English Language and Literature Commons^™

The Return Of Logos: Language And Meaning In Hamlet, James Funk

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

No abstract provided.

John Milton And The Spirit Of Capitalism, Eliot Davila

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

No abstract provided.

Revisions To Realist Representation In Far From The Madding Crowd And Heart Of Darkness., Paul Robertson Stephens

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 12 Fall 2010

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.

A Screen Of One's Own The Tpec And Feminist Technological Textuality In The 21st Century, Amy J. Barnickel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I analyze the 20th century text, A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf (2005), and I engage with Woolf's concept of a woman's need for a room of her own in which she can be free to think for herself, study, write, or pursue other interests away from the oppression of patriarchal societal expectations and demands. Through library-based research, I identify four screens in Woolf's work through which she viewed and critiqued culture, and I use these screens to reconceptualize "a room of one's own" in 21st Century terms. I determine that the new "room" is …

Sisterhood Articulates A New Definition Of Moral Female Identity: Jane Austen's Adaptation Of The Eighteenth-Century Tradition, Katherine Curtis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Writing at a moment of ideological crisis between individualism and hierarchical society, Jane Austen asserts a definition of moral behavior and female identity that mediates the two value systems. I argue that Austen most effectively articulates her belief in women's moral autonomy and social responsibility in her novels through her portrayal of sisterhood. Austen reshapes the stereotype of sisters and female friendships as dangerous found in her domestic novel predecessors. While recognizing women's social vulnerability, which endangers female friendship and turns it into a site of competition, Austen urges the morality of selflessly embracing sisterhood anyway. An Austen heroine must …

That Glorious Fire It Kindled: Extremes Of (Un)Righteous Sexuality In Books I And Iii Of Spenser's Faerie Queene, S. Erin Mclean

Honors Theses

Edmund Spenser's epic romance, The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596), claims to glorify Queen Elizabeth I, but the author hides an underlying critique of the queen throughout the poem. At the same time that Spenser openly praises the English monarch, he also reveals the faults and contradictions present in her image through how he presents the main characters in the story. In Faerie Queene, Spenser establishes a sexuality spectrum that features the lechery of Redcrosse Knight and the hypersensitive purity of Britomart; this demonstrates the various extremes of immoral sexuality. Studying both these characters reveals that the success of each knight's …

Uncommon Sense In Renaissance English Literature, Eric Byville

Dissertations

My project explores the distinctive union of Senecan tragedy and Elizabethan satire in Renaissance English drama, particularly the works of John Marston and William Shakespeare. Unlike Ben Jonson, who incorporated both Senecan tragedy and Elizabethan satire in his drama but did so in different plays (Catiline, Every Man Out), Marston and Shakespeare combined the two traditions in one and the same play, such as the former's Antonio's Revenge (1600) and The Malcontent (c. 1603) and the latter's Troilus and Cressida (1601) and Timon of Athens (c. 1606). They recognized and exploited a deep compatibility between the two traditions, a compatibility …

Your Change Is Still Behind: Futurity In Early Modern Literature, Tripthi Pillai

Dissertations

A study of Renaissance literature's engagement with temporality, my project is a critical evaluation of the concept of early modern futurity, of which I propose three categories: "Material futurity"; "Biological futurity"; and "Political futurity." In the moments that I identify in texts composed during the Tudor and early Stuart reigns in England, I demonstrate that the future--as an idea--structures individuals' actions and ruptures social formations. Futurity, which I define as a play of multiple desires that exist simultaneously within our present beings, is a volatile agent of imagination in early modern literature. Futurity collides with the cultural sites of memory …

Uncertain Identity: Medical Practitioners In Doctor Thorne And Middlemarch, Denis Illige-Saucier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The medical practitioners who play leading roles in the novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope are examples of a new breed of professional medical men that emerged during the middle of the nineteenth century in England. The new class of general practitioners held licenses from the old hierarchical system of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, but they were the driving force in favor of reform and professionalization in medicine. The 1858 Medical Act was an important step on the path toward a new conception of the medical practitioner, and the development of that new medical identity …

The Friar, Joly Wu '11

2009 Fall Semester

Though Hubert the Friar is supposed to be a shepherd for the devout, he (as revealed through the Geoffrey Chaucer’s sly, ironic writing) prances around in expensive clothing, lusts after anyone he wishes, and generally violates the teachings of the Church he vowed to represent. Thus, through its abundant detail and description of the Friar, the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer paints a portrait of a unique character that contradicts his commitment to the 14^th century Catholic Church.

Replacing The Priest: Tradition, Politics, And Religion In Early Modern Irish Drama., Leslie Ann Valley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Ireland's identity was continually pulled between its loyalties to Catholicism and British imperialism. In response to this conflict of identity, W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory argued the need for an Irish theatre that was demonstrative of the Irish people, returning to the literary traditions to the Celtic heritage. What resulted was a questioning of religion and politics in Ireland, specifically the Catholic Church and its priests. Yeat's own drama removed the priests from the stage and replaced them with characters demonstrative of those literary traditions, establishing what he called a "new …

Realism And The Irish Victorian Novel, Lorcan Sirr

Other Resources

SAMENVATTING Deze thesis onderzoekt de aard van Realisme in negentiende-eeuwse Ierse fictie. De nadruk ligt hierbij op het testen van de algemeen aanvaarde vooronderstelling dat Realisme opvallend afwezig was in de Ierse werken van die periode. De negentiende eeuw kende een grote toename in geletterdheid doorheen alle klassen en vormde op die manier een ideaal beginpunt voor het ontstaan van een nieuwe markt, zowel voor auteurs als uitgevers. Vooral in het Engeland van die periode werd dit duidelijk. Er speelde zich ook verschuivingen in stijl en literaire smaken af waarbij Realisme zichzelf als het meest populaire vooropstelde. De Ierse schrijvers …

Visions/Versions Of The Medieval In C.S. Lewis’S The Chronicles Of Narnia, Heather Herrick Jennings

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

“Everything in the whole story should arise from the whole cast of the author’s mind. We must write for children out of those elements in our own imagination which we share with children: differing from our child readers not by any less, or less serious, interest in the things we handle, but by the fact that we have other interests which children would not share with us. The matter of our story should be a part of the habitual furniture of our minds.” —C.S. Lewis, “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”

The year 2010 will mark the sixtieth anniversary …

The Passions And Self-Esteem In Mary Astell's Early Feminist Prose, Kathleen A. Ahearn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the influence of Cambridge Platonism and materialist philosophy on Mary Astell's early feminism. More specifically, I argue that Astell co-opts Descartes's theory of regulating the passions in his final publication, The Passions of the Soul, to articulate a comprehensive, Enlightenment and body friendly theory of feminine self-esteem that renders her feminism modern. My analysis of Astell's theory of feminine self-esteem follows both textual and contextual cues, thus allowing for a reorientation of her early feminism vis-a-vis contemporary feminist theory. An entire chapter in the dissertation is devoted to Astell's use of Descartes's theory of regulating the …

Review Of A Brave Vessel: The True Tale Of The Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown And Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Women In Eighteenth Century London: Female Coming Of Age In Frances Burney’S Evelina, Cecilia, And The Witlings, Kate Hamilton

Honors Scholar Theses

The late eighteenth-century author Frances Burney is best known for popularizing the “comedy of manners,” a literary style later adopted by Jane Austen. Burney’s novels, journals, and plays offer an intriguing commentary on contemporary social customs and etiquette. In particular, she voices the concerns and desires of women, leading scholars to focus on the feminist overtones of her writing. Although she carefully examined female roles in the household and family structure, Burney also provided an insider’s perspective into London high life. As an acclaimed author and member of the royal court, Burney offers a rare insight into the lives of …

Rules Of Misrule, Meghan Forgione

Honors Scholar Theses

The project seeks to offer an alternative interpretation of sport culture in Renaissance England with respect to theater and football. I seek to show how sport culture, although seemingly threatening to the state, actually reinforces the monarchy due to its ability to provide the people with a controlled social release. The prose explores the function of carnival in sport culture and the way in which the two are manifested in football and theater in the Renaissance.

Writing The Wrongs Of Chancery And Victorian Society: Esther Summerson Of Bleak House And Defining The First-Person, Alexandra C. Cain

Honors Scholar Theses

“Writing the Wrongs of Chancery and Victorian Society: Esther Summerson of Bleak House and Defining the First-Person” discusses the identity crisis faced by the controversial first person narrator of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House. I argue that Esther is a complex character/narrator who develops an idealized self as a coping mechanism for her identity crisis. Dickens uses Esther’s illness as a physical manifestation of Esther’s separation from her mother and recognition of her identity crisis. By developing Esther’s identity crisis and using the illness to denote Esther’s separation from both her mother and her idealized self, Dickens creates a novel in …

Pow/Mic: Prisoners Of Words/Missing In Canon: Liberating The Neglected British War Poets Of The Great War., Larry T. French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the First World War ended in 1918 and anthologies began to emerge, limited attention has been paid to the poets of this era. While a few select male poets have achieved canonicity, women war poets of this era have fallen into enigmatic obscurity.

The intention of this paper is to expound, explicate, and expose the difficulties relating to gaining entry into the canon of English literature, especially where the poets of The Great War are concerned. This paper discusses the absence of the most profound and foreshadowing poems written during the war through research of scholarly journals and out-of-print …

“Who Hath The World In Honde”: Conflicts Of Agency In Three Canterbury Tales, Samantha Anne Streger

English Honors Papers

This thesis examines the subject of conflicting agency in three of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and discusses the ways in which confusions of power shed light on the issues inherent in governing medieval social ideologies. In the Knight’s Tale, conflicting agency between the humans and the gods is evidence of the Knight’s failure to bring order to his tale. Because the Knight is unable to rationally explain the universe by employing the noble ideals of chivalry, honor, and faith in higher power, the confusion of power in the Knight’s Tale highlights the failure of noble pursuits. In the Wife of Bath’s …

Serving The Storyline Of The Novel: The Powerful Role Of The Feudal Servant-Narrator, Stephanie Turner

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis addresses issues of class as represented through the narrative agency exercised by the servant-narrator in Castle Rackrent and Wuthering Heights. Thady Quirk and Ellen Dean are servant-narrators who strategically use feigned allegiance, astute perception, and selective disclosure to wield power over the lives of their masters. These “arts of subordination” allow the servant-narrator to tell his or her own life narrative, while appearing to share the masters’ memoirs. While both servant-narrators are motivated by economic means, Ellen Dean’s involvement throughout Wuthering Heights is further complicated by her desires of emotional connection. However, each servant-narrator achieves his or her …

Architecture And Nostalgia In The British Modern Novel, Heather Lynn Lusty

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation focuses on Modern British literary culture and the construction of literary sites of nostalgia through architecture and landscape. The project considers examples from D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford, and Evelyn Waugh, and examines how these authors employ presentations of architecture in their narratives to portray the irrevocably altered landscape of modernity.

The introduction presents the notion of national consciousness and literature, moving from Lukacs' conception of the historical novel to Victorian art critics John Ruskin and Walter Pater and their writings on national identity and architecture. Twentieth-century European culture responded to the trauma of the Great …

Opium Use In Victorian England: The Works Of Gaskell, Eliot, And Dickens, Jessica Rae Henderson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

England’s opium trade with China in the nineteenth century, often conjures up images of a powerful nation, for financial gain and heedless of the damage caused, nefariously thrusting addictive drugs on an unwitting Chinese people and unwilling Chinese government. But this image hides the English side of the story, i.e. England’s own problem with opium. The English imported thousands of pounds for domestic use each year in the 19^th century, and until the late 1860s its sale was completely unrestricted. It was used as a veritable cure-all for various diseases, as well as a relief for any kind of …

Persuasiveness Of The Text: An Analysis Of Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas", Carl William-John Linder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This analysis is a consideration of the Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf and deals with her use of endnotes and citations throughout the essay-novel, and their persuasive role in regards to the text. This paper will investigate this paratextual source material and its purposeful inclusion into the work. As mnemonic components and logical evidence, the textual citations are subservient to the persuasive quality of the text and the arrangement of her argument. After separating historical elements from the rhetorical aspects of the essay-novel, the paper explores Virginia Woolf's use of Classical rhetorical strategies in constructing her argument in Three Guineas. …

"Divine William" And The Master: The Influence Of Shakespeare On The Novels Of Henry James, Amy M. Green

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Henry James's most sustained commentary on Shakespeare comes in the form of an introduction to an edition of The Tempest that was published in 1907. In it, he remarks that the play is a reflection of Shakespeare "consciously tasting of the first and rarest of his gifts, that of imaged creative Expression...to show him as unresistingly aware" (1207). This praise ties unerringly back to James's praise of the artist as one who views the world through open eyes and can capture the nuance of experience. James himself worked at the craft of fiction, and writes extensively in his notebooks and …

From Villain To Superhero: Evolution Of The Novel’S Lawyer Stereotype From The Nineteenth Through The Twenty-First Century, Carolyn A. Morway

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis analyzes the evolution of the lawyer character from the novels of the early 19th century through those of the modern day. The representation of the lawyer character illustrates the contemporary view of lawyers in society and also provides a framework of the relationship between the lawyer and the common man.