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Melusine, Invisible Leadership And The Future (In The Past), Jan Shaw

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This paper considers the operation of “invisible” leadership in the figure of Melusine from the late Middle English romance Melusine. By invoking contemporary leadership theory, this paper identifies leadership maneuvers in Melusine that are similar to those often practiced by women today, but the discourses of gender identity then ultimately render Melusine’s leadership invisible, just as leadership discourses today often render female leadership invisible. By uncovering the operation of “invisible” leadership in the figure of Melusine and identifying commonalities with the leadership of women today, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the contemporary problem of the marked …

Fearless Joy: Tom Bombadil’S Function In The Lord Of The Rings, Robert B. Chapman-Morales

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

In The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil is usually viewed as either a silly and unimportant interruption or as a character with only a very minor function, but certainly not as a character of importance like Gandalf. Recently, scholars have shown the importance of laughter and humor in J.R.R. Tolkien's works. This essay continues the discussion by showing how Bombadil is important and necessary to the narrative of The Lord of the Rings as an embodiment of joy, and more broadly demonstrates the essential revivifying importance of joy to the entire tale.

“Something Has Gone Crack”: New Perspectives On J.R.R. Tolkien In The Great War, Edited By Janet Brennan Croft And Annika Röttinger, James Prothero

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

No abstract provided.

The Poetry Of History: Irish National Imagination Through Mythology And Materiality, Ryan Fay

English Honors Theses

The thesis culminates in the twentieth century and yet it begins with the Ulster Cycle, a period of Irish mythological history that occurred around the first century common era. Indeed, since the time frame was before the arrival of the Gaels, Normans, or Christianity, the extent of this mythology’s relevance today is whatever extent it is conceptualized as “Irish.” As such, the first chapter locks onto an aspect that could feasibly transcend time and resonate with modern Irish society: gender. Of course, the epistemological dynamics of gender^[1] in the first-century common era are vastly different than the twentieth century …

The Rise Of Totalitarianism, Colonial Mimicry, And Gender And Sexuality In The Twentieth Century English Literature, Shahin Hossain

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

In this portfolio, Shahin Hossain provides an alternative reading of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, and Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable.

The Roadmap: Exploring T.S. Eliot’S The Waste Land With World War One Literature, Matthew Bennett

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Through careful analysis paired with poetry, war memoirs, and novels from the same period, one can break down T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land to recognize the impact of The Great War on the world's modern memory while pondering the possibility of memory as a tool to overcome trauma.

Restoring The Web: Personal And Communal Integration In N. Scott Momaday's House Made Of Dawn And Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, Deborah Aminifard

English and Creative Writing | Senior Theses

Restoring the Web asserts that N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn and Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony are novelized emergence myths, detailing the emergence of their respective protagonists' identities. Abel and Tayo's journey employ the framework of the "monomyth" of separation, initiation, and return. Explored by the essay are separation from self, family, and community. Community includes the earth and their relationship to the natural world that has left these men on the "edge of oblivion." Navajo healing ceremonies, invoking the supernatural, initiates their emergence journey, a journey of discovery, in which their identity is (re)constructed. As with all heroes …

The Meaning Of Peace: William Faulkner, Modernism, And Perpetual Civil War, Jason Luke Folk

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Much of scholarship regarding the presence of war in literary modernism has foregrounded psychic trauma endured by veterans of World War I. The returning soldier is often figured as representative of the war’s infiltration of the homefront. The common argument claims that the erosion of the distinction between war and peace (as well as private and public) is a mirror image of the veteran’s wounded psyche. This thesis, however, argues that peace and war in the West have always been indistinct. The body politic is, in actuality, constituted by a perpetual civil war. Furthermore, the novels of William Faulkner, because …

The Catastrophic Open Wound: The Application Of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Linda Hogan’S Solar Storms And Eden Robinson’S Monkey Beach, Kawther I. Abbas

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis argues that Judith Herman's theory of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can provide a lot of insight in analyzing the trauma of several characters in Linda Hogan’s Solar Storms and Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach. The analysis first employs the two authors’ Native American ideas of trauma and then adds Herman’s theory of CPTSD to help bridge the gap between the Native American and Western cultures and to create more understanding without undermining cultural differences.

I chose Herman’s theory for my analysis because it has many commonalities with the Native American trauma theories such as belief in the fact …

"Wand'ring This Woody Maze": Deciphering The Obscure Wilderness Of Paradise Regained, Brooke Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The setting of Milton’s great sequel is puzzling, being called a desert and a “waste wild” (IV. 523) repeatedly and at the same time including descriptions of protective oaks and woody mazes. These conflicting descriptions conjure up several questions: In which environment does the epic take place? Because Milton is so detailed in his adaptations of biblical narrative the inclusion of trees is quite perplexing. While he does tend to expand biblical narrative quite frequently – e.g. Paradise Lost – he rarely initiates a change without just cause. The crux of this particular change centers on what this just cause …

Pioneering Feminism: How Early American Female Authors' Heroines Defy Gender Norms, Julie Short

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

As I began to make decisions about what I wanted to write on, I started to consider the novels that have impacted me. After realizing that many of my favorite novels featured female protagonists from the early twentieth century, I came to the conclusion that I could use these novels to discuss feminism, a topic I am passionate about. I selected O, Pioneers! by Willa Cather, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, and the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Each of these authors use their protagonists to represent women who …

The Dark Truth About Steve Jobs, Mike Dent

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

Presentation of a paper on Steve Jobs and his role in the success of Apple Computer.

Dissecting The Man Of Steel: The Evolution Of Superman As A Reflection Of American Society, Marie Gould

Undergraduate Theses

Since his debut during the Great Depression in 1938, Superman has become an American cultural icon. His symbol is not only known throughout the nation, but the world as well. Despite this, many consider Superman to be irrelevant and unrelatable to reality because he is written as an outrageously overpowered being with “boy scout” morals. However, he has not always been written this way. This research seeks to uncover the connections between Superman’s various narratives and the changing social and political ideas of American Society throughout history. Specifically, the objective of this study is to establish whether Superman has changed …

On The Natures & Histories Of The Great Rings, Virginia Dabney

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Primarily Middle-earth studies rather than criticism. Reviews the history of the great rings, bringing together information from various parts of LotR Appendices (The Silmarillion not yet available at this time). Speculates on the linguistic roots of the names of the three Elven rings and the possibility that the seven Dwarven rings may have had associations with the alchemical metals and the nine rings for Men with the planets.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Structure And Aesthetic Of Tolkien’S Lord Of The Rings, Randel Helms

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Describes five “laws” underlying Tolkien’s Middle-earth and how the action of The Lord of the Rings proceeds logically from them: the cosmos is ultimately providential; the result of an action is influenced by its intent; moral and magical laws are as important as physical laws; states of mind influence physical reality; and experience is the realization of proverbial truth or romantic convention.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Beowulf : A Translation In Blank Verse, Alexander Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a translation into modern English blank verse of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. The bulk of the thesis is the poem itself, which represents not only the academic work of Old English translation, literary interpretation, and the study of early Germanic culture, but also the artistic work of creating poetry and adapting the poem’s content to modern language and contexts. Included with the translation is an introduction placing it in conversation with other prominent modern translations of Beowulf, and analyzing the translation choices made at macro and micro levels. It is shown through this analysis that …

Téacsúil Fionnachtain, Alan Delozier

Critical Inquiries Into Irish Studies

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Revisiting "Home" In Ghanaian Poetry: Awoonor, Anyidoho And Adzei, Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The idea of “home” is a significant occurrence in postcolonial literature, as it connects to other ideas as identity, nationhood, and culture. This paper discusses “home” in Ghanaian poetry focusing on three well-regarded poets: Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, and Mawuli Adzei. These poets come from the Ewe ethnic group, and engage with the Pan-African project in both their scholarly and creative expressions. Drawing on John Berger, Sara Dessen, and Ewe thought on the afterlife, this paper suggests two major types of “home” in the works of these three poets: the physical, and the metaphysical. Physical “home” refer to the Wheta …

"Something Has Gone Crack": New Perspectives On J.R.R. Tolkien In The Great War (2019), Edited By Janet Brennan Croft And Annika Röttinger, Will Sherwood

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review by Will Sherwood of "Something has Gone Crack" (2019) edited by Janet Brennan Croft and Annika Röttinger

Preaching Hope: Young Adult Fantasy And Science Fiction As Conversation Partners With Scripture, Kathleen Monson Lutes

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This thesis treats young adult science fiction and fantasy as a conversation partner with scripture, particularly but not limited to themes of apocalypse, revelation, and end-times, for the purposes of preaching God’s love and hope in a chaotic world. Included in this conversation is The Hunger Games trilogy, Divergent trilogy, A Wrinkle in Time, The Last Battle, and Warm Bodies. The dominant themes discussed are prophecy, sin/evil/repentance, resistance, and the Great Battle. This work provides a voice for preaching difficult themes, including end-times, in a world of fear and darkness. It particularly offers an example for preaching the timelessness of …

Spontaneous Minds And Electric Romanticism: Kerouac, Ginsberg, Dylan, Joplin, Sasha Tamar Strelitz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation postulates a sub-category of Romanticism: electric Romanticism. As opposed to its “acoustic” forebear, electric Romanticism exists in an electric age, beginning after Henry David Thoreau’s rumination on the telegraph wire as an electric rendering of the æolian harp image. Romantic poets used the æolian harp to analogize the act of writing activities set into motion by spontaneous thoughts, a central attribute of the Romantic literary movement. The modernized electric version of the æolian harp—the telegraph wire—signals that electric Romanticism branches off from its source and evolves along with technology to engage more synchronously with the spontaneous.

Electric Romantics …

“Innocent Bystanders”: White Guilt And The Destruction Of Native Americans In Us Literature, 1824-1830, Noor Al-Attar

Theses and Dissertations--English

Stereotypes describing the Native Peoples as lacking in many attributes such as religion, civilization, self-control, and even family bonds originated in the early years of contact, popularized through captivity narratives, and used in nineteenth century writings to justify the “vanishing” of the Native people. My dissertation adds to the discussion of myth of the Vanishing American by focusing on overlooked representations of Native illness. Illness, a shared human experience, was preserved for white characters in white authors’ writings. Ailing Native peoples were either denied any stories narrating this experience of human vulnerability or were depicted as resorting to superstitious and …

“Directed Into A Bed Of Trenches”: The Shift In The Language Of Elegy Demonstrated By The War Poetry Of Wilfred Owen

The Graduate Review

No abstract provided.

Mabou Mines’ Dead End Kids And Performing Artists For Nuclear Disarmament, Hillary Miller

Publications and Research

Performance studies scholar and theater historian Hillary Miller offers a new study of the 1980 production of Dead End Kids: A History of Nuclear Power by the New York-based avant-garde theater collective, Mabou Mines. Through a close reading of the play, Miller explores the relationship between this production and the little researched organization, Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament (PAND), revealing the correlations between collaboratively-generated theater practices and concurrent protest movements.

Waking Sleep: The Uncanny In Modernist Literary Aesthetics, Delmar R. Reffett Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--English

With the dawning of the twentieth century, writers and critics found themselves facing a social world undergoing massive change, the forces of capitalist modernity leaving the individual increasingly disaffected and disconnected from her surroundings. This social world, rent as it was by alienation, offered a hostile environment for the sort of coherence that had traditionally been prized by Western aesthetics since the Enlightenment. How could a literary work attain a degree of coherence while reflecting a deeply dissonant modernity? Navigating this contradiction between literature’s inherited values and literature’s possibilities in alienated society can be seen as central to the project …

On The Burial Of Pecola Breedlove And Finding Voice Through Toni Morrison, Jessie Lafrance Dunbar

Nelle (literary magazine)

pp. 53-58

Defoe’S Robinson Crusoe: “Maps,” Natural Law, And The Enemy, Ala Alryyes

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Despaire And Briton Moniments: Moments Of Protestant Clarity In The Faerie Queene, John E. Curran Jr.

English Faculty Research and Publications

Two moments in The Faerie Queene, the Redcrosse Knight's rescue from suicide in the cave of Despaire and Arthur's rapture at reading the truncated chronicle of the Britons, are strangely similar. In each case, the hermeneutic openness that seems to be developing is halted and closed in favor of a unified, simplified, syllogistic certitude. Though both Despaire's speeches and Briton Moniments are ripe for interrogation, Redcrosse is saved by the Practical Syllogism, and Arthur reacts with an outpouring of patriotic fervor. With some matters, proliferation of thought and feeling though ordinarily salutary must be suspended. Protestantism's simplifying strain did …

Speculative Satire In Twentieth-Century Utopia And Dystopia, Benjamin Craig Parker

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study integrates the literature and correspondence of such Inklings authors as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien into the arc of Commonwealth utopian and dystopian literature of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Because utopian authors such as Samuel Butler, William Morris, and H. G. Wells employ the utopian form pioneered by Thomas More but largely abandon More’s Augustinian Catholic view of human nature, their works frequently fail to address the impediments to justice and equity that More satirically addresses in Utopia. Thus, the speculative fiction of later Augustinian Christian authors such as Lewis and Tolkien complements …