

E.M. Forster was well accomplished in his career for his novels and their accomplishments. His writing career started early in life and found great success, yet, often his short stories went unnoticed. Dominic Head explains that critics found his stories to be “lack luster” in comparison to his novels (Head 77). However, this exact quality is what makes Forster’s stories memorable. Head argues that Forster’s short stories approach modernism different from his novels and other writers of the time (77). One such forgotten story is called “Mr. Andrews.” Found in the illustrated magazine The Open Window, Forster’s short story …

The Saddest Story And Ford’S Phobias And Sicknesses, Instable Sentimental Life And Respect Toward The Military., David Moraza

Modernist Short Story Project

By the time Ford Madox Ford published “The Saddest Story,” his name still was Ford Madox Hueffer. He changed his name because it sounded too German; in fact, his father was a German.Ford Madox Ford, we see, was not a careless man; he took things seriously, giving up on his name to fit in society best. He was in close relationship to a lot of important people, Russian politicians, among them, famous authors such as Wells; he was not an average citizen with average acquaintances. Again, we could say Ford was never a conformist; as we look at his work, …

Harold Monro’S “Parcel Of Love”: An Expression Of Monro’S Homosexuality, Mitchell Holman

Modernist Short Story Project

Harold Monro was both an excellent writer and a talented entrepreneur. Born March 14^th, 1879 to Edward William Monro, and Arabel Sophia, Monro came from a long line of well-established men, many of which were doctors and surgeons. He would not follow the family medical tradition, and instead pursued a career as a writer and editor. He worked for a time as an editor for “The Poetry Review,” and would later establish the Poetry Bookshop in Bloomsbury, where he went on to publish his own work and the work of many other up-and-coming authors. Monro’s love life was …

The Real Captivity In Graham’S “The Captive”, Amanda Breck

Modernist Short Story Project

There are so many fascinating things about R. B. Cunninghame Graham’s short story entitled “The Captive,” and indeed about the author himself. Graham was born in London in 1852 to Scottish parents. After attending private schools in London and Brussels, Graham left for South America when he was seventeen, where he was a cattle rancher, a horse dealer, and an explorer (Watts). He married a woman in 1878 who claimed to be from Chile but was actually from Yorkshire. His travels and adventures in South America and other places around the globe had a heavy influence on his writing, which …

The Master Of Time, Rachel Aedo

Modernist Short Story Project

“The Master of Time”

Norman Lindsay’s work in The London Aphrodite spanned more than a single short story in a single issue. His contribution to this periodical was due to more than his relationship with the editor—Jack Lindsay, creator of The London Aphrodite, was his son—rather, Norman Lindsay’s writing adhered strongly to the premise of the journal. The self-proclaimed cultural journal was set in defiance to the critical literary trends of the day, specifically in opposition to The London Mercury. “The Master of Time” appeared in the third volume of the Aphrodite. Thematically, Lindsay is addressing a distrust …

Through The Eyes Of A Deaf-Mute, Nicole Finlayson

Modernist Short Story Project

Author of England and one of Ezra Pound’s lovers, B.M. Goold-Adams (Gould-Adams), or most commonly referred to as Bride Scratton, was a writer who drew from personal experiences to create short stories that “explores the lives of people from different classes, and backgrounds living in England” (England). The events in Scratton’s life – especially the loss of her father, birth of disabled daughter, and divorce from Ned Scratton in 1923 – greatly influenced her writings and were key components in her short story “The Obsequies.” This story was written in 1923 and published in England, a collection of Bride’s short …

Male Presence And Indecision In “Tète À Tète, À La Femme”, Olivia J. Esplin 9714899

Modernist Short Story Project

The short “Tète à Tète, à la Femme” is unremarkable at first glance much like its author Beatrice Hastings (writing under the name Beatrice Tina). Just a conversation between friends Marjorie and Beatrice about the merits of free marriage (“not [marrying] at all”) versus a legal marriage. Beatrice, a forward-thinking woman in the eyes of Marjorie surprises her friend by adamantly opposing Marjorie entering a free marriage with her beau, George. She gives extensive examples of free marriages that have failed and generally talks over Marjorie’s attempt to rebut the grim perspective Beatrice presents. It all seemed very straightforward until …

“The Longest Day Of Her Life”: Affirming Pre-Wwi Gender Roles, Nicole Umphress

Modernist Short Story Project

The January 1913 edition of The Strand Magazine featured a short story titled “The Longest Day of Her Life” by W. B. Maxwell, prolific during his time but virtually unknown in modern studies of the Modernist Era. The son of popular novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Maxwell spent much of his life writing and pursuing the creative arts; though in contact from a young age with some of the premier figures of the British literati, including Robert Browning, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Oscar Wilde, Maxwell was most inspired by his literary mother. Loving, kind, and immensely talented, Braddon set an example …

Where Literature And Philosophy Meet And Diverge, Clare C. Hagan

Undergraduate Theses

Many writers and philosophers have asked “What is art?” or “What is philosophy?” but it is difficult to encounter a text where these questions are set beside each other. Many works of philosophy appear very literary in form and content, just as there are many literary works that are very philosophical in nature. This essay examines the intersection of literature and philosophy, using Kant’s Critique of Judgement as a way into analyzing Plato’s Phaedo, as an example of literary philosophy; and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as an example of philosophical literature. The first section deals with literature and philosophy as texts, looking …

Petticoats And Spurs: Female Armor In Spenser's "Faerie Queene" And Pope's "The Rape Of The Lock", Patrick D. Wilks

The Criterion

Both Britomart in Spenser’s Book 3, Canto 1 of Faerie Queene and Belinda in Pope’s The Rape of The Lock wear their clothes and (in Belinda’s case) makeup as their armor, both literally and figuratively. Both suffer unwanted advances, their image publicly besmirched as a result. Even though Belinda dresses to show off her beauty and Britomart dresses to conceal it, both women use their array as protection from cruel male world around them. Both feel safe, and both women have this safety violated and attack to defend their honor.

For Spenser, Chastity is a virtue to be held in …

J.R.R. Tolkien, Romanticist And Poet. Julian Eilmann. Translated By Evelyn Koch, Kris Swank

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

C.S. Lewis And Christian Postmodernism: Word, Image, And Beyond. Kyoko Yuasa, Peter G. Epps

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

In C. S. Lewis and Christian Postmodernism, Kyoko Yuasa has managed to advance the cause of careful reading and discussion of Lewis’s novels as contemporary cultural artifacts, rather than mere ciphers for apologetics or mere fluff for children, for both Japanese and American audiences. This is no mean feat, not only in terms of translation but also in terms of trans-Pacific discourse, and Yuasa deserves great credit for the accomplishment. Her close reading of several of Lewis’s major fiction works in a comparative frame she derives from works by Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark, Doris Lessing, and John Fowles yields …

The Unlikely Milliner & The Magician Of Threadneedle-Street [Article], K. A. Laity

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Susanna Clarke uses the tarot in her novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell much as she uses history: twisting it to open up spaces for magic and playfulness. She offers modifications on the traditional Tarot de Marseille that accurately predict the narrative events, yet deftly obscures the outcomes by leading the readers (and the characters) to jump to the wrong conclusions. Laity’s analysis of the Tarot readings performed by Childermas and Vinculus shows that Strange and Norrell enjoy mastery in magic, only to find that that mastery brings great suffering to others and also isolates them from the world as …

Was Faramir Gandalf’S Chosen Ring Bearer? Or Is This The Beginning Of My Own Work Of Fan Fiction?, Victoria Gaydosik

Faculty Articles & Research

Good afternoon and thank you for sharing your interest in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The title of my talk, as specified in the program distributed via e-mail, is the question “Was Faramir Gandalf’s Intended Ring Bearer?” But there is also a further sub-title omitted from the program that hints at the larger problem of interpreting and appreciating literary works: the subtitle continues, “OR Is This the Germination of a Piece of Fan Fiction?” So I have a double purpose today: I wish to explain some puzzling aspects—puzzling to me at least—of Faramir’s construction as …

Anti-Feminism In Modernist Literature, Maddie Holbrook

Modernist Short Story Project

After the stifling conventions of the Victorian era, the modernist movement cast a new and surprising light on issues that had previously been ignored or approached only a single way. The rigidity of moral standards was fading, and many authors sought to start conversations about topics that had previously been taboo. Modernism is often credited with progressive attitudes toward issues such as feminism, independence, and homosexuality, but there may not have been as radical a change as there appears. Some modernist works carried the appearance of progressive thinking, but a closer inspection reveals attitudes more similar to their Victorian ancestors. …

"Song Is The Simple Rhythmic Liberation Of An Emotion": Stephen Dedalus' Musical Martyrdom, Colleen E. Mulhern

The Criterion

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is Joyce’s semi-autobiographical bildungsroman centered on Stephen Dedalus’ struggle to reconcile Catholic teachings with his own artistic ambitions. In Portrait, music aids Stephen’s epiphanies. Stephen uses music to express emotions unable to be conceived of in – what Joyce calls –“cut-and-dry language.” He appreciates the ability of songs to arouse emotion and induce thought; the songs that Stephen encounters help to form his identity, first as a martyr and, later, as a creator.

Awarded The Leonard J. McCarthy, S.J., Memorial Prize for 2018