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Full-Text Articles in Comparative Literature

The Return Journey: Migration, Reintegration, And Postcolonial Identity In Contemporary African Literature, Babila Bengala Samuel Jul 2025

The Return Journey: Migration, Reintegration, And Postcolonial Identity In Contemporary African Literature, Babila Bengala Samuel

Theses and Dissertations

Migration is a human practice as old as human society. It is primarily triggered by a human urge for self-preservation or the quest for better standards of living. Various periods of human history have known great flows of voluntary, semi-voluntary, and forced migrations. In contemporary days, people move more than ever before, mostly from countries of the Global South to countries of the Global North, mainly from African countries. These migrants flee from poverty, armed conflicts, unemployment, and repression from despotic leaders. While the question of migration has consistently and extensively been addressed, the focus in the mainstream migration studies …


The Dialogic Self: Persius Satires 4 And Oikeiosis In Stoic Philosophy, William Michael Dodd Jul 2025

The Dialogic Self: Persius Satires 4 And Oikeiosis In Stoic Philosophy, William Michael Dodd

Theses and Dissertations

Though acknowledging that Persius alludes to Horace so frequently that he creates a dialogue with his elder, many commentators fail to see that Persius would challenge his predecessor. Especially evident in Satire 4, Persius' challenge to Horace stems from the younger poet's Stoicism, which philosophy he sees Horace as lampooning throughout the elder poet's Satires. Persius not only defends his Stoicism in Satires 4 but also engages with perceived weaknesses in the Epicureanism he finds in Horace. For instance, instead of the Epicurean version of natural law Persius finds in Horace, which conceives of human ties as contractual, the younger …


Inoffensively Alice: Gender Politics In The Alice Series, Eirian Gail Wells Jan 2025

Inoffensively Alice: Gender Politics In The Alice Series, Eirian Gail Wells

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

No abstract provided.


Contents Jan 2025

Contents

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

No abstract provided.


“Being Natural Is Simply A Pose”: The Concept Of Foucault’S Panopticon In The Picture Of Dorian Gray And Orlando, Mya Corcoran Jan 2025

“Being Natural Is Simply A Pose”: The Concept Of Foucault’S Panopticon In The Picture Of Dorian Gray And Orlando, Mya Corcoran

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

No abstract provided.


Comparing The Representations Of Order And Behavior In James Joyce’S “The Dead” And Samuel Beckett’S Endgame, Araav Thakker Jan 2025

Comparing The Representations Of Order And Behavior In James Joyce’S “The Dead” And Samuel Beckett’S Endgame, Araav Thakker

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

No abstract provided.


The Oswald Review Of Undergraduate Research And Criticism In The Discipline Of English: Volume 27, 2025 Jan 2025

The Oswald Review Of Undergraduate Research And Criticism In The Discipline Of English: Volume 27, 2025

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

No abstract provided.


Submission Guidelines Jan 2025

Submission Guidelines

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

No abstract provided.


The Great Wizarding Duel: Tolkien’S Possible Influence On Rowling, Anna Jarrell Jan 2025

The Great Wizarding Duel: Tolkien’S Possible Influence On Rowling, Anna Jarrell

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

No abstract provided.


“What Memory Wants From Me”: Contemporary Female Writers On The Calling To Remember, Daria Smirnova Jul 2024

“What Memory Wants From Me”: Contemporary Female Writers On The Calling To Remember, Daria Smirnova

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intersections of transnational memory studies and feminist autobiographical writing through the works of Maria Stepanova, Annie Ernaux, and Lea Ypi. It argues that contemporary literature, especially that written by women, provides innovative frameworks for understanding identity, memory, and the sociopolitical context of our time. By examining how these authors intertwine personal and collective histories, the study highlights the shift in memory studies from monumental, nation-centered history to transnational, mobile memory modalities. I have pinpointed three themes to which these authors significantly contribute within the feminist and political discourse on memory: the relationship between gender and memory, …


“Finally Somebody Wants To Hear Us”: Soviet Women And Political Violence In Svetlana Alexievich’S Narratives, Liubov Kartashova Jul 2024

“Finally Somebody Wants To Hear Us”: Soviet Women And Political Violence In Svetlana Alexievich’S Narratives, Liubov Kartashova

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the emotional and social impact of significant Soviet historical events, including World War II, the Soviet-Afghan War, and the Chornobyl disaster, on collective memory. Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian Nobel Prize laureate, employs a polyphonic narrative technique to challenge official histories of these events and foreground the voices of ordinary people, particularly women. Focusing on her works – The Unwomanly Face of War, Zinky Boys, and Chernobyl Prayer – the study delves into the gendered experiences and narratives of women involved in these events. Integrating feminist scholarship on international relations and security, this research analyzes women’s roles in …


Reimagining Utopia In Post-Utopian China: Chinese Science Fiction And The Reinvention Of Cultural Tradition, Dan Luo Jul 2024

Reimagining Utopia In Post-Utopian China: Chinese Science Fiction And The Reinvention Of Cultural Tradition, Dan Luo

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the end of China’s socialist dream in the late 1970s, utopian expressions about the nation’s rise and progress have continued to emerge in official and popular imaginaries. These expressions find an outlet in the newly popularized sci-fi genre, and especially in literary experiments that evoke cultural resources ranging from premodern and early modern historical and literary records of scientific achievements to figures, tropes, and myths in classical tales, vernacular novels, and ethnic traditions. These experiments at times validate and support, and at times challenge and subvert the nationalist, progressive, and utopian narratives of the state. This dissertation investigates the …


Plath Fostered It, Women Are Nurturing It: Cycles Of Existential And Confessional Women's Writing In The Mid-20th Century And Beyond, Sophie Elisabeth Conrad Apr 2024

Plath Fostered It, Women Are Nurturing It: Cycles Of Existential And Confessional Women's Writing In The Mid-20th Century And Beyond, Sophie Elisabeth Conrad

Senior Theses

During the mid-20th century, a wide-ranging yet topically focused genre of women’s writing began to emerge in earnest, currently categorized as existential and confessional. Works like Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) and Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) offer explanations of why an ineffable feeling of malaise permeated the lives of 20th-century women and led them to adopt these methods of writing and thinking. However, existential feelings akin to that of the 20th-century female malaise have returned to stake their claim on the minds of 21st-century women, evidenced in popular contemporary works such as Otessa Moshfegh’s My Year …


Front Matter, Douglas Higbee Jan 2024

Front Matter, Douglas Higbee

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

No abstract provided.


Contents, Douglas Higbee Jan 2024

Contents, Douglas Higbee

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

No abstract provided.


Editor's Preface, Douglas Higbee Jan 2024

Editor's Preface, Douglas Higbee

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

No abstract provided.


Self-Consciousness And Alienation In Pirandello's One, No One, And One Hundred Thousand, Francesco Satta Jan 2024

Self-Consciousness And Alienation In Pirandello's One, No One, And One Hundred Thousand, Francesco Satta

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

No abstract provided.


Swashbuckling Politicians, Silas Fier Jan 2024

Swashbuckling Politicians, Silas Fier

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

No abstract provided.


Wilfred Owen And Shell Shock: The Initial Sympathetic Understanding Of Ptsd, Rachel Eubanks Jan 2024

Wilfred Owen And Shell Shock: The Initial Sympathetic Understanding Of Ptsd, Rachel Eubanks

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

No abstract provided.


Submission Guidelines, Douglas Higbee Jan 2024

Submission Guidelines, Douglas Higbee

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

No abstract provided.


The Oswald Review Of Undergraduate Research And Criticism In The Discipline Of English: Volume 26, 2024, Douglas Higbee Jan 2024

The Oswald Review Of Undergraduate Research And Criticism In The Discipline Of English: Volume 26, 2024, Douglas Higbee

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

No abstract provided.


Colonial Body-Logic In George Orwell's Burnese Days: A Contrapuntal Critique, Riley Mays Jan 2024

Colonial Body-Logic In George Orwell's Burnese Days: A Contrapuntal Critique, Riley Mays

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

No abstract provided.


Truth And Knowledge In A Literary Text And Beyond: Lydia Chukovskaya’S Sofia Petrovna At The Intersections Between Selves, Culture, And Paratext, Angelina Rubina Oct 2023

Truth And Knowledge In A Literary Text And Beyond: Lydia Chukovskaya’S Sofia Petrovna At The Intersections Between Selves, Culture, And Paratext, Angelina Rubina

Theses and Dissertations

Although Lydia Chukovskaya’s novella Sofia Petrovna (1965) is not considered to be an autobiographical work, the life story of its protagonist, Sofia Petrovna, and the life of Lydia Chukovskaya herself have certain parallels. Chukovskaya’s very own fate, which she described in the foreword to the novella and in her other biographical works, is often viewed inseparably from the novella. However, among the many connections between the fictional fate of Sofia Petrovna and the real fate of Lydia Chukovskaya, one aspect that has not been properly explored by the critics is the “dialogue” between the author and the protagonist with respect …


Eugene O’Neill Returns: Theatrical Modernization And O’Neill Adaptations In 1980s China, Shuying Chen Oct 2023

Eugene O’Neill Returns: Theatrical Modernization And O’Neill Adaptations In 1980s China, Shuying Chen

Theses and Dissertations

After nearly vanishing from the Chinese literary world map for thirty years from 1949 to 1979, Eugene O’Neill’s works underwent a reevaluation and resurgence in the reform era of the 1980s. This decade witnessed a wide range of introductions to, research on, translations, and productions of O’Neill’s play in the Chinese theatrical and cultural landscape. Chinese theater practitioners staged some thirty adaptations of O’Neill’s works in both domains of spoken drama and traditional opera, including productions by colleges, state-owned troupes, and independent theater groups. This dissertation contextualizes some of O’Neill adaptations in the socio-cultural context of the transitional period and …


From Roland To Gawain, Or The Origin Of Personified Knights, Clyde Tilson Jul 2023

From Roland To Gawain, Or The Origin Of Personified Knights, Clyde Tilson

Theses and Dissertations

Though there is a lot of work on the development of the novel, there has not been sufficient analysis of how it was formed, especially the shift towards the modern protagonist. By analyzing two medieval works, one from the early medieval period and one from the middle of the medieval period, the seeds of this shift can be seen. The works chosen were La chanson de Roland and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as both have knights with fairly similar expectations, and both have been enduring characters in their respective national identities and literatures. Both Roland and Gawain, being …


Archetypes Revisited: Investigating The Power Of Universals In Soviet And Hollywood Cinema, Iana Guselnikova Jul 2023

Archetypes Revisited: Investigating The Power Of Universals In Soviet And Hollywood Cinema, Iana Guselnikova

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the concept of archetypes in Soviet and Hollywood films, drawing perspectives from ancient philosophy and the thought of Carl Jung and post-Jungians. While psychoanalysis provides a valuable framework for understanding the human psyche and the idea of archetypes, it has its limitations and gaps that require further exploration. To address these issues, this paper proposes the adoption of a structuralist approach, with reference to the work of Vladimir Propp on the morphology of the fairy tale. Incorporating Propp's ideas can complement psychoanalytic theory and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying patterns and structures that shape …


Breaking Down The Human: Disintegration In Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Benjamin Mark Driscol Jul 2023

Breaking Down The Human: Disintegration In Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Benjamin Mark Driscol

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation brings together nineteenth-century texts written by Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Gustave Flaubert, Benito Pérez Galdós, Rachilde, and Oscar Wilde in order to trace a common thread weaving in and out of literature produced during this period: the theme of corporeal disintegration and its psychic and social ramifications. Each of the analyzed works considers the human condition from diverse perspectives and portrays the breakdown in interpersonal relationships as characters become estranged from society and each other. Of course, the examples considered here are canonical ones widely discussed in criticism—some of them as forebears of literary Modernism, for which …


Constructing Selfhood Through Fantasy: Mirror Women And Dreamscape Conversations In Olga Grushin’S Forty Rooms, Grace Marie Alger Apr 2023

Constructing Selfhood Through Fantasy: Mirror Women And Dreamscape Conversations In Olga Grushin’S Forty Rooms, Grace Marie Alger

Theses and Dissertations

By its very nature, fantasy seeks to estrange its protagonist and readers from reality, leading to the exploration of topics that would generally be left isolated or unchallenged. Fantasy allows a character to step outside of reality in order to examine the conditions of their existence, to question their own position in society, and to reflect upon the ideologies that determine their social positioning. Analyzing Olga Grushin’s Forty Rooms (2016), this thesis examines the ways in which the female narrator turns to fantasy, more specifically, dreamed conversations and visions of multiplied selves, in an attempt to overcome the powerlessness of …


Violence, Rebellion, And Compromise In Chinese Campus Cinema ----- The Comparison Of Cry Me A Sad River And Better Days, Chunyu Liu Apr 2023

Violence, Rebellion, And Compromise In Chinese Campus Cinema ----- The Comparison Of Cry Me A Sad River And Better Days, Chunyu Liu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the social critiques in Chinese campus films by viewing their development and cultural context. Social Criticism, a prominent trend in Chinese cinema, addresses a wide range of widely concerned social issues, including education, romance, marriage, politics, environmental concerns, psychological repressions, etc. It appears that a Chinese mainland woman filmmaker and a Hong Kong professional director echo each other on the same theme. They are inspired by similar genuine events and share many similarities in the way they orchestrate the relationships and backgrounds of the characters. However, the two films retain their different characteristics. This thesis will discuss …


Planting Rhizomes: Roots And Rhizomes In Maryse Condé’S Traversée De La Mangrove And Calixthe Beyala’S Le Petit Prince De Belleville, Rume Kpadamrophe Apr 2023

Planting Rhizomes: Roots And Rhizomes In Maryse Condé’S Traversée De La Mangrove And Calixthe Beyala’S Le Petit Prince De Belleville, Rume Kpadamrophe

Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, migration has played a crucial role in the development of human civilization, with the transplantation of cultures from one region to another shaping identities worldwide. The African diaspora, beginning with the Atlantic Slave Trade, saw the forced transportation of around 12 million Africans across the ocean, resulting in the creation of creole identities in the Antilles. Literature has long reflected the experiences of migrants. In Maryse Condé's Traversée de la Mangrove and Calixthe Beyala's Le Petit Prince de Belleville, the complexity of Antillean and Afro-French identities is explored. This thesis delves into how Condé's work highlights the …