English Language and Literature Commons^™

Newsletter: August 2017, John Burton

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Building News…

Cheyne Walk

George Eliot’s last home for a few weeks. Purchased for 15m two years ago by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the house is empty and appears to be undergoing major alterations. We suggested a donation towards our Visitor Centre from the Bloomberg Foundation but answer came there none.

Bird Grove

First the good news. Four years after we complained to Coventry City Council they have replaced the sign which had spelt Eliot with two ‘I’s, one of which they painted white! Unfortunately, the building associated with the road, Bird Grove, is empty, neglected and up to let. It …

Claiming Primordial Landscapes: Science And Imperialism In Turn-Of-The-Century Science Fiction Novels, Kaitlin S. Andersen

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis argues that the relationship between nineteenth-century geology and paleontology play a role in imperial ambitions of countries and characters in science fiction novels. Two novels are analyzed— Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne and The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—using the theories of Edward Said and Michel Foucault. I pay specific attention to the idea of knowledge serving as power in imperial exploration, and how the control of knowledge allows for the empowerment of imperialist characters in the texts.

By reading the novels as imperial narratives, I have found that the scientific …

Emergent Ecologies By Eben Kirksey, Cheryl Lousley

The Goose

Review of Emergent Ecologies by Eben Kirksey.

Losing A Vital Voice: Grief And Language Work, Racquel-María Sapién, Tim Thornes

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

Working with speakers of endangered languages often involves developing a deep rapport with the eldest members of a community. These relationships present unique challenges that include navigating great losses – not only of the language of study, but, more profoundly, the attendant death of its speakers. This essay is motivated by the recognition that the death of close consultants is inherent in work with endangered languages. It draws on case study examples to examine the emotional components of language work, specifically grief and loss, from both personal and professional perspectives. Our focus is on two key issues. The first is …

Orphan Benefactors And Orphan Innocence In Charles Dickens And Helen Hunt Jackson, Monika Mezyk

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis examines the role of the orphan benefactor relationship in Oliver Twist (1838), Great Expectations (1861), and Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona (1884). This thesis looks at the conflict between the orphan benefactor and the orphan, which is an important link between Ramona and Hard Times. In this respect, my thesis addresses the larger construction of childhood in nineteenth-century Victorian culture. Grounded in common Victorian ideas of the deserving poor, the construction of the "deserving orphan" in these novels shows how orphan "innocence" is the center of major problems that these novels try to solve. One of the main …

Annotonia: Annotations From Browser To Tei, Greg Tunink, Karin Dalziel, Jessica Dussault, Emily Rau

Digital Initiatives and Special Collections

The Willa Cather Archive (WCA) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is currently working on transcription and annotation of 1500 letters to be released in 2018. As editors will write several thousand annotations, the workflow logistics are complicated. Annotonia1 is a solution developed within the Center for Digital Research in Humanities (CDRH) that allows editors to write annotations directly on letters in a browser and insert those annotations into Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) XML files. Multiple editors review annotations, track letters’ annotation statuses, and generate a new TEI file incorporating the annotations, avoiding having to manually edit each file. Annotonia …

Family Literacy Bags: A Rural-Appalachian Approach For Parental Involvement And Education, Ashley Good Overton

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this concurrent, mixed-methods study was to investigate the implementation of the non-presumptuous literacy bag program as a critical component of increasing parental involvement in rural Appalachia schools related to student literacy achievement. The program was designed to increase parental involvement in book readings and related activities. The intent of the program was to encourage parents to become actively involved in their children’s literacy and to assist children to develop stronger literacy skills. In an effort to better understand parental involvement in a rural Appalachian community, I conducted a pre-program, parental involvement questionnaire in order to gain a …

Exploitation Of Land And Labor In Appalachia: The Manipulation Of Men In Ann Pancake's Strange As This Weather Has Been, Britani W. Baker

Master's Theses

Ecofeminism is traditionally interested in the relationship between patriarchal domination of women and nature. Ann Pancake’s novel Strange As this Weather Has Been critiques the way the coal mining industry has affected the Appalachian people and land. The novel reflects natural ecofeminism, which views the connection between women and nature in essentialist terms. This outdated mode of ecofeminism leads to a reinforcement of gender stereotypes and a misrepresentation of the relationship between gender, nature, and culture. This study of Pancake’s novel employs a material ecofeminist approach to both critique and develop the novel’s gender politics. Material ecofeminism, even as it …

The Body Mends Itself, Hannah Elizabeth Dow

Dissertations

The following poems were completed by the author between September 2014 and April 2017.

The Evolution Of La Mexicana In Corridos Popular In The South Texas Borderlands (1930-2016), Gabriela Cavazos

Theses and Dissertations

Corridos have been exhibiting history for almost two hundred years. Moreover, throughout the years, corridos have been demonstrating the cultural shifts of Mexico and the South Texas Borderlands. Corridos represent the spirit of the Mexican and Mexican American culture. They are ballads written to celebrate or to be critical of the life of the protagonists through their accomplishments and actions.

Get Thee To A Nunnery: Unruly Women And Christianity In Medieval Europe, Sarah E. Wolfe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will argue that the Beowulf Manuscript, which includes the poem Judith, Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum, and the Old-Norse-Icelandic Laxdæla saga highlight and examine the tension between the female pagan characters and their Christian authors. These texts also demonstrate that Queenship grew fragile after the spread of Christianity, and women’s power waned in the shift between pre-Christian and Christian Europe.

Wayne Booth's Rhetoric Of Pluralism, William John Ordeman

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will be examining the arguments Wayne C. Booth put forth for Pluralism in rhetorical studies. I will show how Booth believed that ethical criticism, not only in literary criticism but in all disputation, must take place in order for us to understand each other and objective values. Booth believed that our differing opinions and arguments may not be reconcilable, but by employing “listening rhetoric”, a method of paying close attention to the arguments of those who disagree with us, we can arrive at truths that are shared within a community. I juxtapose Booth with both Positivists …

A Close Encounter With Death: Narration In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, Erin M. Gipson

Master's Theses

While critics have discussed Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005) in terms of the Holocaust, its generic hybridity, and its crossover readership for child and adult audiences, I offer the first narratological reading of its unusual narrator: Death. This reading focuses on the rhetorical strategies underlying Death’s contradictory narration, which is at once anthropomorphized and constitutively nonhuman. Scholars of The Book Thief often assume the narrator’s omniscience, but I find that Death is crucially not omniscient; rather, he merely performs omniscience to mask his humanlike limitations. Since current terminology falls short of describing Zusak’s narration, I propose the new classification …

The Woman Of Sorrows: Clara's Self-Destructive Behavior Based On Supernatural Belief In Wieland, Or The Transformation: An American Tale By Charles Brockden Brown, Paden Carlson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Much has been devoted to the study of causality and ambiguity within Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland, or the Transformation. While there is textual and cultural evidence providing explanations for Clara’s behavior, little has been said about the ramifications of Clara’s actions. This essay seeks to add to the discussion of Wieland by exploring Clara’s transformation from theistic rationalist to someone who is inclined to believe in supernatural explanation concerning seemingly inexplicable events.

In more than one instance, Clara’s supernaturally-charged beliefs endanger her. Brown uses Clara’s increasing reliance on supernatural explanation to suggest that, should the early United States similarly abandon …

Remembering As Resurrection: Transgenerational Trauma And Memory In J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter Series, Erika Beckstrand

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

What does it mean to bear witness to the memories of previous generations’ trauma victims? What lessons should we learn from those who came before us to ensure a happier future?

This thesis explores the trauma and memories of the deceased or older generation found in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. I intend to analyze the character of Harry Potter as he interacts with the memories of the previous generation, which he is able to resurrect in embodied forms through the use of magic. By testifying to the memories of the previous generations’ trauma, Harry is able to break the …

Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense Of Living In A High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World By Kath Weston, Kelly Shepherd

The Goose

Review of Kath Weston's Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense of Living in a High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World.

Religion And Ecology: Developing A Planetary Ethic By Whitney A. Bauman, Paul T. Corrigan

The Goose

Review of Whitney A. Bauman's Religion and Ecology: Developing a Planetary Ethic.

Our Ice Is Vanishing / Sikuvut Nunguliqtuq: A History Of Inuit, Newcomers, And Climate Change By Shelley Wright, Benjamin C. O'Heran

The Goose

Review of Shelley Wright's Our Ice Is Vanishing / Sikuvut Nunguliqtuq: A History of Inuit, Newcomers, and Climate Change.

Mythcon 48 - All That Is Gold, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon Programs

Welcome to Mythcon 48, the annual conference of the Mythopoeic Society, and the fiftieth anniversary of its founding! Whether you have been active in the Society since 1967 or this is your first exposure to it, we are delighted to have you join us in Champaign, Illinois, this summer.

Living Lore: B. A. Botkin, Folklore, And The State, Kirby Little

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This digital project explores government surveillance and political action through folklore. The project focuses on the unpublished essay of folklorist Benjamin Botkin titled “Progress: Negroes and Everybody, From Folk Tale to Science Fiction.” Botkin was a prominent academic in his field, and created the theoretical approach to folklore he termed “applied folklore.” Botkin’s approach to folklore gained considerable attention, both positive and negative, due to his unique emphasis on the present time and the ever-changing nature of folklore, and his politicization of folklore as a method for uniting working class citizens. For decades, Botkin was under clandestine surveillance by the …