Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Marcel Schwob Digital Collection, Michele B. Squires

Theses and Dissertations

This project outlines the discovery and digitization of previously unpublished correspondence composed by late 19th century author and literary critic, Marcel Schwob. Inspired by the inquiry of Bibliothèque Nationale Librarian Bernard Gauthier, Professor Daryl Lee alerted me to the presence of Marcel Schwob materials at BYU. I found that former BYU Professor John Green established a Marcel Schwob Memorial Collection and successfully published two books using the materials he gathered: Chroniques and Correspondance Inédite. After thoroughly researching the catalogued Schwob materials at BYU and comparing the contents to other Schwob publications, I found 72 previously unpublished letters. The majority of …

Transcendental Exchange: Alchemical Discourse In Romantic Philosophy And Literature, Elizabeth Olsen Brocious

Theses and Dissertations

Alchemical imagery and ideology is present in many Romantic works of literature, but it has largely been overlooked by literary historians in their contextualization of the time period. The same can be said for mysticism in general, of which alchemy is a subset. This project accounts for alchemy in the works of transcendental philosophers and writers as it contributes to some of the most important conversations of the Romantic time period, particularly the reaction against empirical philosophy and the articulation of creative processes. The transcendental conversation is a transnational one, encompassing Germany, Britain, and America, with its use of alchemy …

Sugar Nine: A Creative Thesis, Emily L. Dyer

Theses and Dissertations

This collection of short stories explores the different ways women tolerate violence in exchange for some form of validation. The narratives focus on women and the reverberations of small moments which carry violent mass. While the violence occasionally includes physical elements, the collection is more concerned with the ways women accept emotional and psychological violence—specifically from men. Themes, motifs and symbols from the Clytie-Helios myth are threaded throughout the collection as well as a concern for space and touch, art and the creation of art, silence and voice. All of these elements involve control as the women characters in these …

The Conception Of Irony With Continual Reference To Kierkegaard: An Examination Of Ironic Play In Fear And Trembling, Julie Ann Parker Frederick

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the relationship of irony, as defined in Kierkegaard's The Concept of Irony to the text and subject of Fear and Trembling. Irony is interpreted in this thesis as negative space, which both binds and separates and which assumes meaning equal to or greater than the positive space that binds it. This definition applies to Kierkegaard's Socrates who lived ironically in the space between actuality and ideality. This thesis considers how Abraham also lived in ironic space and why ironic space is a prerequisite for faith. Unlike Socrates, Abraham did not stop with irony, but used irony to …

Dairy Culture: Industry, Nature And Liminality In The Eighteenth-Century English Ornamental Dairy, Ashlee Whitaker

Theses and Dissertations

The vogue for installing dairies, often termed "fancy" or "polite" dairies, within the gardens of wealthy English estates arose during the latter half of the eighteenth century. These polite dairies were functional spaces in which aristocratic women engaged, to varying degrees, in bucolic tasks of skimming milk, churning and molding butter, and preparing creams. As dairy work became a mode of genteel activity, dairies were constructed and renovated in the stylish architectural modes of the day and expanded to serve as spaces of leisure and recreation. Dairies were often lavishly outfitted to create a delicate and clean atmosphere, a fancy …

Angels And Demons: Christina Rossetti’S Goblin Market As A Social Critique Of The Victorian Ideal Of The “Angel In The House” And The Pre-Raphaelites’ Response To That Ideal, Melissa Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market presents a subversive critique on the socially constructed dichotomy of Angel versus Demon as depicted in Pre-Raphaelite artwork, Dante Gabriele Rossetti’s poetry, and Coventry Patmore’s poem Angel in the House. An analysis of Goblin Market in relation to Patmore’s poem and the Pre-Raphaelite paintings The Annunciation, Ophelia, Lady Lilith, Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, and Sibylla Palmifera and Dante Gabriele Rossetti’s poems “Soul’s Beauty” and “Body’s Beauty” illustrate the ways in which Rossetti presents a counter-image that breaks down this socially constructed dichotomy. This is additionally supported by an exploration …

The Rhetoric Of Technical Writing: Applying Social And Verbal Rhetorical Strategies To Prepare New Technical Writers For The Workplace, Melissa Brooke Cavazos

Theses and Dissertations

Technical writers add great value to companies across many industries with their specialized skills. However, there is a problem with writers being undervalued and not having the credibility they deserve. In order to achieve more credibility for individual writers and for the field as a whole, technical writers need more than just writing, editing, and formatting skills when they enter into the workplace. They need to be equipped with social and verbal strategies to be better prepared for a full-time technical writing position. By examining and applying Aristotle's notions of pathos, logos, and ethos to technical writing, technical writers can …

Nine Months With Elvis, Angel J. Bart

Theses and Dissertations

“Nine Months with Elvis” is a coming-of-age travel memoir about a time the author spends as a drummer in a theater company, touring the U.S. and Mexico. The writer, who previously lived a sheltered life, finds he is separated from all that is well-known to him. He documents with humor and pathos the physical miles he travels with the group, along with the personal growth he experiences. Each of the seven chapters takes place in a different geographic locale and centers on an event that prompts this young man to consider the ways he sees himself and how the decisions …

A Journey Through Time, Chance, And Change, Maribeth Chancellor Anders

Theses and Dissertations

My work from 2004 to 2008 represents and exploration of house and boat forms as a metaphor for human experience in a journey through time, chance, and change. I draw on personal experience, observation, and myth. Concerns over the public education system that are evident in some of the work come from public school teaching experience. In some sculptures there are references to family and friends. Cultural references connect to my life and travels through parts of Europe and Africa from 1972 to 1975. Art history studies and research have facilitated an increased awareness of cultural and historical relationships. The …

The Ouroboros Father Project, William L. Betz

Theses and Dissertations

The Ouroboros Father Project is an exploration the author's relationship with his dead father, the authors' reaction to his father's death and the author's dealing with the aftermath of his father's legacy as a child molester. The complex story of this relationship and the author's exploration of his own feelings is told in several different genres. This relationship is told in three poems, an essay, and, finally, a four act play and each piece centers around the ancient symbol of the ouroboros. All of the pieces attempt to construct a healing narrative dealing with the never ending cycle of victim …

Zinc! By Thunder!: A History Of The Rush Creek Mining District, Marion County, Arkansas 1886 To 1918, Jane-Ellen Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the history of the Rush Creek Mining District from 1886 to 1918. The Rush Creek Mining District is located in the southeast corner of Marion County in north central Arkansas. During the 32 year period from 1886 to 1918 approximately 26,000 tons of zinc ore concentrates were mined from the district, making it the largest producer of zinc in northern Arkansas. During these years the community of Rush grew from a tiny mining camp to a town of approximately 1,500 to 2,000 people during the height of the mining boom during World War I. A review of …

The Rhetoric Of Leadership: A Look At Leadership Through The Rhetorical Triangle, Kathryn M. Oliverio

Theses and Dissertations

The rhetorical triangle (sender/message/receiver) applies to more than just writing papers and delivering speeches. It is applicable to effective leadership as well. This leadership triangle includes the leader, the message or the leader's goals, and the follower. In order for leaders to be effective, they must understand their strengths and weaknesses, because both help form a leader's morale character (ethos). Leaders must also analyze their audience. A leader's audience, referred to as followers in this Final Project, is made up of human beings and all humans are different. These differences can be analyzed by looking at differences in personality, needs, …

Visual Identity, Ariston Sedrak Jacks

Theses and Dissertations

My artwork addresses issues of identity. As an artist, I feel it is my responsibility to delineate the human condition while encouraging the viewers to recall their own experiences. My paintings attempt to serve as a catalyst to evoke emotional, social, and cultural responses by documenting my idea of significant people or events. To accomplish this visually, I explore the human figure through a formal approach addressing the elements of art. I am influenced by various philosophies that impact my artwork. I experiment with a variety of media adding unique details not defined by skilled rendering or complex abstraction, but …

Women In Black: Shirin Neshat's Images Of Veiled Revolutionaries, Heyam Dannawi

Theses and Dissertations

Shirin Neshat, an Iranian-born artist, uses photography and film to address issues of female identity. When the Islamic Revolution took place in 1978-1979, Neshat was living in the United States. Unable to return to her homeland, she was exiled for eleven years. The Islamic Revolution became a defining moment in Neshat's life and work. The profound change that took place in Iran inspired her to address the role of Iranian women in religion and society, which subsequently became the basis of much of her work. The hijab or veil became a symbol of repression and oppression after the Islamic Revolution. …

Taylor Field: A Diamond In The Rough, George A. Lea, Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the construction of Taylor Field in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The facility was built by the Works Projects Administration. Construction began in 1939, the first year in which the field was used by the city's professional baseball club, and completed in 1940. In addition to covering the construction of the field, the first two seasons of baseball played at the field are examined. However, the field has had many uses over the years of its existence. For example, the Negro Leagues had about a dozen games at the field in 1940, there were three political rallies held at …

"Bat Boy: The Musical" Scene Design, Christopher Shane Dills

Theses and Dissertations

A. Environmental Facts

1. Geographical Location: The Exact Place Hope Falls. West Virginia, Population 500

2. Date: Year, Season, Time of Day. What is significant about the date? Present (2008), Fall at the beginning of the play and progresses into Spring by the beginning of act two and the revival. Time of day is generally midday except for the Christian Charity until the end of Dance with Me, Darling. During this portion of act one it is night time and it is storming, Hence the lightning flashes and power outages called for in the script and stage directions. The end …

Directing Earth, Fire, And Water With A 5th Grade Class, Lucy Bryson

Theses and Dissertations

The value of arts education in our schools is on the rise. Many studies have been conducted in the recent past supporting this rise. The College Board reports that students since 1999 exposed and involved with arts education score higher on the SAT. (Americans for the Arts) As a result theatre education is on the rise. Traditionally drama programs have only been established in secondary schools; however, middle and elementary schools are beginning to add drama programs to their curriculum. These programs vary from school to school. Some are very performance based using class time to choose a play, audition, …

"Motionless As An Idol": The Roles Of Art, Modernism, And Religion In William Faulkner's Construction Of Gender, Chelsea Bullock

Theses and Dissertations

William Faulkner's body of work addresses many specific issues and conditions specific to the South, but this project focuses on the place of Southern women in society and Faulkner's exploration of their subjugation through the language and images of art. I will analyze three of his texts: "A Rose for Emily," As I Lay Dying, and The Sound and the Fury with a particular focus on the main female characters and the art metaphors they are presented in association with and. often, as encapsulated within. I chose these three texts because they are best representative of my argument. In the …

Record, Monica Rocio Palma

Theses and Dissertations

Television static represents the absence of a legible image and the presence of something iconic and disturbing - a sinister abstraction. These repeating rhythms also occur in the Hail Mary prayer, in the houses in my neighborhood, in large crowds, and in my mother's crotchet patterns. The unsettling aspect of repetitive mark making in my drawings mirrors in part my psychotherapy, in which the past is revived over and over, as well as the idea of penance absorbed through my Catholic background.Since moving away from Mexico I have been using imagery related to the United States: rivers, mountains, and landscapes. …

Early Intervention, Research And Therapy Center For Children With Autism, Nicole Marie Caccavo

Theses and Dissertations

This book documents a design study and creative project undertaken toward the fulfillment of a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Interior Environments at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. This book documents a year long accumulation of study and research done toward the development of an early intervention, therapy and research center for children with autism. This creative project demonstrates how an environment can be a catalyst for social interaction, way finding, therapy, and intervention. The goal was to design a space that would be multi-functional and also benefit the surrounding community. This design study will explain how colors …

Des Perdues: The Precariousness Of Loss, Alissa Grace Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The majority of losses that take place in a day are not large, or sad, they are built almost entirely on behaviors and systems that have nothing to do with loss. Most of these, I discovered, are the result of deliberate carelessness. The word loss is as difficult to define as truth, but its variation is what makes it so interesting and evocative. It is not, and never has been, a definition of loss that I seek: it is not enough to simply say I lost this person or that place, we must consider what is left and what can …

Creating A Realistic Set Design For Doubt: A Parable, Philip Avery Hayes

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a narrative describing the set design for the Richmond premiere of Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley. The project was a creation of a set to be used by the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. The performance was held in February 15, 2008 through March 22, 2008 at the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. The production was a cooperation between the Virginia Commonwealth University Theatre Department and the Barksdale Theatre Inc.

The Pedagogy Of Shakespeare & Company, Catherine Bryne

Theses and Dissertations

The Pedagogy of Shakespeare & Company examines in several ways the principles and practices of actor training at Shakespeare & Company of Lenox, Massachusetts. Chapter 1 is a narrative of my personal experience at the Month-long Intensive in Lenox, elaborating its multiple components. Chapter 2 recounts the genesis of the company and looks at the influences that shaped its identity. Chapter 3 is a more specific attempt to define the pedagogy developed by Tina Packer, Kristin Linklater and the other founders of Shakespeare & Company and to provide some contextual analysis. The remainder of this document explores my own pedagogical …

Education For All: The Freedmen's Bureau Schools In Richmond And Petersburg, 1865 - 1870, Scott Britton Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the development of Freedmen's Bureau schools in Central Virginia at the end of the Civil War. Under the watchful eye of Ralza Manly, Superintendent of the Virginia Freedmen's Bureau education division, establishing schools for freed slaves faced innumerable challenges ranging from inadequate financial resources to hostile southern whites who opposed northern intervention into local affairs. Nevertheless, northern benevolent societies and hundreds of altruistic, yet paternalistic, educational missionaries converged on Richmond and Petersburg determined that education was essential if blacks were to achieve true freedom and become self-reliant and independent. While the Bureau devoted much of its energy …

A Science & Mathematics Magnet School At Maymont, Sarah Shamus Nakfoor

Theses and Dissertations

I am interested in the idea that schools should be designed to offer individualized learning."A Science & Mathematics Magnet School at Maymont" explores a type of school that is becoming more familiar and accessible. By allowing students who have an interest in excelling in school and preparing for their future careers to come together and meet one another and experience aneducation that might not otherwise be available can be beneficial in many ways. In most cases, because of the funding required for such specialized schools, class sizes are reduced to meet budgets and the schools are opened to the community …

Surging Seepage: A Triple Bond Accretion System, Jacqueline Brown

Theses and Dissertations

My current work revels in a state of flux. I strive for the work to be electrically charged, conveying a feverish sense of immediacy and vitality that implies motion and frenetic energy. The work is an accretion of brightly colored biomorphic forms that extend out from the wall and onto the floor. Viscous parts ooze and drip while others are globular and bulbous. The hyper-organic forms suggest a paradoxical state of both ripening and rotting, becoming and unbecoming. The work is an attempt to traverse between seemingly divergent constructs, some of which include: growth and decay, the artificial and the …

Bollywood Broads: Reconstructing The Femme Fatale In Popular Indian Film, Erin Zimmerman Moss

Theses and Dissertations

Mumbai is currently one of the most prolific and lucrative film centers in the world. Its production of the "Bollywood" popular film has attracted billions in audience members outside the nation of India, many of whom do not belong to Indian culture in the Diaspora. The significance of this influence draws from the cross-cultural borrowings increasingly present in Bollywood cinema. The advent of Western investment in the production center has coincided with the diversification of the standard Bollywood film from "masala" musical to more genre specific action, horror and even romantic comedy musical. Within this genre expansion, a nod to …

Organizing Around A Center: A Design Incubator And Business Center, Mindy Carter

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the development of an interdisciplinary design incubator and community business center in Richmond, Virginia through the adaptive reuse of a retired, historic school building. In contrast to the deteriorating conditions of Patrick Henry School, renewed growth abounds in its extraordinary site surroundings—the 105 acres of Forest Hill Park, which serves as the virtual backyard of the school building. This dualism provided a prime opportunity for discovering the design possibilities in connecting a built space to its physical surroundings and for giving meaningful new life to an abandoned space.

Blending Doctrine, Practice, And Purpose In Legal Education: The Case For An Integrated Pedagogy, Debra M. Schneider

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional legal education is sorely imbalanced. A law student receives rigorous training in legal doctrine and analytical skills—he learns to "think like a lawyer"—but is left with little training in practical skills or his ethical role in society. Moreover, law schools rely almost exclusively on the ineffectual pedagogy of the case-dialogue, or "Socratic," method. Several factors explain this entrenched imbalance, most notably the academy's top-down power structure and its budget constraints. Increasingly, however, the marketplace is demanding practice-ready lawyers who have strong training not only in doctrine but in practical skills and ethics. Law schools, responding to this market pressure, …

Greenlife: A Sustainable Retail Space, Veronica J. Ledford

Theses and Dissertations

GreenLife is the name of the retail interior design project that embodies this thesis. Using interior design as a medium to influence customers,I sought to create an environment that promotes a connection to nature and an awareness of creative possiblities within the context of a store. It addresses the problem of personal social responsiblity by using shopping, a dominant activity in the western world, as a tool for change. As a project, GreenLife attempts to answer three questions: How does design inform cultural experience? How can a connection with nature inform consumerism? Can a store transcend its purpose from filling …