American Studies Commons^™

Women & Language: Essays On Gendered Communication Across Media, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The present volume of essays examines women's communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women's literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women's communication in the technology-rich 21st century. This excerpt features the introduction and one essay from the co-editor.

Women & Language: Essays On Gendered Communication Across Media, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The present volume of essays examines women's communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women's literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women's communication in the technology-rich 21st century. This excerpt features the introduction and one essay from the co-editor.

The (Inter)Active Soap Opera Viewer: Fantastic Practices & Mediated Communities, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In today’s cultural realm, everything exists within a hierarchy of sorts – fandom has not escaped this process of judgmental ranking and social stratification. Admitting to be a “fan” of something often earns people mixed responses depending on the subject of their devoted following. The more one’s object of choice strays from the mainstream, the lower one exists on the fan hierarchy. If the masses find the fan subject matter to exist on the cultural periphery, fans are often quite ridiculed. This has historically been the case for soap opera fans. What is often overlooked, however, is the utility of …

Twilight Follows Tradition: Analyzing "Biting" Critiques Of Vampire Narratives For Their Portrayals Of Gender & Sexuality, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Vampires have dominated print literature since the 18th century, eventually becoming more visible as they crossed mediated boundaries and genre divides. Now flourishing in neo-gothic realms like science fiction and fantasy, in print genres like chick-lit and young adult, and in the visual realm (from Hollywood’s big screen to daytime television’s sudsy small screen), vampire narratives are finding increased popularity. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series has shined a new spotlight on the all-encompassing umbrella genre that is “vamp lit,” and with it has come renewed attention to the so-called anti-feminist messages present in such narratives, such as the perceived negative characterization …

The (Inter)Active Soap Opera Viewer: Fantastic Practices & Mediated Communities, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In today’s cultural realm, everything exists within a hierarchy of sorts – fandom has not escaped this process of judgmental ranking and social stratification. Admitting to be a “fan” of something often earns people mixed responses depending on the subject of their devoted following. The more one’s object of choice strays from the mainstream, the lower one exists on the fan hierarchy. If the masses find the fan subject matter to exist on the cultural periphery, fans are often quite ridiculed. This has historically been the case for soap opera fans. What is often overlooked, however, is the utility of …

Twilight Follows Tradition: Analyzing "Biting" Critiques Of Vampire Narratives For Their Portrayals Of Gender & Sexuality, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Vampires have dominated print literature since the 18th century, eventually becoming more visible as they crossed mediated boundaries and genre divides. Now flourishing in neo-gothic realms like science fiction and fantasy, in print genres like chick-lit and young adult, and in the visual realm (from Hollywood’s big screen to daytime television’s sudsy small screen), vampire narratives are finding increased popularity. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series has shined a new spotlight on the all-encompassing umbrella genre that is “vamp lit,” and with it has come renewed attention to the so-called anti-feminist messages present in such narratives, such as the perceived negative characterization …

Fantastic Covers, Ellen Corrigan

Faculty & Staff Research & Creative Activity

Introductory and caption text from “Fantastic Covers,” an independently curated exhibit on display at Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University, October-December 2008. The exhibit featured cover art from a collection of pulp science fiction paperbacks and magazines dating from the 1950s to the early 1970s, housed in the library's Special Collections. Text reformatted from original presentation.

Book Revew: Rewriting White, By Todd Vogel, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews: Place, Language, And Identity In Afro-Costa Rican Literature, By Dorothy E. Mosby, And The Fugitive Race: Minority Writers Resisting Whiteness, By Stephen P. Knadler, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews: Place, Language, And Identity In Afro-Costa Rican Literature, By Dorothy E. Mosby, And The Fugitive Race: Minority Writers Resisting Whiteness, By Stephen P. Knadler, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Review Of Place, Language, And Identity In Afro-Costa Rican Literature, By Dorothy E. Mosby, And The Fugitive Race: Minority Writers Resisting Whiteness, By Stephen P. Knadler, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Lacunae: Narrative "Lacks, Holes Or Gaps" In Faulkner's And Morrison's Novels, Phyllis Ann Karpus

Masters Theses

The moment a reader opens a book, turns to the opening lines and begins to read, a circular relationship immediately develops with the author and the text. An implied alliance is formed wherein the author, most often through a narrator, omniscient or otherwise, proposes to the reader that he/she accept a degree of responsibility for understanding the plot, theme, and the underlying meaning in the work.

Retrospectively the theory sounds simple and, with many authors, it is effective. William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, however, not only command but also demand, the reader's absolute attention in, and responsibility to, many of …

The Soldier's Strife: An Introspective View Through The Work Of Tim O'Brien, Mandy Solomon

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Place In Malcolm Cowley's Blue Juniata And Exile's Return, Robert Pratte

Masters Theses

This study examines the various ways in which Malcolm Cowley develops and uses sense of place in his works Blue Juniata: Collected Poems and Exile's Return. Through examination of the literature, I identify four phases of place sense. Starting with childhood in the Identification phase, I illustrate the development of Cowley's place perspective through his poems and writings. As he moves through Adventure and Exile phases, I discuss their relation to the Identification phase and to each other. Likewise, I consider the role of the Nostalgia phase as a bridge from literary to experiential perception. Through close examination of his …

John Irving, Female Sexuality, And The Victorian Feminine Ideal, Tara Coburn

Masters Theses

In an interview about The Cider House Rules, John Irving states, "It is never the social or political message that interests me in a novel" (qtd. in Herel, para. 18). However, in book reviews, jacket blurbs, literary criticism, and Irving's own writing, readers and critics and Irving often assert that he is a neo-Victorian novelist, and the Victorians were a notoriously political bunch. Though Irving does not admit to the political nature of his writing, the way he treats feminist politics in his fiction has drawn particular notice by the media, who often label him as a feminist writer. …

Searching For The Hero's Code: Questioning (White) Hero Formation In Contemporary American Film, Amanda D. Mckay

Masters Theses

The desire for heroism never wavers in the imaginations of the movie-going public. When we go to the movies, we long to see a strong character, poised to save the world (tights and cape optional, of course). However, we rarely question what the hero looks like. Hollywood perpetuates an archaic form of heroism because that is what the audience has formed long ago in their collective imagination. Much of American culture is generated by the desire to see self-starters making it in the direst of conditions.

With such a narrow construction of heroism, Hollywood has become void of equal representation …

This Man's Heart: Masculinity In The Poetry Of E.E. Cummings, Willis John Whitesell Iii

Masters Theses

"This Man's Heart: Masculinity in the Poetry of E.E. Cummings" explores changing masculinity in the life and poetry of E.E. Cummings. The relationship between Cummings and his father, his first male role model, became strained when Cummings was a teenager finding his own male identity. As he rebelled against his father, a Unitarian minister, he began writing poetry in a modernist style under the direction of a new mentor, Ezra Pound.

Cummings' early modernist poems criticize conventional male roles and configurations of masculinity as outdated. As Cummings continued to grow as a man and writer, he confronted new realities which …

American Kitsch: Dreams Of Vegas And Apollo Beyond Aporias, Daniel Gerling

Masters Theses

Aside from a recently published compendium of happy stories by Dan Rather and a few real estate agencies in Florida, the American Dream has been considered dead. The most common poison deemed responsible for this death has been, not the lack of success, but, the "kitschiness" of the reward. Postwar novels such as Henry Miller's The Air-Conditioned Nightmare and Edward Albee's play The American Dream declared that the Dream was no longer genuine and, therefore, no longer functional or valid.

Horatio Alger's blueprint for American prosperity began to lose its momentum to a generation of skeptics who rejected the idea …

"The Perils Of Disembodied Readership", Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Review of American Dream, American Nightmare: Fiction since 1960 by Kathryn Hume and Violence in the Contemporary American Novel by James R. Giles.

Walt Whitman: The Optimism Of An Evolutionary Pantheist, Katherine R. Hults

Masters Theses

E.M. Forster may have best described Walt Whitman's prevailing optimism in the following passage:

He is the true optimist—not the professional optimist who shuts his eyes and shirks ... but one who has seen and suffered much and yet rejoices. He is not a philosopher or theologian; he cannot answer the ultimate question and tell us what life is. But he is absolutely certain that it is grand, that it is happiness, and that 'wherever life and force are manifested, beauty is manifested.' (Allen, World 52)

Whitman was aware of the social taboos and social evils of his time, witnessing …

Journey To The Frontiers Of Perception: How Women Wrote About The Westward Movement During The Nineteenth Century In Relation To Land, Animals, And The Domestic Sphere, Brandi Dale Spelbring

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Pirsig's Phaedrus: The Journey Of The Shaman, Joseph E. Levora

Masters Theses

Robert Pirsig, in both his novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila, explores the conflict one man has with the beliefs and values of the culture he is living in. This conflict leads him to mental collapse and eventually a kind of rebirth into a new outlook and way of viewing the cultural values and beliefs of the society he is living in. In this thesis, I propose that Phaedrus, the central character of both of Pirsig's novels, can be compared to a shaman. I am not suggesting that Pirsig deliberately intended the reader to view …

Does "Gangsta Rap" Music Cross Good Judgment Lines And Decency Values?, Ajay Kumar Ojha

Masters Theses

There has been much controversy associated with "gangsta rap" music over the 1990's decade. This manuscript takes a closer look at "gangsta rap" music through a descriptive analysis, exploring these topics: social construction of reality, sexism, violence, community actions, and their possible negative influences on societal values. The positive and negative implications involving "gangsta rap" music are compared using lyrics from artists whose music has been in question in the past. Using a semantic differential survey and focus group interviews, "gangsta rap" music is analyzed, examining its exposure to people, possible promotion and communication of negative societal values. The study …

Audre Lorde's Expansive Influence On Black Lesbians: Jewelle Gomez, Cheryl Clarke, And Kate Rushin, Denise L. Fitzer

Masters Theses

Audre Lorde, who named herself black, feminist, lesbian, mother, poet, and activist, was a pioneer for black lesbians everywhere. In her poetry and prose, Lorde challenged the myths and taboos associated with black women, lesbians, and feminists. Although her work focused on a broad range of topics that illuminated her many identities, she concentrated most heavily on issues of multiple oppression and its resulting fear and silence. In naming herself, Lorde urged others to do the same — to fight the self-imposed and socially-imposed silence surrounding triple oppression.

Countless women from the black community of writers have paid tribute to …

African American Poets Of The Vietnam War, Megan Guernsey

Masters Theses

Almost 6000 African American men gave their lives in the Vietnam War. While peaceful protests, voter registration drives, and racial confrontations occurred throughout the United States, the government continued to send young Black men to Southeast Asia to preserve the "freedom" of the Vietnamese people. The irony of this situation lies in the fact that these soldiers were asked to fight a War in the name of democracy, to kill in order to secure rights that they themselves were being denied. Although many Black Americans saw military service as a means of escaping poor ghetto life, they often were confronted …

Gary Snyder's Path, Jason Dockter

Masters Theses

Early in Gary Snyder's life, he lived a rootless existence in pursuance of gaining spiritual satisfaction through a more harmonious relationship with nature. This rootlessness that dominated this period of Snyder's life originated in Snyder's European ancestors lifestyle, which valued exploiting the natural world for a profit. Through exposure to Chinese landscape paintings, Snyder found Buddhism and began to practice it as a means to reconcile his own humanity with the natural world, which his cultural heritage has alienated himself from. Through Buddhism, Snyder realizes the importance of reuniting humanity with the natural world.

Upon gaining this knowledge, Snyder assumes …

"Retracing Our Steps": Storytelling, Time, And Traditional Referentiality In Mama Day And Absalom, Absalom!, Christine Ann Roth

Masters Theses

Gloria Naylor and William Faulkner turn to the history and tradition of oral storytelling in their novels. Mama Day and Absalom, Absalom! especially present the concepts and techniques of the storytelling act. The complexities of the audience-performer dynamic and non-linear time in an oral storytelling event create obstacles for the teller (the writer) and confuse the role of the audience (the readers). Writers create the role of listening audience for the readers, changing the accepted rules of the readers by asking them to become participants. In Mama Day and Absalom, Absalom!, Naylor and Faulkner create connections between audience …

Warren's Audubon: A Vision Revisited, Sylwia W. Zechowska

Masters Theses

This thesis consists of a Polish translation of a volume of Robert Penn Warren's poetry: Audubon: A Vision accompanied by an introductory essay focusing on historical, cultural and psychological aspects of the poems. As a novelist, Robert Penn Warren is well known to the Polish reading public. All his major novels have been translated into Polish and received with great acclaim, which has been confirmed by numerous editions. Warren's popularity among Polish readers may be attributed to the fact that his fiction is permeated with a peculiar sense of melancholy and a profound awareness of tragic national history, features inevitably …

Yoknapatawpha As Camelot: The Influence Of The Arthurian Legends On The Writings Of William Faulkner, Sally Dye

Masters Theses

In my thesis I examine works of William Faulkner which show the influence of the legends of King Arthur. In the introduction to the thesis, I discuss evidence that Faulkner was not only familiar with the characters of the Arthurian legends but was also aware of many of the different versions of these stories.

The main sections of my thesis consist of character studies of various characters from Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha works in light of their similarities to their Arthurian counterparts. The King Arthur section includes the characters of John Sartoris of The Unvanquished and Thomas Sutpen of Absalom, Absalom!, …

The Ruins Of Childhood: Jim Thompson, Erskine Caldwell, And William Faulkner Expose Guilt And Consequence, Robert Thomas Newell

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine the novels of Jim Thompson, Erskine Caldwell, and William Faulkner and, in turn, depict their exploration of poisoned childhood. This theme is prevalent in many of these authors' works, and I not only illustrate what horrors children are put through in their novels, but I also show that uncaring and unthinking adults are the root cause. The ruining of a child's life is a rippling problem; often times, adulthood is ruined because of a person's childhood.

I explore the devastation that irresponsible adults can have on their impressionable children. Through either neglect or selfish values, …