American Literature Commons^™

Shadows On The Wall, Daniel Bruce Greenhalgh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Thom Roth has spent his entire life in the Refuge, a secure and fundamentally hierarchical facility which protects the remnants of human civilization. Under the tutelage of Minister Trask, Thom has risen to become a primary contender for an administrative appointment, as well as secured the affections of Dee McKay, Trask's granddaughter. However, when Thom's best friends, Geoff and Scott, discover a small, secret tunnel underneath the Refuge, the three friends' learn that the foundation of their home was decidedly messier than they had been taught. On the other side of the tunnel they find another, smaller Refuge, with fewer …

Gay Faulkner: Uncovering A Homosexual Presence In Yoknapatawpha And Beyond, Phillip Andrew Gordon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a biographical study of William Faulkner (1897-1962) as his life coincided with a particular moment in LGBT history when the words homosexual and queer were undergoing profound changes and when our contemporary understanding of gay identity was becoming a widespread and recognizable epistemology. The connections forged in this study--based on archival research from Joseph Blotner's extensive biographical notes--reveal a version of Faulkner distinctly not anxious about homosexuality and, in fact, often quite comfortable with gay men and living in gay environments (New Orleans, New York). From these connections, I reassess Faulkner's pre-marriage writings (1918-1929) for their prolific …

Talking Back To History: Leanne Howe, Linda Hogan, And Louis Owens's Rewriting Of The Southeastern Native Past Through Fiction, Kimberlee Kaitlyn Hodges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For years, non-Native anthropologists and historians have endeavored to unravel the inner-workings of Native American culture through close examinations of archeological evidence, Euro-American historical record, and oral histories. Consequently, in an attempt to reclaim and re-appropriate these pasts are the stories written by Native American authors and novelists such as LeAnne Howe (Choctaw), Louis Owens (Choctaw), and Linda Hogan (Chickasaw). Through their writings, one is able to more fully understand the history of Southeastern Native American tribes as they are given insight into what was and is most valued by Native American people to this day such as kinship, spirituality, …

The Unthinkable Botanical Gardens: Poems, Travis Oliver Green Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Unthinkable Botanical Gardens is a book of poems in five sections. The first, third, and fifth sections present a speaker navigating a wondrous and often hostile world. The second and fourth sections are long poems: "Zodiac B," a sequence inspired by obsolete or forgotten constellations, and "Elbow Island," which tells the story of the beluga whales exhibited in Barnum's American Museum.

Mouth, Dorothy Lynn Knight

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Poems written between August 2010 and April 2013.

A Note On Zane Grey's Lewis Wetzel, Kenneth Estes Hall

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: Zane Grey presented to readers of his early Frontier Trilogy1 a version of the frontiersman type in Lewis Wetzel, the famed Deathwind, scourge of Delawares and Shawnees in the Ohio Country.

Synesthetes, Or: Lazaro And The Apocalyptic Millennials, Fabian Molina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Lazaro and Co. around El Paso town.

Not Peace But The Sword: Violence In Contemporary American Catholic Literature, Michael O'Connell

Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that violence is a consistent theme in contemporary (post-1945) fiction written by American Catholics, and that these authors employ violence as an aesthetic strategy that is best, and perhaps only, understood when approached through the philosophical and imaginative discourses of their Catholic faith. While the violence in contemporary fictions can be viewed as a product of the power dynamics at work in the modern age, I contend that these power dynamics are not a central concern for Catholic authors. Rather, in Catholic fiction, violence functions as a catalyst that leads characters toward a moment of …

Seen, Not Heard: William Faulkner’S Narrative Style In The Creation Of African American Characters, Dixon Speaker

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Tom Mack, Ph.D.

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Back Matter, Tom Mack, Ph.D.

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Contents, Tom Mack, Ph.D.

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

The Oswald Review Undergraduate Research And Criticism In The Discipline Of English: Volume 15 Fall 2013

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

The Traumatized/Traumatizing Subject In Anna Deavere Smith, Suzan-Lori Parks, And August Wilson, Christopher J. Giroux

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Traumatized/Traumatizing Subject in Anna Deavere Smith, Suzan-Lori Parks, and August Wilson explores how drama, as a genre, is particularly suited for capturing aspects of trauma in ways that other genres cannot; this argument reinforces that trauma must be studied within the humanities, specifically within literature programs. Recognizing that trauma in and of itself is tied to issues of narrativization, textuality, and performativity, this project notes that Smith's, Parks's, and Wilson's work collectively attempt to traumatize contemporary viewing audiences and make them aware—cognitively and emotionally—of the hardships of discrimination and racism, which themselves can be seen as examples of generational …

The Song We Sing: Negotiating Black Nationalism And Queerness In James Baldwin's Late Novels, Elliot N. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite his exclusion from the Black Arts Movement, James Baldwin includes in his later novels many elements of Black Nationalism, including a focus on black communities, black music, Pan-Africanism, and elements of separatism. In his inclusion of queer sexuality, Baldwin pushes against the typical bounds of Black Arts writings, expanding the limits of the genre. Contrary to the philosophy of Black Nationalism, which depends upon solid definitions of blackness, heterosexuality, and masculinity, is Baldwin's tearing down of identity categories through queering sexuality, gender, and race. This thesis examines James Baldwin's late novels, which remain undervalued and under-read, in terms of …

Imprisonment, Punishment, And Progress In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Ashley Breanne Waggoner

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Narcissistic Intertextuality In The Works Of Bret Easton Ellis, Jennifer Grindstaff

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the works of Bret Easton Ellis, specifically his three latest novels: Glamorama, Lunar Park, and Imperial Bedrooms, and identifies the metafictional and intertextual elements in these texts. For my purposes, I am defining metafiction as fiction that draws attention to itself and makes the reader aware that he or she is reading fiction. Intertextual will be defined as elements in the novels that appear in other works of fiction. In the case of Ellis, he is drawing upon and reusing elements from his own fiction. These elements include characters that reappear in novels other than the text …

The Fall Of The Yellow Wallpaper, Rachel Payne

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Many have acknowledged the Gothic influence of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Critics often examine the opposition of genres in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” arguing it as either a feminist movement or Gothic tale. However, the Female Gothic genre centers the female role inside a Gothic tale. This genre typifies a criticism of oppressive patriarchies and support for female independence. Both “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrate women who overcome repressed voices by finding their expressions through writing.

A Single Day: Isolation And Connection In Virginia Woolf’S Mrs. Dalloway And Christopher Isherwood’S A Single Man, Hannah Williams

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Happy Valley, Robert D. Gray

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Iktomi: A Character Traits Analysis Of A Dakota Culture Myth, Marianne Sue Kastner

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study comparing three separate English-language versions of a single Dakota cultural myth "Iktomi" presents a novel systematic approach for analyzing Native American folk tales to understand how stories function as tools of transmission of cultural information and knowledge. The method involved coding character traits according to type with regard to representation, ability, or attribute to ascertain patterns among the codes and elucidate character roles and relationships, reorganizing the coded traits into paired polarized correspondences to clarify relationships among traits, and assessing pronoun use and documenter effect pointing to gender-specific character activity. Findings revealed an encoded framework illuminating how …

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943 (Sc 2646), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2646. Letter of Cale Young Rice, 29 December 1919, disputing a poor review of his poetry by literary critic William Braithwaite and complaining of similar criticism by others. The letter may have been directed to the Boston Evening Transcript, where Braithwaite was literary editor. Includes a note of 22 December 1919 asking that the letter be printed.

Table Of Contents

The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard & Pulp Studies

Prefatory Remarks, by Mark E. Hall

The Writer’s Style: Sound and Syntax in Howard’s Sentences, by David C. Smith

I ’n’ I A-Liberate Zimbabwe: Motifs of Africa and Freedom in Howard’s "The Grisly Horror," by Patrick R. Burger

Robert E. Howard and the Lone Scouts, by Rob Roehm

"Sword Woman," review by Charles Hoffman

"Solomon Kane and the Castle of the Devil," review by Charles Gramlich

"John Carter of Weird Worlds," review by Charles Gramlich

"Reflections on Le Fanu," review by Charles Gramlich

Buckner, Simon Bolivar, 1823-1914 (Sc 61), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 61. Manuscript poem entitled “The Censer Bowl” written by Simon Bolivar Buckner.

Operating The Silencer: Muted Group Theory In The Great Gatsby, Sarah Funderbruke

Masters Theses

This master's thesis examines gender and social roles seen in dialogue in the American classic novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The researcher conducted a coding and rhetorical analysis to determine if elements of muted group theory were in the novel. Muted group theory was developed by Edwin and Shirley Ardener after their research indicated that a culture's values and social structure were voiced through rhetoric. The theory states that dominance in certain groups mutes, or silences, others from communicating effectively. Five passages from The Great Gatsby were selected for this analysis. These passages highlighted dialogue between the …

Paschal, Mabel Fayette (Thompson), 1905-1936 (Sc 2640), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2640. Typescript copy of paper titled “Dr. John Milton Harney,” by Mrs. C. R. Paschal, written for a class at Western Kentucky State Teachers’ College. The paper gives details about Harney’s poetry, and includes a few excerpts.

Crabb, Alfred Leland, 1884-1979 (Sc 762), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 762. Letter, 20 May 1958, written by Alfred Leland Crabb, Nashville, Tennessee, to Eugenia Gerard Paxton, Bowling Green, Kentucky, responding to Mrs. Paxton’s laudatory letter commenting on his book, Peace in Bowling Green. Also poems composed by Crabb for Christmas greetings.

Murrey, Loretta (Martin) (Mss 429), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 429. Interviews conducted by Loretta (Martin) Murrey, professor of English at Western Kentucky University, with poet Joy Bale Boone. Includes transcriptions, summaries, and cassette tapes (32). The interviews emphasize biographical information and descriptions of Boone's influence as a poet and literary activist.

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943 (Sc 515), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 515. Letter, 17 January 1926, from Cale Young Rice, Louisville, Kentucky, to Mrs. Grayot? giving permission to reprint some of his poetry in the magazine "The Club Woman." Also includes some of his comments concerning poetry.

Thoreau’S Walden: Experiential Learning And A Transcendental Walk, Adam Kotlarczyk

Early American Literature (before 1900)

Many English classes struggle with Thoreau’s dense and often ponderous prose in Walden. Classes often become mired in his text and its romantic ideals of seclusion and self-reliance. This activity rips the words of Walden off the page and puts them where they belong: outside. It compels students to move beyond basic interpretations of Walden as “connecting with nature” and “keeping life simple,” and instead to see and interpret their modern, living world through the lens of Transcendentalism, as Thoreau did.

This lesson encourages students to see and interpret their worlds as Thoreau did through a modeling-based writing experience.