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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Science Fiction, Eng 2420, Syllabus And Course Outline, Jason W. Ellis Oct 2024

Science Fiction, Eng 2420, Syllabus And Course Outline, Jason W. Ellis

Open Educational Resources

This Science Fiction, ENG2420 syllabus and course outline was written for an online, asynchronous class taught in the Department of English at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY. It was designed to compliment the OER Yet Another Science Fiction Textbook (YASFT) and have a Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) approach with readings and viewings found primarily through the Internet Archive. The course follows a historical approach to the science fiction genre covering the Origins of Science Fiction, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Proto-SF, Pulp SF, SF Film Serials, Golden Age SF, SF Film Through the 1950s, New Wave …


The Persuasiveness Of Point Of View, John Brandon Keever Jul 2024

The Persuasiveness Of Point Of View, John Brandon Keever

Masters Theses

An obsession with the point of view, POV, as a craft element, drove the impetus of this research. The artist's statement highlights a love affair with escapism through the written word in fiction. The critical paper reviews evidence of the persuasiveness of point of view, POV, as a critical craft element as seen in the nuances of POV in The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury and in first-person testimony in journalism. While some research into POV exists for literary classics, like Pride and Prejudice, this …


Textual Triads: The Identification And Justification Of An Apocalyptic Literary Form, Jeffrey R. Dickson Jul 2024

Textual Triads: The Identification And Justification Of An Apocalyptic Literary Form, Jeffrey R. Dickson

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

This study seeks to elucidate just one of the many literary/structural devices found in John’s Apocalypse—textual triads (groupings of three words or ideas that are either repeated or parallel to each other). In so doing, this paper will argue that not only do textual triads exist in Revelation, but they are present in various forms throughout this last canonical work and can be categorized/justified via grammatical/literary markers that help readers identify them within the text of Scripture. All this will prove that, among many other literary devices, the apostle utilizes this unique threefold repetition in pervasive ways to describe, reveal, …


Estranged Temporality: How Time Tells Stories In Science Fiction, Phillip H. Howells Jul 2024

Estranged Temporality: How Time Tells Stories In Science Fiction, Phillip H. Howells

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

According to Darko Suvin in his influential critical treatise, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction, estrangement in Science Fiction (SF) gives authors the ability to build worlds related to but distant from our own using specific metaphors. This dissertation takes up this term and applies it to the fulcrum of time in SF as a method of creating possible futures and imaginative pasts in order to illuminate the realities of the present. The realities of the present are congruent with the material circumstances of the past, and this can be seen in the kinds of SF worlds built by members of …


Empathy In The Classroom: How Great Books Create Meaningful Discussion, Courtney Whitaker Jun 2024

Empathy In The Classroom: How Great Books Create Meaningful Discussion, Courtney Whitaker

Masters Theses

Every day it seems there is another news story detailing our problem of division and polarization, especially where race is concerned. In this thesis, I will explore the ways in which teachers can facilitate empathy within their students, especially through utilizing literary works that address prejudice and division. I intend to approach this topic through the lens of a biblical worldview and draw from current scholarship in making a case for literature as a lesson in empathy. I will conclude with addressing a variety of well-known literary works and the practical ways in which teachers can utilize them in the …


From Crypto-Muslim To Muslim Polemicist: The Self-Writing Of Aḥmad Ibn Qāsim Al-Ḥajarī, Paige Gibson Jun 2024

From Crypto-Muslim To Muslim Polemicist: The Self-Writing Of Aḥmad Ibn Qāsim Al-Ḥajarī, Paige Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the self-writing of the Morisco writer Aḥmad ibn Qāsim al-Ḥajarī (b. 1569–1570) who fled his homeland in Spain for the Maghreb where he could live safely as a Muslim. While it may seem that the Moriscos were one static, monocultural group, studying them as individuals reveals the group’s diversity and complexity. Al-Ḥajarī is an excellent example of one Morisco writer who identifies more with the greater Muslim community than with the Iberian Moriscos. His most well-known work, Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn, combines Arabic literary genres in order to create this self-portrait. Other Moriscos fought for their right to …


Picturesque Portraiture: The Composition Of Reality In Hawthorne, Melville, And James, Angela Michael Gattuso Densmore Jun 2024

Picturesque Portraiture: The Composition Of Reality In Hawthorne, Melville, And James, Angela Michael Gattuso Densmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the nineteenth century, American artists were tangled in debates regarding the representation of reality. The Hudson River School of picturesque landscape painters tackled this dilemma with a compromise formula which used the real objects of nature to create ideal scenes. This dissertation applies the same picturesque formula to select examples of literary portraiture, studied under the concept of “picturesque portraiture.” Whereas the Hudson River compromise resulted in an ideal perception of reality, however, the picturesque portraits composed by nineteenth-century authors Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Henry James attempt to invoke a non-idealized “actual” reality of the portrait subject’s person …


A Religion For The Common Man: A Culturally Subversive Understanding Of Kabir’S Simple State, Wyatt Golden Jun 2024

A Religion For The Common Man: A Culturally Subversive Understanding Of Kabir’S Simple State, Wyatt Golden

NEXUS: The Liberty Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

No abstract provided.


Ekphrasis: An Exploration Of Poetry Inspired By Art, Caitlin Cacciatore Jun 2024

Ekphrasis: An Exploration Of Poetry Inspired By Art, Caitlin Cacciatore

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ekphrasis: An Exploration of Poetry Inspired by Art” is an Open Educational Resource (OER) that occupies the underdeveloped niche of freely available teaching and learning materials about the interdisciplinary poetic medium of ekphrasis. Ekphrastic poetry is a form dating back to Book XVIII of the Iliad, experiencing a revitalization in the latter half of the 18th century, when demand for written descriptions of paintings was in high demand, and again taking on a new, modern meaning in the early 19th century, with poems like John Keats’ 1819 “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Ekphrasis is …


Mexican-American Literature Is American Literature, Davia Ellen Guzman May 2024

Mexican-American Literature Is American Literature, Davia Ellen Guzman

Senior Theses

The main focus of this article is to show that teaching Mexican-American literature is an important part of teaching American literature, one that is often neglected. As of right now, Chicano Literature and American Literature are seen as two separate categories even though they are one in the same. Authors such as Rudolfo Anaya and Tomás Rivera allow readers insight into Mexican-American culture; the foundations they have set should be used in American Literature courses to help students view the wide variety that is American Literature, other than what the canon deems acceptable. Bless Me, Ultima, and …and the Earth …


Dalit Feminist Literature From South India: New Models And Perspectives, Sujatha Moni, Miruna George May 2024

Dalit Feminist Literature From South India: New Models And Perspectives, Sujatha Moni, Miruna George

Journal of International Women's Studies

Twenty-first century Indian literature has been enriched overall by Dalit feminist literature written originally in regional languages and available in English translation. What are the contributions of South Indian Dalit women’s writings to literature and to feminism? How is the representation of women in South Indian Dalit literature redefining the images of women in contemporary literature? These questions are answered through an analysis of Bama’s Karukku, select short stories by Gogu Shyamala and Joopaka Subhadra, and select poems by Swaroopa Rani, Sukirtharani, and Vijila Chirappad. Using Dalit feminist theory, we examine how the texts analyzed here represent the standpoints of …


“Who Do You Say That I Am?”: Literary Portrayal Of Religious Experience, William Wood May 2024

“Who Do You Say That I Am?”: Literary Portrayal Of Religious Experience, William Wood

Masters Theses

Literature is one of the primary means through which God has revealed Himself to the world. Christian writers, therefore, should be bold to portray their God in and through the religious experiences of their characters. Evaluating classic and contemporary literature, four distinct methods of portraying religious experience may be described, each with varying levels of flexibility and faithfulness. Works of literature such as fantasy fiction may include any and all of these methods, even while that literature pursues other themes. In this thesis, an Artist Statement describes the included work of fiction, with its literary context, impetus, and personal significance. …


America’S Favorite Fighting Frenchman: Marquis De Lafayette In American Pop Culture, Joshua Neiderhiser May 2024

America’S Favorite Fighting Frenchman: Marquis De Lafayette In American Pop Culture, Joshua Neiderhiser

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Popular culture has become as engrained within American society as the proverbial grandma’s apple pie. Due to the explosion of the internet, popular culture has become easier to find and share. For the historian this has created a cornucopia of research opportunities but has also created a massive problem: popular culture often comingles fact, fiction, and myth, making it more difficult for the historian to decipher the truth. The Marquis de Lafayette has been as affected by this as any other. His character and his legacy have been misrepresented in American popular culture. There has been a distinct divide between …


Biblical Literacy And The Creative Mind, Michael Farrell May 2024

Biblical Literacy And The Creative Mind, Michael Farrell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biblical Literacy and the Creative Mind will explore interpretation tracing the history of English literature back to biblical aspirations and its continued profound influence on Western human perspectives. It will examine the decline in adults reading literary texts and the diminishing number of English majors among prospective students. I am arguing for poetic interpretations over hermeneutic ones, which analyze what is structurally in a sentence to make a reader feel a certain way. I will use the theory of intertextuality, meaning a text comprises the consumption of past texts, to aid my argument. This theory underscores the importance of celebrated …


Politics, Authorship, And Philosophy: Teaching Margaret Cavendish’S The Blazing World In The Diverse Graduate Classroom, Martine Van Elk May 2024

Politics, Authorship, And Philosophy: Teaching Margaret Cavendish’S The Blazing World In The Diverse Graduate Classroom, Martine Van Elk

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

This essay explores how Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World works differently when taught and read on its own and in combination with Cavendish’s other works. Focusing specifically on the graduate classroom, I examine and present strategies for teaching the book alongside works by other early modern women and for teaching it in a single-author course. While in isolation, The Blazing World allows for discussions that focus primarily on questions of gender, genre, class, and politics, read in tandem with Cavendish’s other works, in particular her philosophical writings, The Blazing World becomes a source for reflections on questions of creaturely identity, …


Eng 155: Introduction To Literary Studies, Joseph Donica May 2024

Eng 155: Introduction To Literary Studies, Joseph Donica

Open Educational Resources

An OER syllabus covering the ways humans have read and continue to read literature from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives. An emphasis is placed on the application of critical thought to writing expository essays and responding to readings.


In Her Own Voice: Examining The Portrayal Of Briseis Across Ancient Sources And Modern Retellings, Paige Phillips May 2024

In Her Own Voice: Examining The Portrayal Of Briseis Across Ancient Sources And Modern Retellings, Paige Phillips

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis attempts to reconcile the modern perspective on the Iliad with that of the ancient material through translation, utilizing two translations of the Iliad from its original Greek to English, from 1951 and 2023, Ovid’s letter from Briseis to Achilles in translation from Latin to English, and two modern novels published in 2012 and 2018.


La Langue Des Autres: The Linguistic Evolution Of African Representation In French Popular Culture, Colonialism To Present, Kathrynanne Eastman May 2024

La Langue Des Autres: The Linguistic Evolution Of African Representation In French Popular Culture, Colonialism To Present, Kathrynanne Eastman

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the linguistic representation of African peoples and cultures in French popular culture, specifically as this pertains to immigration. The foundational research question of this project is: how has the representation of Africans in French popular culture evolved since the colonial period? In order to answer this question, I examine seven sources of popular culture, all works of either literature or cinema, depicting three different time periods: 19th-century French colonization in Algeria (1830-1900), the post-World War II “Trente Glorieuses” [Thirty Glorious Years] (1945 to 1975), and the contemporary era (1990-present). I lay out and analyze the language present …


Wordflight, Joey Gonnella May 2024

Wordflight, Joey Gonnella

Theses and Dissertations

Exploring subjects revolving around the nature of images, language and their subsequent disseminationn through time, this paper weaves together seemingly unrelated topics from the hot air balloons of the Franco-Prussian war to the envelope poems of Emily Dickinson.


Painted As Political: The Cultural Significance Within Zitkala-Ša’S Boarding School Narratives, Toni Aguiar May 2024

Painted As Political: The Cultural Significance Within Zitkala-Ša’S Boarding School Narratives, Toni Aguiar

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

Zitkala-Ša was a Dakota writer, educator, and political activist who was and is widely influential within and outside of Native American communities during the twentieth century. As a child, Zitkala-Ša was sent to school at White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute, which spurred her writings in “School Days of an Indian Girl” recounting her experiences at the school and the struggles she faced. Though many scholars debate the activist choices she made in her later life as either pro or anti assimilation, some also extend this political criticism into her childhood experiences. My paper argues an alternative reading of these boarding …


Posthumanism In Literature: Redefining Selfhood, Temporality, And Reality/Ies Through Fiction, Eileen Kelley Pierce May 2024

Posthumanism In Literature: Redefining Selfhood, Temporality, And Reality/Ies Through Fiction, Eileen Kelley Pierce

English (MA) Theses

While fictional novels are often seen as a way to escape reality, their relation to reality and the ways in which they distort or reinforce our understandings of reality can provide significant insights into our cultural values and beliefs. Using posthumanist theory, I examine how understandings of selfhood and its relations to time and reality are complicated within three works of fiction and how those complications represent and articulate a societal shift in meaning and knowledge that is supported by posthumanist ideologies. The three works, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, Wolf in White Van by John …


Our Author Is Crazy, Zani A. Meaders May 2024

Our Author Is Crazy, Zani A. Meaders

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis delves into the realm of young adult (YA) fantasy literature, exploring how its meta-narrative elements, fast-paced story beats, and relatable characters can facilitate the acquisition of healthy coping mechanisms among its readers. In the preface, I discuss the importance of providing YA audiences with narratives that not only entertain but also serve as tools for navigating the complexities of adolescence. Drawing upon psychological theories and literary analysis, I argue that meta-awareness in YA fantasy can offer readers a unique perspective on their own struggles and encourage them to develop resilience and coping skills.

The accompanying YA Fantasy story …


Victim Or Villain: Female Resilience And Agency In The Face Of Trauma In Chimamanda Adichie’S, Purple Hibiscus (2003) And Tsitsi Dangarembga’S, Nervous Conditions (1988), Adaobi Juliet Chukwuma May 2024

Victim Or Villain: Female Resilience And Agency In The Face Of Trauma In Chimamanda Adichie’S, Purple Hibiscus (2003) And Tsitsi Dangarembga’S, Nervous Conditions (1988), Adaobi Juliet Chukwuma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As long as disparities persist in the way women are treated as compared to their male counterparts, the issue of gender will continue to call forth literary productions. For this reason, female writers are on a mission to dismantle the stereotypes that keep women confined to societal roles. Grounded in a feminist framework, this study focuses on the gender disparity theme in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. The aim is to examine how these writers represent the trauma of women living in an African patriarchal system. The traumatic experiences of the female characters in both texts …


Book Review: Afternoons With Harper Lee, Lindsay G. Wong May 2024

Book Review: Afternoons With Harper Lee, Lindsay G. Wong

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.


Obscured To Outspoken: Buchi Emecheta, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, And Akwaeke Emezi As Case Studies In Nigerian Feminism, Ava Chuppe May 2024

Obscured To Outspoken: Buchi Emecheta, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, And Akwaeke Emezi As Case Studies In Nigerian Feminism, Ava Chuppe

Honors College Theses

Though about two decades separate their ascents to global renown, Buchi Emecheta and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie represent two figureheads of the women’s literary tradition in Nigeria. While Adichie has embraced the “feminist” label to describe her work, Emecheta has proven more reluctant, divulging issues with the Western variety of the movement—namely, its deconstruction of the family. Nevertheless, Emecheta and Adichie engage with issues such as maternity, familial turmoil, and political unrest in the contexts of colonial and postcolonial Nigeria, respectively. In doing so, both writers demonstrate the unique manifestations of patriarchy brought about by colonial rule. In Emecheta’s novel The …


"And Then There Were None:" The Silencing And Censorship Of Translated Works Under Francisco Franco, Avery Austin May 2024

"And Then There Were None:" The Silencing And Censorship Of Translated Works Under Francisco Franco, Avery Austin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

We tend to live under the assumption that translations will always attempt to be faithful to their original texts, blindly believing in the infallibility of the translator. However, in doing so, we ignore how translation can be used to take advantage of the reader – how can one know that a change has occurred in a translated work if they have no knowledge of the text’s original language? This paper studies the power dynamics of translation, and how it can be used as a tool to aid censorship. By focusing on translated literary works under the Franco regime, this work …


With Great Power: Using Comics To Facilitate Discussion Of Systemic Oppression In Higher Education Literature Classes, Keri Crist-Wagner May 2024

With Great Power: Using Comics To Facilitate Discussion Of Systemic Oppression In Higher Education Literature Classes, Keri Crist-Wagner

All Dissertations

Undergraduate student participation in general education classes constitutes a point of struggle for many educators, especially when it comes to lessons centered around systems of oppression like racism, sexism, or heterosexism. Using both constructivism and counter storytelling as theoretical frameworks, this multi-method phenomenological case study explored the experiences of undergraduate honors students in a semester long general education literature class. The purpose of this study was to 1) explore how comics can be used as a pedagogical tool in higher education classrooms to facilitate discussion of systems of oppression, 2) assess the ways in which students interacted with comics, and …


Experiences Of Textuality: From The Oulipo To The Cyborg Author Of The Digital Age, Maxime Moreau May 2024

Experiences Of Textuality: From The Oulipo To The Cyborg Author Of The Digital Age, Maxime Moreau

Masters Theses

This thesis is concerned with the interaction between the three factors that govern meaning-creation in literature: the author, the reader, and the text. Starting with 1960s experimental literature, I will examine how the text influences its own perception, how language affects the act of reading, and how the author/reader power structure can be challenged by new, innovative mediums whose characteristics incur counter-cultural readings. The ultimate aim of this thesis is not to analyze these mediums as separate phenomenons, but rather as part of a large artistic continuum; as such, the conclusions drawn from their analysis will concern the larger fields …


Homemade Language, Conservative Fro-Yo, And Sci-Fi Sloths: How Speculative Migration Fiction Confronts The Ends Of Worlds By Challenging The Nation-State, Zoe R. Scheuerman Apr 2024

Homemade Language, Conservative Fro-Yo, And Sci-Fi Sloths: How Speculative Migration Fiction Confronts The Ends Of Worlds By Challenging The Nation-State, Zoe R. Scheuerman

English Honors Projects

This English literature thesis project explores an emerging, genre-defying body of fiction which I call “speculative migration fiction.” Speculative migration fiction imagines how ongoing global developments like climate change, technological development, and war may shape future migrations. Drawing on Benedict Anderson’s conception of national culture, Wendy Brown’s theory of the border, and Caroline Levine’s understanding of literary form, as well as close readings from Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, and 2 A.M. in Little America by Ken Kalfus, I argue that transnational migrations move toward becoming postnational migrations as migrants evade border …


Georgia Ghosts: History, Folklore, And The Roots Of The Southern Gothic, Katherine M. Mcdowell Apr 2024

Georgia Ghosts: History, Folklore, And The Roots Of The Southern Gothic, Katherine M. Mcdowell

Master's Projects

There is something quintessentially human about ghost stories, yet particular regions tend to be more powerfully associated with haunted folktales than others. One of the regions is the southeastern United States. In fact, these oral traditions appear to have influenced the area's best-known literary subgenre: the Southern Gothic.

Why is the South considered haunted? Are there particular qualities in historical events that make them more likely to engender ghost stories? What makes the South's folkloric spirits so powerful that they appear even in modern literature? Most of all, what connects the region's history and folklore with the Southern Gothic? By …