Digital Commons Network^™

The Literary Unconscious: Ideology And Utopia In The Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel In England And Russia, Isra Ahmed Daraiseh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this volume, I have examined a number of works of nineteenth-century realist fiction from England and Russia, using the double interpretive method recommended by Fredric Jameson in The Political Unconscious. In particular, I have employed the dialectical double hermeneutic suggested by Jameson, who argues that the most productive approach to literary texts is to consider them from the double perspective of ideology and utopia. That is, critics should approach literary texts by seeking out the ideological roots that lie beneath the textual surface and from which the texts grow, while at the same time keeping a careful eye out …

Literary Note On: Donna Tartt; The Secret History: New York: Vintage, Paperback, 569pp, Nadya Chishty-Mujahid

Business Review

Donna Tartt's postmodern classic gained great fame when published in 1992, and additional, well-merited recognition when its author won the Pulitzer Prize for her more recent novel The Goldfinch in 2014. Originally from Mississippi, Tartt relocated to the East Coast during her college years and struck up friendships with notable literary figures such as Bret Easton Ellis-a move that enabled her to indulge in her passion for writing and bring her undeniable creativity to the public's attention. For sheer twisted machinations, The Secret History has few comparable rivals in postmodern literature, with the exception of great works such as Katherine …

Lemonade, Scott Sheridan

IWU Authors Bookshelf

Translated from Italian into English, Sheridan said his greatest challenge may have been capturing the setting and tone of the novel. “It’s a period piece about early 19^th-century England and written by an Italian,” said Sheridan. “I wanted to give it just a hint of Jane Austen without sounding old fashioned or archaic. The book is daring in many ways, from some of the controversial content to the experimental nature of the psychological narrative.”

Lemonade by Nina Pennacchi was published in Italian in 2014. The translated version by Sheridan is now available at amazon.com.

The Many Faces Of Cleopatra: How Performance And Characterization Change Cleopatra In Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Legend Of Good Women," William Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra, And John Dryden's All For Love; Or, The World Well Lost, Rebecca Piazzoni Chatham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Dryden presented the character of Cleopatra differently, through both the written language of their pieces and their own and others’ performances of her, in order to meet the demands of their respective audiences and performance conditions. Chaucer, in “The Legend of Cleopatra,” portrays and performs Cleopatra comically. Shakespeare, in his Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, characterizes Cleopatra as a complex woman. In All for Love; or, The World Well Lost, Dryden characterizes Cleopatra as sentimental, but the performance of her on stage by female actresses added depth to the role. For Chaucer and Dryden, …

Getting On The Same Page: The Hermeneutics Of Peer Feedback In Composition Classrooms, Mellisa Huffman

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation reconceptualizes print-based and virtual peer feedback (peer review, peer editing, and peer response) within composition classrooms as hermeneutic or interpretive acts. Grounding peer feedback within philosophical hermeneutics explains why empirical research and anecdotal evidence illustrate contradictions regarding peer feedbacks benefits to students. Students' interpretations of what is happening/supposed to happen within peer feedback contexts impacts their performances in these contexts, and these interpretations occur through complex interplays of rhetorical, cultural, linguistic, and contextual interpretive fields. Enacting a hermeneutic pedagogy, which consists of engaging students in a series of scaffolded preparatory and reflective activities, collaborating with students in determining …

Kayardild Morphology And Syntax, By Erich R. Round (Review), Gregory Stump

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mad To Be Sincere: Authenticity, Irony, And Kerouac’S Response To Modern Reality, Jonathan Michael Devin

Masters Theses

This project explores the qualities of sincerity, authenticity, and irony in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. The thesis asserts that that On the Road is neither ironic nor authentic, but, rather, that it both possesses aspects of traditional sincerity and anticipates the New Sincerity movement in contemporary literature. Through observing the characteristics of traditional sincerity and New Sincerity in the novel, the thesis amends the novel's critical position by showing a level of complexity, foresight, and nuance in the text. Ultimately, the thesis shows Kerouac's response to modern reality, presenting the limitations of authenticity and irony while esteeming the …

Specific Exceptions Driving Variation: The Role Of Orthography In Modern Hebrew Spirantization, Michal Temkin Martinez, Ivana Müllner

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper reports results from a production experiment examining the patterns of variation in the morphophonemic alternations present in spirantization in Modern Hebrew, a phenomenon to which there are many exceptions and diverse levels of variation. Real and nonce verbs were used to elicit variation in a sentence completion task as a follow-up to a perception experiment (Temkin Martínez 2010) which found gradient levels of acceptability in variation due to the presence of exceptionality. The diverse patterns of variation indicate that not all exceptions affect the same level of variation in alternation. Results of the current study suggest that levels …

The Storm Still Echoes: Suspense And Ambivalence As A Way Of Life, Shailen Mishra

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three interrelated components that inquire into two themes: the epistemological and aesthetic merit of narrative suspense, and the generative potential of constraint-based writing. In the opening chapter, titled "Doubt in Perpetuity: Rethinking Suspense as a Mode of Aesthetics, and an Epistemological Inquiry," I undertake a theoretical inquiry to prove that suspense can be a rich analytical device to study complex aesthetics of writers. I theorize suspense at its elemental level and from an epistemological standpoint to prove that suspense is not simply a plot-level concept of "what happens next." Instead, by analyzing particular scenes from …

“He Was The Mirror Of The World”: Social Constructivist Reflections In Le Roman De Silence, Hillary O'Brien

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This essay attempts to clarify the purpose of ambiguity and indecision within Heldris of Cornwall's Roman de Silence. Using the framework laid out by Judith Butler, it seeks to understand the way that the protagonist's performance of gender and class reflects the social context in which she lives.

A Fire Stronger Than God: Myth-Making And The Novella Form In Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, Chinh Ngo

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Using concepts of cognitive evolutionary theory, the author explores how narrative storytelling manifests itself in Denis Johnson's novella Train Dreams. The novella form is also discussed, focusing on its manipulation of linear time, its naturalization of supernatural elements, and its deconstruction of dichotomous relationships. Utilizing the novella's distinct structural and thematic elements, Johnson's text shows the myth of American expansionism and industrial progress and that of Kootenai holism in collision, resulting in a narrative renegotiation that seeks to affirm coexistence and complexity.

Erichtho’S Mouth: Persuasive Speaking, Sexuality And Magic, Lauren E. Devoe

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since classical times, the witch has remained an eerie, powerful and foreboding figure in literature and drama. Often beautiful and alluring, like Circe, and just as often terrifying and aged, like Shakespeare’s Wyrd Sisters, the witch lives ever just outside the margins of polite society. In John Marston’s Sophonisba, or The Wonder of Women the witch’s ability to persuade through the use of language is Marston’s commentary on the power of poetry, theater and women’s speech in early modern Britain. Erichtho is the ultimate example of a terrifying woman who uses linguistic persuasion to change the course of nations. Throughout …

Absolving The Sin: Redemptive Feminine Figures In Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife Of Bath's Prologue" And John Milton's Paradise Lost, Rory Griffiths

Theses and Dissertations

Geoffrey Chaucer and John Milton have been ceaselessly studied in isolation to one another, but undergraduate students must begin to study them in conjunction. Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” serves as social critique of medieval misogynist practices that allows students to study social practices as they study his language. Milton’s Eve in Paradise Lost reflects the religious and social instability that marked the Interregnum of the English Civil War, allowing Eve to embody the culture’s desire to return to a virtuous Church. Students will learn to examine the space of the authorial paradox, primarily the questions of authority that …

Performing Marriage In Shakespeare: The Tempest, Robert B. Pierce

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Shakespeare And Boyhood: Early Modern Representations And Contemporary Appropriations, Marvin Tyler Sasser

Dissertations

This dissertation demonstrates that Shakespearean boyhood, both in early modern plays and contemporary reimaginings for young readers, critiques patriarchal and hegemonic ideals through the rhetoric and behavior of boy characters. Although critics have called Shakespeare’s boy characters indistinguishable, I find that they provide Shakespeare a unique resource to offer persuasive skepticism about heroic conventions, education, and political instability. This project begins by examining the lexical network of boy in order to chart its uses in early modern England. The subsequent three chapters establish how Shakespeare uses boys to comment on a range of ideal manhoods, such as the chivalrous …

Prospects For Improving Bilingual Education: An Analysis Of Conditions Surrounding Bilingual Education Programs In U.S. Public Schools, Jennifer A. Gorman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Bilingual education is a subject of debate in education. Some claim that bilingual education programs are detrimental to students, but decades of research supports the benefits of bilingualism and bilingual education for both English Language Learners and monolingual English speakers. The U.S. does not have bilingual education programs in proportion to the needs that these programs could meet for students in public schools. If bilingualism is beneficial, then why do we not have more bilingual education programs? Research extensively covers the internal components of bilingual education programs but only touches on the effect of the external conditions necessary for program …

Myers-Briggs Type Inventory And Alternative School Educators, Heidi Lynn Gutwein

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if a dominant MBTI preference in Indiana alternative school teachers predicted overall school quality within their respective schools. This study examined all four dichotomies: Extraversion-Introversion (EI), Sensing-Intuition (SN), Thinking-Feeling (TF), and Judgment-Perception (JP) as predictors of school quality. Factors that determine the quality of the alternative school are based on the average score of three areas of state-collected, outcome-based data specific to Indiana alternative schools (students who made adequate progress, students who obtained a high school diploma, and students who attained their individual service plan goals). Each participating Indiana alternative school …

Shifting Identity/Shifting Discourse: Re‐Naming In Contemporary Literature By Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Eugenides, And Salman Rushdie, Jennifer Krengel

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Re­‐naming one’s self is an empowering act of self­‐definition; re­‐naming others is an attempt to codify, contain and censure identity. Re­‐naming emerges as a compelling theme in contemporary transnational literature, appearing in three notable texts: Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000), Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex (2002) and Salman Rushdie's memoir Joseph Anton (2012). These texts depict stories of diaspora, the forced migration or dispersal away from a homeland. Communities of diaspora negotiate between two cultures: an originary culture and the culture of the new geographic location. From these negotiations emerge a third, hybridized identity that reimagines the majority culture and challenges structural …

The Social Theories Of Charles Dickens: An Analysis Of Victorian Class And Industrialism, Julia Anne Davis

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This comprehensive analysis of Charles Dickens' social theory looks at Dickens' views on class issues in the paper "Our Great Expectations of the Upper Class" and Dickens' controversial approach to the growing issue of industrialism in the annotated bibliography "A Hard Time for Dickens: Analyzing Dickens' Portrayal of Industrialism in Hard Times." In Dickens' popular 1860 bildungsroman, Great Expectations, Dickens looks at the flawed way that society defines a gentleman, in order to caution against the dangerous societal constructions on class roles. This paper analyzes how Dickens makes these warnings and connects his teachings to issues and prejudices related …

Robo-Teaching? : Automated Essay Scoring And K-12 Writing Pedagogy, Swati Viren Chauhan

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This paper will examine the current state, and future, of AES in secondary literacy education through a review of current research in the topic. An analysis of the history of assessment will seek to explain why AES systems have gained such popularity within high-stakes assessment, and how the use of AES in secondary education, high-stakes testing affects pedagogy. This paper will also look into reliability and validity issues that are presented when using AES as a form of scoring essays. Finally, this paper explores some ways that AES can be used effectively within the K-12 writing classroom, rather than solely …

Unveiling Fantasy In The American Gothic, Olga Jacqueline Neroni

English

In The Plague of Fantasies, Slavoj Žižek charts the relationship between theoretical ideology, fantasy, and ideology in practice. While ideology roots itself firmly in our lives—it crafts our very reality according to Žižek—it is a paradoxically fragile and self-destructive system of interacting symbols. We consume and perpetuate fantasy in order to elucidate and internalize the laws of ideology by placing these symbols into dialogue with one another. In turn, fantasy often draws these laws to their conceptual edge, granting bodies and voices to the underlying fears and desires implied by these symbols. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ligeia” and William Faulkner’s The …

Critical Editions And The Promise Of The Digital: The Development And Limitations Of Markup, Alexandra Haehnert

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This paper seeks to explore the technology underlying current digital editions—which I maintain are wanting in their exploitation of the digital medium—in more detail; its focus is squarely on editorial praxis, not on editorial theory (leaving aside the fact that all praxis is informed by specific theoretical assumptions). Neither am I concerned with questioning whether digital techniques render traditional critical editing obsolete; in fact, I am convinced that they do not, and my paper proceeds from this standpoint. Similarly, I am only marginally interested in exploring the augmentation of digitized texts with multimedia elements as described by Boot and van …

The Anti-Crusade Voice Of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malek Jamal Zuraikat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study reads some Middle English poetry in terms of crusading, and it argues that the most prominent English poets, namely Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and John Gower, were against the later crusades regardless of their target. However, since the anti-crusade voice of Gower and Langland has been discussed by many other scholars, this study focuses on Chaucer's poems and their implicit opposition of crusading. I argue that despite Chaucer's apparent neutrality to crusading as well as other sociopolitical and cultural matters of England, his poetry can hardly be read but as an indirect critique of war in general and …

Prescribed Fire, Moira J. Mcavoy

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

As the culmination of my nonfiction seminar (ENGL 470C) with Professor Colin Rafferty, I chose to explore three disparate, but interwoven, narratives: the death of and delayed grief over my high school mentor; my struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; and, the 2011 wildfire that destroyed much of the Great Dismal Swamp. Through a use of segmentation, lyric language, and a manipulation of tense, I explore the tensions underlying these narratives, namely the idea of futility of preparation and the insistence on destructive cycles which sustain themselves. Ultimately, the essay serves on a rumination not on mortality, but on our cultural …

Overcoming The Symbolic Annihilation Of Females In Classroom Literature, Lisa B. Johnson

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Although there are more than enough children's books with female protagonists available for children to read, girls are often underrepresented in classroom literature. This symbolically annihilates girls, leading them to believe that they are unimportant members of society. In order for boys and girls to feel that they are equally vital members of society, it is important that they are evenly represented in the classroom. While past studies have indicated that the cause for this is boys' distaste for literature with female protagonists, this study investigates why boys dislike literature with female protagonists and how teachers can approach such literature …

The Nature Of Love, Loss, And The Plague: The Reign Of Filostrato In Boccacio's The Decameron, Jessica Lynn Perez

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Many scholars have discussed the symbolism of love and loss as well as the imagery of the plague in Giovanni Boccacio's the Decameron. In this paper, I discuss Boccaccio's plague narrative in the introduction to the text. Then, I examines the introduction to Day Four to show the inability of language to hinder nature. I also show how the meaning of Filostrato's name, its correlation to the somber theme that he has chosen, and Pampinea's reaction to Filostrato's theme demonstrate that these are emblematic of loss as part of the human condition. Lastly, I closely analyzes the story of …

Writing Is Learning, Aubrey M. Kennedy

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This paper examines composition in the secondary English classroom; specifically, the paper addresses common problems associated with composition curricula, and attempts to determine the best methods for teaching composition that strive to foster learning and authorial agency. The paper underscores the importance of incorporating personal experiences and insights into the composition process, and stresses that writing cannot only be taught, but that writing is learning. Moreover, writing is a way to make sense of experiences and insights. The paper includes the scaffolding for a secondary composition curriculum, and outlines the most effective pedagogical practices to teach writing that is meaningful …

Fatherless Homes And Implications On Student Achievement, Timothy James Garland

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between fatherly involvement in students’ lives and select factors of student descriptors and school success. Specifically, the study sought to discover if there is a significant relationship between fatherlessness and student success and if there is a significant relationship between fatherlessness and select student descriptors. Descriptive statistics and linear regression were used to interpret and analyze the data for the study. There were 1,780 respondents who participated in the study. Respondents included seniors from rural, suburban, and urban public schools. In conducting this study, the …

Women's Speech As Reflected In The Television Series, Friends, Gema Del Moral

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This research focuses on analyzing how contemporary women’s speech is reflected in the popular television show Friends through the characters’ differences in gender and their variances in language forms. The aim of this thesis is to find out if there are certain lexical and syntactical characteristics that distinguish women’s language from men’s language. In this study, a corpus linguistic approach is used to collect the data and make a quantitative analysis based on the verbal communication of the characters involved in Season 4 of Friends. The analysis of the linguistic features of verbal communication of all the characters in Season …

His Words Spoke To Me: An Analysis Of Cult Rhetoric Through Memoir, Devan Leigh Lemke

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Through my analysis of memoirs of former cult members, a pattern of rhetorical coercive techniques grounded in the theories of Kenneth Burke and Chaim Perelman surfaces. Burke’s theory of identification presents an explanation of why group members believe they share the same interests as the group. Perelman’s theory of disassociation explains why the group believes outrageous statements made. Perelman’s theory of presence explains why it is impossible to logically express any concerns within the group. The simultaneous existence of all three theories renders a powerful blow to the human psyche. The identity of the member is so shattered, that they …