Arts and Humanities Commons^™

In Memoriam Karl Heinz Göller (May 13, 1924 - April 22, 2009), Richard Utz

Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty & Staff Publications

Eulogy on academic teacher, adviser, and mentor; founding dean of the College of Languages and Literatures at the University of Regensburg, Germany; and founder and honorary president of the German Medieval Academy (Mediävistenverband).

Review Of Elisabeth Vavra, Ed. Der Wald Im Mittelalter, Richard Utz

Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Creative Metacriticism: The Portrayal Of Literary Theory In Contemporary Fiction, Zaydun Ali Al-Shara

Dissertations

Some modern creative writers have shown a talent not only in writing tales, but also in philosophy and theory as they examine questions and problems in fiction-making and the very act of reading. This dissertation examines the role the metafictive novel plays in the development of literary theory and fiction. I explore how writers of this type of novel emerge as creative metacritics who overtly and/or covertly, through their fiction, respond to and critique literary theory. The inquiry examines the reciprocal relationship between the fiction of creative metacritics and important movements in literary theory in the late 20th Century. All …

The Italian Homliary: Texts And Contexts, Michael Thomas Martin

Dissertations

For the Carolingians, preaching was the best manner in which to teach good, Christian behavior orally to the largely illiterate masses. Studying early medieval sermon collections then can provide historians with a great amount of information on, for example, the intended audience and current moral instruction, who wrote the sermons, and the intended impact of the reform requirements. Too often however these early collections are grouped into a rather generalized classification of being little more than an exposition of Scripture composed with little or no originality. Some scholars claim we have no evidence for sermons produced for popular preaching prior …

Otto Gründler: In Memoriam (1928-2004), Richard Utz

Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty & Staff Publications

Eulogy on Director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University.

Medieval Nominalism And The Literary Questions: Selected Studies, Richard Utz, Terry Barakat

Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty & Staff Publications

Like few other topics in the academic study of medieval literature, the search for the possible parallels between philosophical and literary texts reveals the not always peaceful coexistence among the three basic approaches to the study of medieval literature and culture: While hard-core medieval philologists would not accept any claims for a “literary nominalism” unless direct textual dependence can be demonstrated, scholars in medieval studies and the comparative study of medieval literature have shown themselves more accepting of investigations which diagnose a certain nominalistic Zeitgeist, mentality, or milieu especially in late medieval culture; and scholars preferring presentist/postmodern approaches have wholeheartedly …

Chaucer And The Discourse Of German Philology: An Addendum, Richard Utz

Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty & Staff Publications

Contains several additions to the “Annotated Bibliography” of German and Austrian Chaucer criticism between 1793 and 1948 published in Chaucer and the Discourse of German Philology (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002)

Review Of David Matthews, The Invention Of Middle English, Richard Utz

Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Strange Blessing, Gabrielle A. Halko

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fay Weldon's Late Bloomers And Comedy And A Lawyer, A Vet, And A Couple Of Dogs, One Of Them Dead, Susan Rote Siferd

Dissertations

Creative dissertation begins with a critical study of comedy as Weldon employs it in her novels of marriage, infidelity, and divorce. Traditionally, comedy ends in marriage; Weldon's dark comedies end in self-understanding as a necessary prerequisite to growth and possible future relationship. However, Weldon does not celebrate divorce. She recognizes the impact on women's lives of historic period, world events, and their own female nature. An avowed feminist, Weldon yet refuses to blame men for women's problems, but insists that while women struggle against sexism, they often conform to it. If there is no genre designation comparable to "bildungsroman" for …

The Gothic Wanderer: From Transgression To Redemption, Tyler R. Tichelaar

Dissertations

The Gothic wanderer of British fiction originated during the French Revolution. During the nineteenth century, the figure evolved from one of transgression into a symbol of redemption. While Romantic poets created wanderer figures to celebrate rebellion, Gothic novelists utilized the wanderer figure to explore the psychology of transgression. The Gothic interpreted the French Revolution as a transgression against God and His ordained institutions. The wanderer figure expressed the anxieties of the revolutionary period and the attempt to imagine a political world not based upon monarchy. Gothic novelists also questioned what effects the French Revolution might have upon England. The overthrow …

Another Person's Skin: Imagining Race In The Works Of Crane, Dunbar, Cather And Stevens, Lisa M. Durose

Dissertations

This study is interested in the motivations behind certain authors' attempts to, in the words of Willa Cather, "enter into another person's skin"~in the desires compelling writers to cross, transgress, or perhaps transcend those barriers that have historically divided people in the world: barriers of color, class, and gender. In particular it seeks to examine the works of four early twentieth century writers who undertake what these days is considered risky: transracial and transethnic crossings. By relying on biographical, cultural, and historical sources, I explore the strategies American writers Stephen Crane (1871-1900), Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872- 1906), Willa Cather (1873-1947), …

Sexual Politics And Subversion: Feminist Utopia As Praxis, Jennifer Sue Boyers

Dissertations

Literary studies meets up with sociology as feminist utopian fiction Is examined for what sociologist Dorothy Smith (1990) labels normal narrative and counter-narrative articulations of gendered structures of power. The method of analytical Induction Is used both In the choosing of the four novels for study and the resulting textual analysis. Ursula Le Guln's The dispossessed (1974), Marge Plercy's Woman on the edge of time (1976), Suzy McKee Chamas's Motherllnes (1978), and Sally Miller Gearhart's The wandereround (1979) are examined for their constructions of dystopian normal narratives, as well as for their reconstructions of subversive utopian counter-narratives, both articulating gendered …

Chretien De Troyes' Erec Et Enide And Cistercian Spirituality, Patricia Ann Quattrin

Masters Theses

Many critics confess to a "vague uneasiness" with the meaning of Chretien de Troyes' Erec et Enide, especially with the motivation for Erec's adventures. Such critics as D. W. Robertson, E. Talbot Donaldson, and Northrup Frye posit methodological approaches to the meaning and understanding of vernacular romances. However, researching Cistercian monasticism, especially William of St. Thierry, I noted similarities between and parallels in the structure of a spiritual quest for God and a model of the secular quest found in Chretien de Troyes' Erec et Enide.

Approaching the romance by examining and discussing the parallels in structure and thought between …

Roethke’S "Meditations Of An Old Woman": A Myth And Ritual For Dying, Christopher K. Bennett

Masters Theses

In "Meditations of an Old Woman," Theodore Roethke poetically encountered death, speaking through the persona of an old woman approaching the end of life. The pattern she follows, wandering through her memory in search of the maiden she once was, is also found in the myth of Demeter and Persephone, which was ritualized in the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece. The poem, myth, and ritual taken together reflect a single archetypal pattern for approaching death; comparing them will reveal the essence of each. Through recollection, the old woman finally unites with her lost youthful self in an epiphany similar to …

L' Homme Robbe-Grilletien: Une Vision Subconsciente Du Monde, Monica E. Nahm

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Bibliographical Survey Of The West Indian Novel, Ruta Mara Sani

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Application Of Eric Berne's Theory Of Structural And Transactional Analysis To Five Novels By Andre Gidé, Marcia Lynn Mead

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.