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(In)Hospitable Modernity: Hospitality And Its Discontents (1920–1953), Daniel A. Hengel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the tacit forms of political activity operating through the performance and space of hospitality in modern fiction. I read the habitus, praxis, and dissemblages of hospitality in modern fiction as conduits that reveal dialectics of submission and resistance to Victorian and Edwardian markers of normativity. This is ultimately an infrapolitical work. I locate fulcrums of dissent, cloaked in a guise of hospitality, in the domestic sphere and the politicization of formerly private spaces into sites with the potential to reorder legitimated forms of agency. This project attempts to uncover veiled forms of sociopolitical resistance in and through …

Toward The Black Indian Ocean: Race And The Human Project In The Afro-Asian Imagination, Micheal A. Rumore

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Toward the Black Indian Ocean: Race and the Human Project in the Afro-Asian Imagination” asks the question: why hasn’t the Indian Ocean been typically theorized as an African diasporic site? While the burgeoning discipline of Indian Ocean studies frequently positions notions of oceanic “cosmopolitanism” as a way of engaging with universalist anticolonial aspirations, the field has been limited by static conceptions of the African continent. In response, this dissertation argues that the marginalization of Black Africans in conceptions of Indian Ocean cosmopolitanism reflects a colonial provenance and attempts to delineate this representational history. Theoretically, I engage with Black feminist critiques …

"A Mind Of Metal And Wheels": Agrarian Ruralism In Joss Whedon's Firefly And J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Christopher Hines

English (MA) Theses

Both Joss Whedon's Firefly and J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings present settings that are just as much influenced by the environments in which they occur as they are by the characters who act within those environments. For J.R.R. Tolkien, it was his lived experience of having grown up in a changing England that influenced his depiction of the world, while Joss Whedon's Firefly revisits and readapts the American mythos of the Western and the cowboy and re-appropriates it to science fiction, placing the action in the far future and in space where humanity is once again exploring and …

The Anglo-Saxons--Stoddard And Lovecraft: Ideas Of Anglo-Saxon Supremacy And The New England Counter-Revolution, Benjamin M. Welton

Madison Historical Review

This paper attempts to explain the New England Counter-Revolution through two very different men--H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) and T. Lothrop Stoddard (1883-1950). While one was a respected and popular scholar, and the other was a little-known pulp writer, both men combined New England regionalism, a belief in Anglo-Saxon superiority, the primacy of modern science, and a belief in racial/eugenic differences to create a unique political paradigm little recognized at the time but influential today.

'Disembodied Bones': Recovering The Poetry And Prose Of Elinor Wylie 2021, Sarah R. Bullock

Master's Theses

Picking a book to read is like diving for a pearl, writes Elinor Wylie, a 20th Century American poet, novelist, essayist and prominent magazine literary editor. In her essay "The Pearl Diver", she writes that it is the diver that risks the unknown- unaided by diving equipment in the form of library indexes-who gains the greatest joy, Wylie states (Fugitive Prose, 869). Wylie explains:

I venture to perceive an analogy between the rebellious pearl diver and myself, in my slight experience with public libraries...how much more delightful, how much more stimulating, to abandon the paraphernalia of card indexes and mahogany …

The Impact Of The Translation Of The Quran On Shakespeare’S Plays, Rania Shair

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the religion of Islam was gaining notoriety in the western world. Islamophobic propaganda was spreading. There was a growing fear in Europe of forced conversion, and this fear was sparked by controversial new translations of the Quran. This fear inspired works of literature during that time period. One of the greatest playwrights in history to be influenced by the Islamophobic propaganda is William Shakespeare.

To understand how Islamophobia influenced Shakespeare’s plays in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, one must understand the magnitude of how controversial it was to translate the Quran from Arabic to …

Journeying To A Third Space Of Sovereignty: Explorations Of Land, Cultural Hybridity, And Sovereignty In Ceremony And There There, Jillian Eve Sanchez

English (MA) Theses

In Native American literature, there is a discourse that solely focuses on the relationship between Indigenous people and the land. This relationship is vital to understanding the traditions, rituals, storytelling, and practices of Native Americans. The presence of settler colonialism changes the relationship, effectively changing the nature of cultural and spiritual relationships as well. Indigenous literature provides examples of the modern relationship Native people have with their land; an example of this is Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony and Tommy Orange’s There There Despite modernity, assimilation, and ways of life introduced by settler colonialism, Native people maintain a relationship to the …

Weird And Cosmic Short Horror Fiction And The Illustration Of Existential Fears, Brianna Williams

Honors Theses

The literary genre of horror fiction is uniquely capable of presenting its readers with the horrific, terrifying, and repulsive while remaining an acceptable and sought-after genre. Moreover, the horror genre is also often able to serve as a type of lens through which readers can recognize socio-historical and cultural fears. Within the many subgenres of horror, cosmic and weird horror continue in this ability, but are able to present their readers with more abstract, existential fears. This research is an exploration and analysis of the ability of cosmic and weird horror to reveal the real, personal existential fears of their …

"What Camelot Means": Women And Lgbtq+ Authors Paving The Way For A More Inclusive Arthuriana Through Young Adult Literature, Jeddie Mae Bristow

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Arthurian literature has long been regarded as the domain of “dead white men,” dominated by Thomas Malory and Lord Alfred Tennyson. However, since medieval times, women have also been producing Arthurian literature that not only treats the women characters of the story more equitably, but makes social commentary on how the marginalized of their societies are treated. More recently, women and LGBTQ+ authors (basically, authors who are not cisgender white men) have answered the call for more diverse Young Adult literature with an Arthuriana that has a place for all, both creating a more diverse and equitable Camelot and giving …

The Failure Of Chivalry, Courtesy, And Knighthood Post-Wwi As Represented In David Jones’S In Parenthesis, Taylor L. Hubbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes David Jones’s In Parenthesis to demonstrate the failed notion of chivalry, courtesy, and knighthood in modernity during and after the war. Jones’s semi-autobiographical prose poem recounting his experiences of WWI was published in 1937, nineteen years after the war ended. Jones applied the concepts of chivalry, courtesy, and knighthood to his experiences during WWI through In Parenthesis. Jones used these concepts, which originated in the classical period and the Middle Ages, to demonstrate how they have changed over time, especially given the events of WWI. The best way for Jones to demonstrate the impact of WWI …

Dissipation In The 1920s: Disparate Presentations Of Alcohol Consumption In Selected Works Of Hemingway And Fitzgerald, Amanda Wilson

Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to explore the ways in which Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald define the 1920s and, in particular, the American expatriate culture in Europe. Each author describes the culture of the “Lost Generation” in large part through alcohol consumption and dissipation. In their literary works, alcohol is portrayed as glamorous as well as destructive, as both curing and exacerbating post-WWI anomie. Through their chronicling of this era in fiction and nonfiction, each author memorializes their own participation in the culture along with their legendary consumption of alcohol. This study will concentrate upon selected short …

The State Of Language, Endangerment, And Policy In India: A Forking Path, Samantha Immidisetti

Honors College Theses

The Indian subcontinent is one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. The 2011 Census of India reports over 1,950 languages and 720 dialects are spoken in India. Although India itself has speakers of four distinct language families, its people have a shared culture, genetics, and history that spans thousands of years. The languages spoken in India have grown, stymied, and influenced each other before reaching their current state. The multiplicity of languages led to implementation of institutionalized language protection measures during the Independence period. Despite these efforts, many languages remain at risk for endangerment and extinction. Language …

Tolkien's Calques Of Classicisms: Who Knew Elvish Latin, What Did The Rohirrim Read, And Why Was Bilbo Cheeky?, John Wm. Houghton

Journal of Tolkien Research

In his legendarium, Tolkien presents four variants of what would be considered "classicism" in the Primary World: but the presence of all-but-immortal elves creates situations in which a classicizing devotion to ancient exemplars might not arise.

“Edna O’Brien: An Interview With Maureen O’Connor”, Maureen O'Connor, Martha Carpentier, Elizabeth Brewer Redwine

Critical Inquiries Into Irish Studies

No abstract provided.

Memory, Identity, And World Ii In Australia: Liz Reed's "Bigger Than Gallipoli", Christopher T. Lough

Student Publications

This paper is structured as a review of Liz Reed's 2004 study Bigger Than Gallipoli: War, History, and Memory in Australia, an analysis of the Australian government's public commemoration of the Second World War from 1994-95. Critiquing certain aspects of Reed's methodology, I bring in some of Jill Ker Conway's insights on Australian identity from her 1989 memoir The Road from Coorain, as well as other scholars of historical memory and political theory. While Reed makes some important insights on the merits and deficiencies of political nostalgia, I argue that her book represents a missed opportunity overall.

The Narrow Road To The Deep North By Richard Flanagan, Patrick R. Sullivan

Student Publications

A review of Richard Flanagan's novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. This paper looks at the background, the themes, the story, and the contribution of this novel to the conversations on the Burma Railway, war, legacy, and love. The usage of the novel form by Flanagan contributes greatly to the power of his novel which becomes a major analytical point of this paper.

Reclaiming The Radical Politics Of Self-Care: A Crip-Of-Color Critique, Jina B. Kim, Sami Schalk

English Language and Literature: Faculty Publications

Since 2016, searches for and discussions of self-care in the United States have increased significantly. While authors who identify as people of color and/or queer critique the capitalist co-optation of this term by linking it conceptually to the work of Audre Lorde, engagement with disability remains conspicuously absent all around, given that Lorde’s use of this concept comes from her 1988 essay on cancer, “A Burst of Light.” This article proposes a reclamation of the radical crip, feminist, queer, and racialized roots of self-care offered by Lorde. Using crip-of-color critique, this article argues that a radical politics of self-care is …

Sacrificial Bodies And Hegemonic Femininity: The Creation Of The Heroine In The Twilight, The Hunger Games, & Divergent Series, Tiffany R. Boyles

Senior Theses

Within this thesis, I analyze The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games Trilogy, and The Divergent Trilogy and how the portrayal and treatment of the protagonists’ bodies within these texts uphold tenets of white, hegemonic femininity. I discuss first how their bodies are feminized, in part by their whiteness and smallness, but also through the comparison to the bodies of male characters. While the men are strong and physically capable, the protagonists are weak and physically incapable. As a result, the protagonists cannot act in the way a traditional hero might, using offensive action for self-preservation. Instead, the protagonists …

The Unhappy Hookers; Origin Of Hooker ‘Prostitute’, J. Peter Maher

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

The Lodge In The Wilderness: Ecologies Of Contemplation In British Romantic Poetry, Sean M. Nolan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation argues that contemplation is often overlooked in studies of British Romantic poetry. By the late 1700s, changing commercial and agricultural practices, industrialism, secularization, and utilitarianism emphasizing industriousness coalesced to uproot established discourses of selfhood and leisure, and effected crises of individuation in Romantic poetry and poetics. Closely reading poems and writing about poetry composed between the 1780s and 1830s by William Cowper, George Crabbe, Robert Bloomfield, Charlotte Smith, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and John Stuart Mill, I probe the relationship between aesthetic, ethical, and emotional responses to depictions of toil, idleness, and leisure. I argue that ecologies …

Eng 5011-600: Studies In Composition And Rhetoric, Melissa Ames

Spring 2021

No abstract provided.

Broken Harts: Mourning The Human/Animal Divide In Shakespeare’S As You Like It And Wordsworth’S “Hart-Leap Well”, Jennifer Jourlait

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis compares the deer scenes in Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Wordsworth’s “Hart-Leap Well.” Both raise questions about man’s right to hunt animals with impunity. Shakespeare’s Jaques superficially takes up the issue of animal rights whereas Wordsworth’s personification of the stag evokes the reader’s sympathy for the animal.

Professor Franklin’S Annotated Bibliography Of Young Adult Literature, 2019—20, John Franklin

Open Educational Resources - English and Modern Languages

Designed to be a useful, time-saving source of primary reading material, Professor Franklin’s annotated bibliography of Young adult Literature, 2019—20 includes his notes and reading recommendations for 280 books containing 80,230 pages written or collected by 220 authors and editors. Titles are found on public and school library shelves; recommendations are made by librarians, parents, students and teachers as well as The Heartland Committee to Promote Lifelong reading.

Kazikli Voivode: Turkey's Nationalist Version Of Dracula As Traced Through An Onomastic Journey, David Hansen

Journal of Dracula Studies

While it can be reasonably assumed most

scholars know something of Stoker’s Victorian

classic, it is doubtful many have heard of, much less

read, its Turkish progeny by Ali Riza Seyfi, Kazikli

Voivode. Seyfi’s work is part of the literary tradition

of taking a classic story and recontextualizing it.

Book Review: Puritan Spirits In The Abolitionist Imagination, Elisabeth Ceppi

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Book review; Puritan Spirits in the Abolitionist Imagination by Kenyon Gradert. Published by the University of Chicago Press, 2020

The Memory Of Mythmaking: Transgenerational Trauma And Disability As A Collective Experience In Afrofuturist Storytelling, Jessica Tapley

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This project closely examines the relationship between transgenerational trauma, disability, and myth, particularly within Black speculative fiction, Afrofuturism, and Africanfuturism. Through the lenses of critical race theory, trauma theory, disability studies, and feminist theory, I will closely analyze how myth functions across five Black speculative fiction novels. I argue that disability appears as a common thread throughout each of these novels as a unique part of Black history and experience. Disability culture specifically offers community interdependence, a rejection of body and mind binaries, and a rejection of hierarchies in the pursuit of accessibility. I further demonstrate how myth centers racial …

Southern Alterity In The Global Modernist Novel, 1899-1966, Benjamin J. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations--English

My dissertation examines the portrayal of southern alterity in the global modernist novel. The trope of southern spaces as sites of decay, degeneration, and dissolution proves to be remarkably durable in both fictions set within the domestic U.S. south, as well as those colonial and postcolonial texts associated with the global modernist canon. Novels like Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! suggest that the alterity of places like the Congo and Haiti are inextricably bound up with racial hierarchies. On the other hand, texts such as Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition and Zora Neale …

Peeta’S Virtue In The Hunger Games Trilogy, Gabriel Ertsgaard

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The Latin virtus literally means “manliness” (vir = man) and, by extension, the positive qualities that a man should have. During the transition from Latin to French to English, “virtue” lost its gender specificity, but retained its reference to positive qualities. Thus, by the Enlightenment period, separate standards of virtue had emerged for women and men. Suzanne Collins disrupts this gendered virtue dichotomy in her Hunger Games trilogy. Peeta Mellark is a natural diplomat and peacemaker, a gentle soul who fits the feminine model of virtue better than the masculine model. Although Peeta engages in violence when necessary, he …

Internet Memes: Leaflet Propaganda Of The Digital Age, Joshua Troy Nieubuurt

English Faculty Publications

Internet memes are one of the latest evolutions of “leaflet” propaganda and an effective tool in the arsenal of digital persuasion. In the past such items were dropped from planes, now they find their way into social media across multiple platforms and their territory is global. Internet memes can be used to target specific groups to help build and solidify tribal bonds. Due to the ease of creation, and their ability to constantly reaffirm axiomatic tribal ideas, they have become an adroit tool allowing for mass influence across international borders. This text explores the link between internet memes and their …

Review Essay: "America's Hometown" Revisited, Drew Lopenzina

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.