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Full-Text Articles in Comparative Literature
Marilynne Robinson’S Housekeeping Read Through The Conceptual Prism Of “Tethers”, Sarah Street
Marilynne Robinson’S Housekeeping Read Through The Conceptual Prism Of “Tethers”, Sarah Street
The Criterion
Marilynne Robinson’s novel, Housekeeping, follows her central protagonist, Ruth, her sister Lucille, and her aunt Sylvie as they work to establish their place up against a greater surround. This paper attempts to read the novel through the conceptual prism of the word “tethers.” I argue that the characters' relationships with the surround shifts as they work through their trauma and grapple with the notion of impermanence by reconciling with both those things that tether them, those tethers that do not exist or have been released, and the tethers from which they want to break free. Ultimately I argue that …
Light And Darkness In The Epiphanies Of Henry James’ Heroines, Rose Grosskopf
Light And Darkness In The Epiphanies Of Henry James’ Heroines, Rose Grosskopf
The Criterion
The famed author Henry James, who lived from 1843 to 1916, occupies a middle-ground between the romantic authors of the nineteenth century and the modernists of the twentieth. Two of his novels, The Portrait of a Lady and Washington Square, demonstrate his evolving sensibilities, as he bridges the traditional and the modern by marrying romantic stories with unconventional conclusions. His technique is present in his use of light symbolism, which, due to an etymological connection from the era of Enlightenment, has accompanied moments of learning and understanding. Through his symbolic and literary gestures, James explores a nuanced definition of “brightness,” …