Digital Commons Network^™

Fairy And Elves In Tolkien And Traditional Literature, Helios De Rosario Martínez

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

Explores the linguistic heritage of the terms elf and fairy, and shows how Tolkien eventually adapted them for his own purposes. Discusses the indistinguishable nature of early folkloric references to elves and dwarves, and how Tolkien picked out the characteristics he wished to use for his elves to suit the purposes of his stories.

What Humans Sound Like, Lauren Browning

English Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

"Good English": Literacy And Institutional Systems At A Community Literacy Organization, Charise G. Alexander

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis explores the impact of institutions and the systems and communities of which they are a part on literacy instruction, practices, and rhetoric at a community literacy organization in Lincoln, Nebraska. A majority of students served by this organization are adult English Language Learners, many of whom receive instruction from volunteer tutors. In this unique context, a number of factors affect literacy learning, particularly the perpetuation of conservative, hegemonic discourses about literacy by the organizations which fund literacy education programming at this site.

The power dynamics at work in these granting organizations and in larger systems that control and …

Going No Place?: Foreground Nostalgia And Psychological Spaces In Wharton's The House Of Mirth, Sean Scanlan

Publications and Research

This essay argues that the power of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth comes not from Lily Bart's function as a mere symptom of historical and economic pressures, but from the complex narrative and psychological process by which she negotiates a sequence of homes and their repeated collapse. Informing this process is nostalgia, a feeling that frames Lily Bart's step-by-step fall from riches to rags. Reading Lily via cognitive and family systems approaches suggests that Lily's rootlessness is predicated on a subtle transformation from her reliance upon simple “background” (aesthetic and monetary) nostalgia to a more complex and overwhelming “foreground” …

The Effectiveness Of Content-Based Instruction In Literature-Based Esl Reading Classes., Uma Rani A Rethina Velu

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study investigates the effectiveness of CBI in Literature-based ESL Reading Classes in an urban Primary School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The researcher used quantitative method to collect the data, which were analysed using SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Sciences), version 16. Sixty students were the subjects for this study. The data for this study was gathered via three questionnaires and 3 tests. Findings revealed that the students, who had medium and low proficiency levels in English, had a positive attitude towards the use of CBI in the teaching and learning process in the reading classes. The CBI approach was …

The Dark Places Of Psychology: Consciousness In Virginia Woolf's Major Novels, Linda Martin

Honors Projects

In a 1919 essay, Virginia Woolf wrote that “[f]or the moderns ‘that,’ the point of interest, lies very likely in the dark places of psychology.” For Woolf, this assertion represented a career-long interest in the mind and consciousness; she made a project of describing and explaining the mystery of subjective experience in her fiction. In my paper, I argue that specific, turn-of-the-century psychologists’ and scholars’ theories of consciousness influenced and inspired Woolf to integrate their ideas into her fiction. Further, through an in-depth exploration of Woolf’s middle fiction (Jacob’s Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and The Waves), I demonstrate …

Ælfric And The Orient, Jacqueline Geaney Elkouz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines why Ælfric's choice of texts included in his Lives of Saints differs so radically from contemporaneous lists of saints venerated by Anglo-Saxons. Writing between 992 and 1002, while England faced a second wave of invasions from the North, Ælfric selected saints predominantly from the Orient.

A close analysis of several of these lives reveals four major agents of persecution: Paganism, Judaism, Heresy, and Satan. Faced with such trials, most of the saints included in Ælfric's Lives commonly suffer a violent death and always stand firm in their faith in the face of persecution. For Ælfric, the orthodox …

The Absurd In The Briar Patch: Ellison's Invisible Man And Existentialism, Eliot J. Wilcox

Theses and Dissertations

This article claims that Ralph Ellison's use and then revision of French existential themes is essential to understanding his overriding message of Invisible Man: Ellison's hope for a more polyglot American democracy that transcends the white democracy of mid twentieth century America. Specifically, I argue that Ellison, after demonstrating his ability to understand and engage in the traditional ideology of European existentialism, deviates from its individualistic conclusions demanding that the larger community, not just the solitary individual, must become ethically responsible if the classic existential tenet of authenticity is to be achieved. In order to establish this claim, I …

National Identity Transnational Identification: The City And The Child As Evidence Of Identification Among The Poetic Elite, Mary L. Hedengren

Theses and Dissertations

While poetry has historically been connected with rhetoric, few rhetoricians have studied contemporary poetry. Jeffery Walker suggests that this is because contemporary poetry, unlike classical poetry, no longer addresses all socio-economic levels of society but has become insular and self-referential (329). He criticizes that poetry no longer cuts vertically across one culture's hierarchy. I agree that poetry no longer addresses all segments of society, but I argue that this doesn't mean poetry is no longer rhetorical. Contemporary poetry now operates horizontally to unite the cultural elite of many national and ethnic groups by appealing to their identity as poetry readers. …

Proposing A Purpose: Rhetorical Paideia Goals For First Year Composition, Lauren Everett Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

First Year Composition (FYC) instructors are often left to puzzle out the larger meaning of the most ubiquitous course in our field for themselves; consequently, goals for the course are frequently selected by the instructor, and are not always most effective for laying a groundwork of lifelong learning and education, or paideia. This lack of clear and unifying goals for the course is illustrated by a piece of 2005 scholarship that points to multiple focuses for FYC, each different in its values and aims. FYC is an important course for students, not only because it is one of only …

Number, Newtonianism, And Sublimity In James Thomson's The Seasons, Jessie Leatham Wirkus

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, literary critics have increasingly drawn on methods of quantitative analysis to understand the readers and literature of the eighteenth century. Ironically, however, the eighteenth century is home to debates concerning the nature and usefulness of number, counting, and therefore, on some level, quantitative analysis. Eighteenth-century questions of number form an important part of the intellectual history of this period; these questions of number, in turn, hold important implications for language and the period's literature. I argue that the far-reaching influence of eighteenth-century questions of number can be seen especially well in the nature poetry of James Thomson. To explore …

Christ Being Hopkins And Hopkins Being Christ, Cory Ames

English

This paper compares and contrasts Gerard Manly Hopkins’ sonnet “As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame” to the “terrible” sonnet “Carrion Comfort.” It asserts that since both sonnets explore opposite ends of a paradoxical relationship between man and Christ, which Hopkins often meditated over, both sonnets should work together as spiritual complements of one another, rather than proof of Hopkins’ spiritual derailment.

Defying The Feminist Dilemma: Eavan Boland's "Listen. This Is The Noise Of Myth", Rachel Newman

English

Boland creates a narrative poem, “Listen. This is the Noise of Myth,” that repudiates all legends that show men to be stronger and the savior of women, and suggests both that there are endless ways to depict any myth.

A Stylistic Analysis Of Re.Karthigesu's Novels., Krishnan Ramasamy

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study focuses on the use of the Tamil language and stylistic devices adopted by Re. Karthigesu, one of the best known Tamil creative writers in Malaysia. The four novels selected for the study are : va:nattu ve:lihaL (1981), te:Tiyirukkum taruNangaL (1993), antima ka:lam (1998) and su:ta:TTam a:Tum ka:lam (2005). These novels are written on social themes which center around the Tamil communities living in Malaysia. Re. Karthigesu’s novels are selected for this study because he has extensively discussed the social networks prevalent in Malaysia and also used variations in language use with reference to the sociolinguistic environments they are …

Review Of Quotidiana By Patrick Madden, Jennifer Sinor

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

On Dirty Words: An Attempt To Intimate The Conundrum Of The Sin, Yazid Basthomi

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This article analyzes the use of dirty words with reference to sociolinguis- tic and Saussurean conceptual frameworks. It starts with a personal-anecdotal ac- count on the difficulties in dealing with didactic issues in relation to the use of dirty words. In the guise of tackling the problem, sociolinguistic explanation is pursued, which, in the end, shows that sociolinguistic explanation is not really adequate to handle the issue. This relates to the possible notion that dirty words might be enacted as a (very) personal expression, devoid of any physical addressees. Saussu- rean linguistic concepts are also explored, and, yet, similar to …

Eksistensi Varietas Bahasa Inggris Dan Bahasa Inggris Standar, Flora Deborah Floris

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

English is not only used by people from ENL (English as a Native Lan- guage) countries to communicate with people from ESL (English as a Second Lan- guage) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) countries or vice versa, but it even functions as a lingua franca among non-native speakers. As a result, English varie- ties or Englishes emerged. This paper proposes an argument that the coexistence of both standard and varieties of English is equally important.

The Changing Reputation Of Clough's The Bothie, Patrick G. Scott

Faculty Publications

Discusses changing critical responses to what was once Clough's most highly-regarded longer poem, and argues that the values it represents are still central to understanding Clough's life and career. First presented at a symposium on Clough's work hosted by University College, London, at Dr. Williams's Library, London, on February 3, 2010, marking the unveiling by English Heritage on Clough's London residence of an official blue memorial plaque.

Eng 3901-001: Language And Linguistics, Buck

Spring 2010

No abstract provided.

Wiki-Hacking: Opening Up The Academy With Wikipedia, Adrianne Wadewitz, Anne Ellen Geller, Jon Beasley-Murray

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Global Audiences, Local Images: The Question Of Exoticization In Slumdog Millionaire, Tika Lamsal

Rhetoric and Language Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Postcolonial "Knight‘S Tale": A Social Commentary On Post-Norman Invasion England, Ruth M.E. Oldman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Every author injects a purpose into his or her works; in Chaucer‘s case, he scribed The Canterbury Tales, which tackles and successfully demonstrates various aspects to fourteenth century English society and culture. "The Knight‘s Tale" is no different; the tale is almost identical, plot-wise, to Giovanni Boccaccio‘s Teseida, and yet Chaucer weaves a tale that is distinctive. The tale reflects Chaucer‘s views on his society, in particular post-Norman attitudes. By examining the text with a post-colonial theoretical approach, Chaucer‘s "The Knight‘s Tale" is a subaltern commentary on the colonization of England after the Norman Conquest.

The Luminous Halo: The Place Of Language In The Waves And The Years, Rachel Luban

Honors Papers

Can words ever express a truth beyond language? Virginia Woolf explores this persistent question most directly in two of her late novels, The Waves and The Years. The two appear to sit at opposite ends of the spectrum of her writing, The Waves embodying interiority and vision and The Years embodying exteriority and fact. The apparent realism of The Years, following on the heels of the impressionism of The Waves, has caused many critics to dismiss it as an aberration. But in fact the later novel is far from a regression to traditional realism: it takes up where its predecessor …

Shaping Shakespeare, Reflecting History: Adaptations Of Othello For Children In 1990s Britain, Karley Adney

Scholarship and Professional Work of the Provost's Staff

In this article, two 1990s British adaptations of Shakespeare's Othello for children are studied with the primary critical lens of New Historicism. This analysis concerns itself with the cultural resonances adaptors pass to their readers and how those traces shape the Shakespearean texts they adapt. This study contends that cultural contexts, transactions, and negotiations of the time incontestably shape these adaptations. To truly appreciate the choices made by the adaptors of the 1990s, reflections on Britain in the 1980s serve as points of comparison. As a result, analyzing and accounting for the cultural influences provides a whole reading of the …

A Hybrid Genre Supports Hybrid Roles In Community-University Collaboration, Timothy Henningsen

English Faculty Scholarship

This chapter describes how community-university collaboration is created

by the Chicago Civic Leadership Certificate Program (CCLCP), an

undergraduate program offered at the University of Illinois at Chicago

(UIC). In CCLCP, partners from community-based, not-for-profit organizations

mentor first- and second-year students who complete writing and

research projects that their partner organizations need. In effect, then,

CCLCP’s community partners function as co-teachers, collaborating with

university instructors to direct, monitor, and evaluate student work; this

teaching relationship builds on a deeper and more interesting collaboration:

the bilateral development of students’ community-based projects.

War And Rebellion In The Work Of Louis-Ferdinand Céline And Sebastian Barry, Eamon Maher

Books/Chapters

No abstract provided.

"Passing" And Identity: A Literary Perspective On Gender And Sexual Diversity, Pamela L. Caughie

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

For the literary scholar as for the gender theorist, truth is what makes sense in terms of a particular narrative. What is true is not simply that which corresponds to the real; rather, what is true is what is accepted as being true within a given discourse, institution, or discipline. Unlike biologists, literary scholars don’t ask “Is it true?” but “How is it true?” This question requires interrogating the normative standards by which claims of truth, authenticity, and legitimacy are established. And that means learning to read people the way many of us have learned to read literature, taking into …

Southern Encounters In The City: Reconfiguring The South From The Liminal Space, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

In Il pensiero meridiano, sociologist Franco Cassano claims that the cultural autonomy of the South hinges upon a radical redefinition of the relationship between South and North. Dominant representations of the South as a “not-yet North”1 (Cassano viii), always imperfectly mimicking a more advanced North, found themselves on the idea of a linear transition from backwardness to development where the differences are often reduced to a matter of time. If Gramsci, in The Southern Question, deconstructed the Italian North/South binarism by suggesting potential alliances among non-dominant groups (namely, Northern workers and Southern peasants), Cassano proposes a spatial rethinking of the …

Ua68/6 Much Ado About ... Quite A Lot: An English Department Newsletter, Department Of English

English Department Publications

In the areas of research, scholarship, creativity, and teaching excellence, the English faculty has enjoyed a rich and varied year. The quality of the faculty’s work is evident in the public recognition and honors they have received. We are pleased to share some of our achievements

Negotiating Cultural Identities Through Language: Academic English In Jordan, Anne-Marie Pedersen

English Faculty Articles and Research

This article discusses how a group of multilingual scholars in Jordan negotiate multiple linguistic and cultural affiliations. These writers' experiences demonstrate the varied ways English's global dominance affects individuals' lives. The scholars find both empowerment and disempowerment in English, viewing English as linked to Western hegemony in some situations and as de-nationalized and de-territorialized in others.