English Language and Literature Commons^™

Hearing Adam: Gender Relationships In The Short Fiction Of Caroline Gordon., Linda Elaine Hipple

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Writer and critic Caroline Gordon has been a participant on the Southern literary scene since the early 1930s, yet her works have been neither studied nor appreciated as frequently as the works of her male contemporaries. Her novels and short fiction never received the critical acclaim that they merited due to the perpetuation of the erroneous idea that women have little to say. While at the time other female writers were exploring their emancipation, Gordon retreated to the consistent confines of male-dominated tradition and created fiction embodying her conservative philosophy. This thesis will examine five pieces of her short fiction, …

Planting The Seeds Of A Non-Racial Society: White Women As Agents Of Change In July’S People, Disgrace, And A Blade Of Grass, Mike Madden

Mike Madden

This thesis examines three South African novels written about the interregnum,the period marking the transition from apartheid to post-apartheid eras. Specifically, Gordimer’s July’s People, Coetzee’s Disgrace, and DeSoto’s A Blade of Grass are studied in order to explore the function of white women as leaders of change in fiction of the interregnum. After a brief introduction, the second chapter looks at Maureen Smales as she demonstrates the ability to adapt to her post-revolutionary society. The third chapter compares white male and female perspectives, as seen in the stubborn character of David Lurie, and in the accepting character of his daughter, …

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: Rhetoric And Gender In Marriage, Andrea Marcotte

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the Middle Ages, marriage represented a shift in the balance of power for both men and women. Struggling to define what constitutes the ideal marriage in medieval society, the marriage group of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales attempts to reconcile the ongoing battle for sovereignty between husband and wife. Existing hierarchies restricted women; therefore, marriage fittingly presented more obstacles for women. Chaucer creates the dynamic personalities of the Wife of Bath, the Clerk and the Merchant to debate marriage intelligently while citing their experiences within marriage in their prologues. The rhetorical device of ethos plays a significant role for …

Unsafe: Sex And Death In Contemporary Gay Culture, Wiiliam Dustin Parrott

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the role of sex and death in contemporary gay male culture, particularly focusing on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and “safe sex” practices, specifically bug-chasing. By analyzing relevant literature and public discourse the topic of bug-chasing, or intentional pursuit of HIV sero-conversion, is placed in appropriate context. The work of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Leo Bersani is employed in order to frame bug-chasing as a means of radical sexual self-determination which attempts to transcend the bonds of the administered bourgeois self, and ultimately results in an act of will akin to Martin Heidegger’s being-towards-death.

Where I Am, There (Sh)It Will Be, Melanie Mcdougald

Melanie E McDougald

No abstract provided.

Selected Bibliography Of Work On Canadian Ethnic Minority Writing, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek, Asma Sayed, Domenic A. Beneventi

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Trophies Or Treasures: The Burden Of Choice For Mothers, Wives, And Daughters In Washington Square, The Portrait Of A Lady, And The Bostonians., Melissa C. Huisman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the world of Henry James's novels, characters are often placed in difficult situations where their happiness depends on their ability to make a free choice. Female characters are manipulated and diminished by a patriarchal system that not only seeks to subordinate their will, but also to objectify them, to place them on the shelf as a trophy. Fathers and husbands are typically the controlling agents, but James also presents women who appropriate the dominating role.

With varying degrees of success, each female character rejects the status of trophy. Instead, each attempts to make choices and determine her own future. …

'Many Feign As They Are Dead": The Counterfeit Death In Romeo And Juliet And Much Ado About Nothing, Julie Bowman

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Examines the function of the trope of the couterfeit death for two Shakespearean heroines, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Hero in Much Ado about Nothing. Using the plays, antecedents, analogues, and cultural materials, argues that the feigned death functions as a strategy for coping with the limitations and strictures of the heroines' cultural environment; it helps them achieve their particular goals, in both cases a desired marriage. Thus, the heroines become active players in the plots, exercising a measure of agency by counterfeiting death, rather than passive victims of the patriarchal culture.

Secrets And Hiding Places: The Worth Of Women In Nicholas Nickleby, Elizabeth Redmond

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In early Victorian England, married women were denied the legal right to own property, and social convention remanded them to ostracism if they chose to remain single. Likewise, jobs that were available to women failed to pay a living wage, so women were placed under tremendous economic and social pressure to marry. In Charles Dickens' novel, Nicholas Nickleby, he depicts how marriage becomes manipulated within the working and middle classes as a means to acquire wealth. Dickens also compares the repression of women to the abuse suffered by school children in the Yorkshire schools, which had a reputation for neglecting …

The Byronic Heroine, Jessica M. Laffoon

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis examines the well-used character persona in Western literature, the Byronic hero which can be prominently seen in both George Gordon and Lord Byron’s poetry, as well as the juxtaposition to this hero, the Byronic heroine. Both hero and heroine are characterized by being sensitive, passionate, strong, and having self-destructing tendencies. These romantic heroes can be seen throughout many works of literature.

Female Agency And Oppression In Caribbean Bacchanalian Culture: Soca, Carnival, And Dancehall, Kevin Frank

Publications and Research

In this essay Kevin Frank discerningly analyzes agency and gender in public sexual performances emanating out of what Paul Gilroy identifies as part of the compensatory politics of the subordinated within Black Atlantic culture, Jamaican dancehall (dancehall reggae/ dancehall queens).

Wives Of Steel: Voices Of Women From The Sparrows Point Steelmaking Communities (Book Review), Linda Niemann

Linda G. Niemann

Review of the book "Wives of Steel: Voices of Women from the Sparrows Point Steelmaking Communities", by Karen Olson. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005.

Balancing Rosie And June: A Study Of Lynchburg College Postwar Alumnae And The Impact Of The Feminine Mystique, Dinah Watson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In 2003, the movie Mona Lisa Smile debuted describing the frustrations that many college women may have faced in the years after World War II. Wellesley College was the elite all-female institution that openly and proudly prepared its young women with the proper rules of etiquette and correctness. Despite Wellesley’s own excellent academic reputation, its close proximity to the prestigious single-sex male college, Harvard, made it even more appealing and convenient for the Wellesley girls to find a “suitable” husband. The novice young art instructor, Katherine Watson, was unique in that she wanted to offer her students not only a …

Placards: Mkr Society, Edna Saffy And Grady Johnson

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Name cards for Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society event designating the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm a National Historic Landmark, March 3, 2007.

Genetic Memory And Hermaphroditism: Trans-Realism In Eugenides's Middlesex, Edith Borchardt

Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Interview Of Barbara Millard, Ph.D., Barbara Millard Ph.D., Aviad Adlersberg

All Oral Histories

An oral history of Dr. Barbara Millard, professor of English and former Dean of Arts and Sciences, La Salle University. The purpose of this interview is to gather information regarding her impact on La Salle University and her experience during her tenure at the University. This interview part of an oral history project for Dr. Barbara Allen’s’ History 650 Oral History course. Specifically, this interview deals with Dr. Millard’s views on sexism she experienced or witnessed, beginning in the 1970’s until today in 2007. The interview also seeks to explore her views on education, balance between work and life, and …

Et Cetera, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.

Gender Portrayal In J.K. Rowling's “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix”: A Feminist Rhetorical Criticism, Nicole Ackman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined J.K. Rowling’s (2003) novel entitled, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Although this novel has not yet been classified as a fairy tale, it does contain fairy tale elements. This study reviewed literature in the field of folklore, fairy tales, and feminism. Foss’ (2004) four-step feminist criticism model was employed to analyze gender portrayals in the novel. According to Foss’ model, the novel was analyzed for masculine or feminine perspectives of the world, effects on the audience, improvement of women’s lives, and impact on rhetorical theory. Although Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix …

Multiplicity And Gendering The Holy Grail In The Da Vinci Code And The Mists Of Avalon, Victoria Anne Villasenor-Oldham

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis explores how both texts - The Da Vinci Code and The Mists of Avalon - write femininity onto the Holy Grail in seemingly problematic ways, and the way in which women's voices, through the feminization of the Grail, are often silenced.

Language, Gender And Identity In The Works Of Louise Bennett And Michelle Cliff, Nicole Branca

Honors Projects

Examines the writings of two female, Jamaican authors, Louise Bennett and Michelle Cliff. Bennett flourished during the period of de-colonization and independence for Jamaica, while Cliff came into prominence after Jamaican independence. Shows how both writers played an important role in helping Jamaica establish a national identity by focusing on multiple dimensions of what it means to be Jamaican, including issues of language, gender, and identity.

Rethinking The New Woman In Stoker's Fiction: Looking At Lady Athlyne, Carol A. Senf

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

The Status Of Vlad Tepes In Communist Romania: A Reassessment, Duncan Light

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Hamilton Deane And John L. Balderston: The Men Who "Re-Vamped" Count Dracula, Michael Mcglasson

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Quiero Chupar Tu Sangre: A Comparison Of The Spanish-And English-Language Versions Of Universal Studios' Dracula (1931), Robert Harland

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

"Why Am I So Changed?": Vampiric Selves And Gothic Doubleness In Wuthering Heights, Lakshmi Krishnan

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Sex, Drugs, And Mingling Spirits: Teaching Nineteenth-Century Women Poets, Cheryl Walker

Scripps Faculty Publications and Research

Book abstract:

Twentieth-century modernism reduced the list of nineteenth-century American poets to Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and (less often) Edgar Allan Poe. The rest were virtually forgotten. This volume in the MLA series Options for Teaching marks a milestone in the resurgence of the study of the rest. It features poets, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Lydia Huntley Sigourney, who were famous in their day, as well as poets who were marginalized on the basis of their race (Paul Laurence Dunbar, Alexander Posey) or their sociopolitical agenda (Emma Lazarus, John Greenleaf Whittier). It also takes a fresh look at poets …

Woolfian Resonances, Anne Fernald

Anne E Fernald

No abstract provided.

Byron And The Choreography Of Queer Desire, Steven Bruhm

Steven Bruhm

No abstract provided.

Exchanging Life Narratives: The Politics And Poetics Of Perzines, Doreen M. Piano

Doreen M Piano

No abstract provided.

Modernism And Tradition, Anne E. Fernald

Anne E Fernald

No abstract provided.