Digital Commons Network^™

“For It Acordeth Noght To Kinde”: Remediating Gower’S Confessio Amantis In Machinima, Sarah L. Higley

Accessus

Visual adaptation of a medieval text, as tempting as it is in film of any kind, is never an easy conversion, and all the more so if the original is as formally structured as John Gower’s Confessio Amantis. This essay examines the philosophy and difficulties of making a “medieval motion picture” (animated and narrated by the author) reflect the message of three of Gower’s tales (“The Travelers and the Angel,” “Canace and Machaire,” “Florent”) as well as the multimedia properties of the manuscripts that house them, their illuminations beckoning us into colorful virtual worlds. In referencing theories of adaptation, …

The Role Of Culture In Comics Of The Quotidian, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

Studies of the quotidian often start from a social sciences perspective that daily life is made up of routine practices and ingrained assumptions. This is also found in studies of literature, art and economics. The premise of the quotidian, however, must be examined through a lens of culture. This essay explores how the notion of the quotidian in comics rests on culture, which in turn comprises various nexus of practice. Drawing evidence from Exit Wounds (by Rutu Modan) and Questionable Content (by Jeph Jacques), the essay extends the notion of the quotidian from a specific reference to ‘slice of life …

Ni Francaise, Ni Juive, Ni Arabe: The Influence Of Nineteenth Century French Judaism On The Emergence Of Franco- Jewish- Arab Literature, Deborah Rosalind Gruber

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study proposes that the influence of nineteenth century French Judaism on the Jewish communities of the Middle East from approximately 1910­‐1956 has had an indelible influence on the evolution of Franco- Jewish‐Arab literature today. From the late nineteenth century, the education of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire was provided by the Paris based Alliance Israélite Universelle, an organization established by French Jews with the purpose of emancipating disadvantaged Jewish communities outside of France. The result was the establishment of Franco­‐Jewish-Arab communities that regarded French education as a means of both social and economic advancement. Although the curriculum of …

Dark Matter: Susan Howe, Muriel Rukeyser, And The Scholar's Art, Stefania Heim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Instead of describing poetry as a set of constraints or history of practices, Muriel Rukeyser calls it "one kind of knowledge." Dark Matter heeds Rukeyser's call, theorizing a poetics of the "scholar's art," in which documentary investigation, autobiographical exploration, and formal innovation are mutual, interwoven concerns. The dissertation pairs American poets Susan Howe (b. 1937) and Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980), reading their hybrid works not through the received categories of American poetry, or through common generic and disciplinary divisions, but using an inductive methodology that takes its lead from the poets. Understanding Howe and Rukeyser's literary experiments as serious interventions in …

Sammye Greer, Sammye Greer

All oral histories

Professor of English Sammye Greer was on faculty at IWU from 1970-1982. On behalf of the newly-formed 2014 Women's Caucus, Greer was asked to provide any recollections she had of the ca. 1970s IWU Women's Caucus, including any records or documentation that might still exist. Her remarks describe the campus climate for female faculty, events of the Caucus in her era, and perspectives on the issues she encountered as department chair.

Dr. Greer received IWU's Teaching Excellence Award and gave an Honors Day Convocation address in May 1978. The text for that address may be found at http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/teaching_excellence/42

Outside, Inside By Michael Penny, Mark Byers

The Goose

Review of Michael Penny's Outside, Inside.

Sybil Unrest By Larissa Lai And Rita Wong, Emily Mcgiffin

The Goose

Review of Sybil Unrest by Larissa Lai and Rita Wong.

Eng 3901-001: Language And Linguistics, Davia Markelis

Spring 2015

No abstract provided.

Eng 5091-001: Studies In Language, Linguistics, And Literacy/Linguistics For Teachers Of English Language Learners, Davia Markelis

Spring 2015

No abstract provided.

Eng 5001-001: Studies In Old And Middle English Literature, Timothy Shonk

Spring 2015

No abstract provided.

Eng 5011-001: Studies In Compsition & Rhetoric: Genre Theory & Pedagogy, Donna Binns

Spring 2015

No abstract provided.

Feminist Markup And Meaningful Text Analysis In Digital Literary Archives, Hannah M. Schilperoort

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In this research paper, I examine three digital archives of women writers--University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Willa Cather Archive, Northeastern University’s Women Writers Online, and University of Alberta’s Orlando Project--for evidence of encoding practices and computational text analysis experimentation that supports feminist scholarship. I provide a brief overview of text encoding practices and controversies in digital literary studies, emphasizing research that suggests heavily detailed and interpretative markup results in more meaningful text analysis outcomes. I situate feminist text encoding and analysis practices and technologies within a larger argument for the use of detailed, interpretative and critical markup. I begin my research on …

Michel Henry’S Phenomenological Christology: From Transcendentalism To The Gospel Of John, Jeremy H. Smith

English Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Say What?: The Power Of Language And Communication Demonstrated In Chuck Palahniuk’S Lullaby, Brittany Krantz

Faculty Publications

Throughout Lullaby, Palahniuk manipulates traditional communication by obscuring the roles of speaker and recipient with the culling song, a poem that causes instant death to those who hear it. Despite the obvious incorporation of magic and fantasy, the novel reflects genuine aspects of linguistic functions and indicates authentic applications for the use of language and speech acts in the actual process of communication. The author highlights the impact that language bears upon one’s psyche, as individuals’ thoughts often transpire into words, and consequentially, into threatening actions that jeopardize others’ well-being. Palahniuk’s manipulation of traditional communication is that victims do not …

Making Waves: Bacon, Manley, And The Shifting Rhetorics Of Opulent At(A)Lantis, Alex Cahill Nielsen

ETD Archive

In the modern critical environment, there has been a renewed interest in the role that proto-feminist and feminist satires have played in the development of cultural commentary and the modern novel. Lesser-studied works have seen several new approaches applied by critics such as Rachel Carnell, Rebecca Bullard, and Ruth Herman, who have focused on the role of the genre of "secret history" in the popular growth of the novel as a form for political dissent. Secret history, which can offer revelatory glimpses into the contemporary scandals and governance of the female authors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is a …

Esl Students' Language Anxiety In In-Class Oral Presentations, Yusi Chen

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This case study aims to explore connections between ESL students’ speaking-in-class anxiety and their presentation performance, factors causing oral anxiety during presentations, and strategies to regulate L2 students’ speaking anxiety in presentations. Findings of this research contribute to the investigation of speaking-in-class anxiety from non-English major L2 students. Three Chinese ESL students enrolled in the INTO program at Marshall University individually gave two presentations in speaking classes. Triangulated data sources were collected to delve into three research questions. The results suggest that L2 students’ anxiety forms mental blocks during presentations, but it has less influence on their presentation performance. Based …

"Hills Like White Elephants": Epistemic, Nonepistemic And Nonseeing, Gene Washington

English Faculty Publications

This essay, a though-experiment, explores the value of reading literary texts (with the example of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants") from the point of view of epistemic, nonepistemic and nonseeing. Epistemic seeing is defined as seeing with "belief-content" nonepistemic seeing without it. The technique is to examine each example of the word "seeing" (or one of the members of its family, "look, watch," "blink") and let it "lead" you to the object, its contest, and implications in the story as a whole..

Writing In And Around Video Games, Wendi Sierra

English Faculty/Staff Publications

This undergraduate course uses video games as a lens through which to explore the infinitely broader topic of digital rhetoric. Students encounter games in several different ways: as texts to analyze, raw material for video compositions, systems to create and explore. Key topics include genre conventions and constraints, audience, procedural rhetoric, interface design, and convergence culture.

Abandoning The Shadows And Seizing The Stage: A Perspective On A Feminine Discourse Of Resistance Theatre As Informed By The Work Of Susanna Centlivre, Eliza Haywood, Frances Sheridan, Hannah Cowley, And The Sistren Theatre Collective, Brianna A. Bleymaier

MA in English Theses

This thesis considers the development of a unique form of theatre - feminine resistance theatre. Through the process, this work will consider the true nature and power of theatre as an artform, the placement of the problematized female voice within society, literature, and theatre, and how the theatrical form can create a unique catalyst for the female voice to be considered and implemented. In order to fully comprehend the nature of this exploration, this thesis discusses the placement and relevancy of the foundation eighteenth century theatre provides, by examining four of the women who fought for the validity of the …

Mexican Immigrants As "Other": An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of U.S. Immigration Legislation And Political Cartoons, Olivia Teague Morgan

MA in English Theses

This paper uses postcolonial theory to analyze United States immigration legislation as it applies to the marginalized group of Mexican immigrants, beginning with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and ending with Obama’s proposed immigration plan in 2014. It also couples postcolonial theory with visual rhetoric concepts to analyze political cartoons and images relating to Mexican immigration, uncovering the attitudes and messages they represent.

Living By The Code: Authority In Gerard Stembridge's The Gay Detective, Kathleen A. Heininge

Faculty Publications - Department of English

Irish drama has few representations of police officers as anything but a trope for authority, tending to avoid any substantive character development. Likewise, it has few representations of homosexual characters, and when such representations do exist they are often caricatures. Reductive portrayals of police often arise from the complex relationship the Irish have with authority and with the legal system. But one of the few exceptions to this trend, and the only play to tackle the representation of a police officer and a homosexual at once, is Gerard Stembridge’s play The Gay Detective (1996). The play offers up the character …

Introduction To Innovative Approaches To Teaching Chaucer, Alison (Ganze) Langdon, David Sprunger

English Faculty Publications

Many a medievalist has been seduced by Chaucer. Perhaps it’s the totality of Chaucer’s enduring characters, memorable tales, elusive narrator, and fragmented whole that keeps us coming back. We are fascinated and delighted, too, by his linguistic play and the lyrical cadence of Middle English. Chaucer may have led us to graduate study in the first place and remains a treat that organizes our pedagogical lives. For some who teach in smaller programs or two-year colleges, Chaucer’s canonical status may provide the only guaranteed place for medieval texts in the curriculum and thus represents one small chance to share our …

Sailing To Babylon / Virtue, Big As Sin, Stephen Kampa

Birmingham Poetry Review

pp. 177-185

Rhetorical Imperialism, Allison Welty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

José Donoso’s The Obscene Bird of Night is often described as a grotesque labyrinth of symbols and images representative of the Latin Boom literary moment. The novel’s purposefully ambiguous construction opens itself up to two opposing readings that reveal discrepancies and conflicts in postcolonial and globalization studies, and as such, my project consists of two papers, easily read separately or in conversation with one another. The first proposes a reading of the novel as an assertion of marginal identity onto the world stage, ultimately upholding the indigenous native as a source of strength. Here, the novel’s appropriation of the folklore …

Rotten Symbol Mongering: Scapegoating In Post-9/11 American War Literature, David Andrew Buchanan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A rhetorical approach to the fiction of war offers an appropriate vehicle by which one may encounter and interrogate such literature and the cultural metanarratives that exist therein. My project is a critical analysis—one that relies heavily upon Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic method and his concepts of scapegoating, the comic corrective, and hierarchical psychosis—of three war novels published in 2012 (The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, FOBBIT by David Abrams, and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain). This analysis assumes a rhetorical screen in order to subvert and redirect the grand narratives the United States perpetuates in art …

Recovering The Rhetorical Tradition: George Campbell's Sympathy And Its Augustinian Roots, Brian Fehler

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

The year 1776 saw the production of two important documents of the Enlightenment: the US Constitution and George Campbell's The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Both documents were products of Enlightenment thought, and both demonstrate the conflicting attitudes in the era toward the rhetorical use of emotional appeals. Recent scholarship by John Witte examines the religious roots of the anti-emotionalist rhetoric expressed by Federalist politicians in the Constitutional era and in particular the influence of the Calvinist clergy of New England, with their "Puritan covenantal theory of ordered liberty and orderly pluralism:'1 Like the Federalists who were in charge of the …

Equal Portions Of Heavenly Fire: Mary Wollstonecraft And The Sexless Soul, Rachael Givens Johnson

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

"This female philosopher indignantly rejects the idea of a sex in the soul, pronouncing the sensibility, timidity and tenderness of women, to be merely artificial refinements of character, introduced and fostered by men;' writes the appalled (and fictional) Hindu philosopher Shahcoolen in Benjamin Silliman's series The Letters of Shahcoolen (1802). Published not long after Mary Wollstonecraft's manifesto, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ( 1796), Silliman's series dedicates four epistles to detailing the nature and influence of the "regenerating system of this female lunatic." Another detractor brands Wollstonecraft "an unsex'd female" in a poetic satire on the author's manifesto …

“The Whole Vexed Question”: Seamus Heaney, Old English And Language Troubles, Una A. Creedon-Carey

Honors Papers

As an Irish poet writing during the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney is constantly aware of the politics and problems of operating in the English language. My project locates Heaney in a context of writers and theorists who are similarly interested in the politics of language-ownership and the logistics of communication and expression in a major language. I argue that Heaney’s North presents a unique solution to these common language questions, and that the poet’s focus on etymologies and language history makes his escape into linguistic nonaffiliation more feasible than other, more abstract attempts at a borderless, liberated language.

Ua68/6/1 The Flight Of The Phoenix, Vol. 1, No. 1, Wku English

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by the WKU English Department for alumni regarding activities of the department, faculty and alumni.

Split / Small Porcelain Head / The Tulip Flame, Michelle Chan Brown

Birmingham Poetry Review

pp. 166-170