English Language and Literature Commons^™

Eng 2009-004: Literature And Human Values: Faith, Survival Progress, C C. Wharram

Fall 2005

No abstract provided.

Tolkien 2005: The Ring Goes Ever On, The Tolkien Society

Mythcon Souvenirs

The idea to organise an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Lord of the Rings was mooted several years ago. I can remember it being discussed at The Plough & Harrow hotel, the location for the 1998 annual general meeting. We felt that this event should be held in Birmingham and subsequently, Trevor Reynolds and myself visited both Aston and Birmingham Universities. Aston was chosen due to the fact that it was more centrally placed for attendees to get to and far more compact that the Birmingham campus. In time the 2005 organising committee started …

Educating For Democracy: Reviving Rhetoric In The General Education Curriculum, David M. Stock

Theses and Dissertations

This study is, in part, a response to arguments that claim higher education fails to prepare students with fundamental communication skills necessary for everyday life and indicative of "educated" persons. Though the validity of such arguments is contestable, they nonetheless reflect fundamental inadequacies in current educational theories and practices that have evolved over centuries of curricular, cultural, and socioeconomic change. Current theories and practices in higher education, specifically general education, reflect a misunderstanding of both the purpose of education in a democracy and the role of the liberal arts, specifically rhetoric, in accomplishing that purpose. The consequences of rhetorically-impoverished general …

Foraging Behavior And Seasonal Movements Of The Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus Borealis) In Central Indiana, Brianne L. Everson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Twenty-four female Eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) were captured and tracked to foraging areas near the Indianapolis International Airport during the summers of2003 and 2004 with full foraging data obtained on 13. A series ofmulti-azimuth (3-7) triangulations was used to estimate the location of each bat throughout the night. Euclidean distance analysis was used to examine habitat use by L. borealis. These bats had smaller home ranges than previously noted as well as smaller home ranges than other species at this location. They foraged over woodlands, newly planted tree fields, open water, park and pasture lands more than predicted by …

The "Essential Renewing Fantasy": The Vietnam Experience In American Literature, Jeffrey Gross

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I employ the idea of postmodern naturalism to illustrate how Tim O'Brien addresses the postmodern era following the Vietnam War, which he achieves through form and characterization, and how he blends in a naturalistic framework where events and powers beyond his characters' control affect their lives. Such a study of six of O'Brien's novels-Northern Lights, Going After Cacciato, The Nuclear Age, The Things They Carried, In the Lake of the Woods, and July, July-is important because it unveils common motifs and structural strategies employed by O'Brien in developing an evolved and postmodern version of naturalism. Rather than …

Waiting For A Message, Leshia Diane Stratten Stolt

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Waiting/or a Message is a collection of short stories and short creative nonfiction about experiences of search, loss, and discovery of and within truth, love, and self The presence or threat of silence, whether it be held or broken, accepted or rejected, appears in many forms and is always instrumental in the losses and discoveries of the voices and characters throughout the collection. In the personal essay "Waiting for a Message," the voice narrates her first visit to a Spiritualist camp and finds herself doubting the authenticity of the messages she and her family receive. The short story "Cannot Predict …

The Lost Journals Of Sylvia Plath, Kimberly Dawn Knutsen

Dissertations

Sylvia Plath is one of the few authors who has been posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Plath's exceptional literary career is not limited with that. When twentieth-century literary history is examined, it becomes patent that no writer has created such an enormous impact as Sylvia Plath. Furthermore, no writer or poet has been as misunderstood as in the case of Plath. In addition, no writer or poet has been labeled often as "schizophrenic" or "mad" by scholars or researchers who do not have the slightest education in psychology or psychopathology. Therefore, the works written on Plath, or the studies that …

Recognition And Reconciliation In Paradise Lost, Mary Allen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In Paradise Lost, we learn that a crucial element to attaining happiness is recognizing the eternal presence of God in ourselves and in others. Lack of recognition, particularly on the part of Satan and of Eve, causes separation from God, which leads these characters as well as those with whom they are in relationships, to untold misery. Both make the mistake of choosing to separate themselves from their source of wisdom and happiness - Satan by rebelling against God, and Eve by rejecting both her relationship with Adam and with God when she is deceived by Satan.

I will argue …

Lizards And Bugambilias, Jose A. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This is a creative-writing thesis, a collection of poetry. The poems are divided into three sections, which share thematic content. In this collection, the poetry explores issues of place, family and identity, all closely tied to the geographic/cultural area of South Texas. The critical introduction explains both the organization of and the influences on the poems.

Imitation, Not Limitation: Fan Fiction In The Classroom, Molly Wright

Theses and Dissertations

There is a dizzying array of syllabi for various advanced exposition courses. Many of these syllabi address student writing development issues such as clarity, style, logic, and organization. They also address traditional focuses as description, narration, information, and argument. They can include anything from grammar texts to cable news web sites as required reading, and they usually include reassuring terms such as "improvement" to remind the student that s/he already has the basic skills necessary to compose a quality essay. Assignments might include reading a model text for guidance in writing. Some syllabi encourage imitating those models in the form …

Keeping Gardens: Poetry And Essay, Deja Anne Earley

Theses and Dissertations

This creative thesis includes two creative non-fiction essays and twenty-two poems, introduced by a critical essay that examines my work. The poems and essays share an origin in personal experience as well as an interest in language. Specifically, the poems and essays explore issues of family, relationships, spirituality, and observations of the natural world. The introductory essay discusses my interest in re-fashioning individual vision through the act of writing, relating to Helene Cixous's idea of creating a "portrait of God" through the act of art. The essay also examines the connections between the genres of creative non-fiction and poetry, in …

Sandra Cisneros As Chicana Storyteller: Fictional Family (Hi)Stories In Caramelo, Sally Marie Giles

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis discusses the ways in which Sandra Cisneros makes historical claims from a Chicana perspective by telling fictional family stories in Caramelo. Not only have Chicanas traditionally been marginalized ethnically by the Anglo mainstream, they have also suffered disenfranchisement as women in their own male-dominated cultural community. Both elements have contributed to the cultural silencing of Chicanas outside of domestic spaces, and particularly in historical discourse. Cisneros introduces storytelling as a means of empowering Chicanas through language that allows them to speak historically and still signify culturally. By telling stories from the site of the family, she ingeniously utilizes …

Perry Smith And Josef Kavalier: Historical And Literary Victimized Victimizers, Noella Jeo

Theses and Dissertations

In literary trauma theory, victimized victimizers represent an ambiguous area. In my thesis, I show how Perry Smith, a historical figure in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and Josef Kavalier, a fictional character in Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, represent these ambiguities. Both men become murderers acting out violence that was inflicted upon them as children. However, only Kavalier seems to work through the trauma.

Such A Deal Of Wonder: Structures Of Feeling And Performances Of The Winter's Tale From 1981 To 2002, Elizabeth Marie Burt

Theses and Dissertations

Structures of feeling represent the interaction between personal lived experience and fixed social values and meanings, which are found in interpretations of works of art. Studying various interpretations of any play in performance can provide a point of access into a culture because the choices made in the production can be compared to each other and to the written text and then reveal how the theatrical company views particular issues within their own time period. This study looks at productions of The Winter's Tale between 1981 and 2002 at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Using numerous versions …

The Rhetoric Of Newspaper Rivalry In The Face Of Image Restoration And Transformation, Andrea Ludlow Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of the rhetoric of newspaper rivalry, particularly under the pressures of image restoration and transformation. I use methods of critical discourse analysis to look at newspaper articles in Utah's two dominant newspapers, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News. I compare a sample of news articles from each paper in 2002 to a sample in 2003, when the Tribune was working to restore its image after a scandal involving two of its reporters, and the News was working to transform its image as it transitioned from an afternoon newspaper to a morning newspaper. …

Saturday Nights Alone, Daniel C. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

This novel blends first-person narrative prose with conventions of screenwriting to create a voice consistent with its main character, Rick Morgan, who's trying to escape his life as a real estate agent by becoming a screenwriter. As Rick struggles to write a new screenplay he finds it difficult to divorce his creative mind from the troubles of his personal life. As a result his preoccupations with destroying his boss and taking back the girl the boss stole from him, work their way into Rick's new project. The motif of art imitating life imitating art forces Rick to question long held …

Tauser Killed Both Dogs And Other Suburban American Family Folklore, Kristina Whitley Gashler

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to answer the questions "What purposes do family pets and the narratives we tell about them serve in modern American society?" and "What do these stories tell us about what Americans value and about where we locate our ‘value center’?" In Chapter 1, I discuss how Americans define loyalty in our pets now that our animals generally no longer help us work. I conclude that since the shift from agricultural to suburban settings, animals prove their loyalty individually and in human-like ways, rather than as "good" members of their own species, but at the same time because …

Revelation And The Left Behind Novels, Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

The Left Behind novels appeal because they affirm God's control of history in the face of violence and moral decay. Our challenge is to be more biblical than Left Behind, not less biblical to hear Revelation's call to persevere in the face of evil and to trust in the final victory of God and the Lamb.

Poetic Modernism And The Oceanic Divide: Review On New British Poetry, Kevin Clark

English

No abstract provided.

Marriage Or Career? Domestic Ideology In George Gissing's The Odd Women, Kuo-Wei Hsu

English Theses - Archive

Although George Gissing is acclaimed for his progressive thoughts on liberating women from patriarchy by establishing financial independence, some critics challenge such praise for Gissing by arguing that he is still confined within patriarchal thinking because he still adheres to domestic ideology, which advocates that women should stay within the domestic sphere and be protected from corruption of the outside world. The discussion of this thesis is divided into two main parts: first, despite their efforts to fight for freedom in marriage, women fail to escape from the control of patriarchy because through domestic ideology patriarchy still drives women back …

Charting An Ethics Of Desire In "The Wings Of The Dove”, Phyllis E. Vanslyck

Publications and Research

James’s characters are nothing if not willful—and ultimately alone—in their quests. Like figures from ancient Greek drama, they demand everything and give up nothing, enacting Jacques Lacan’s ethical claim that “the only thing of which one can be guilty is of having given ground relative to one’s desire.”[i] In doing so, they seem to call into question, or at least complicate, the Kantian categorical imperative and the ideal of disinterested action, offering a radical ethical alternative. James’s characters enact, I will argue, an ethic of desire.

[i]Lacan, Seminar VII, 319.

Inside The Fairy Ring: Jane Eyre And The Victorian Fairy Tale, Kimberly Alford

English Theses & Dissertations

Focusing on nineteenth century literature in England, this paper explores the relationship of fairy tales to the realist novel. Even though the novels of the time are best known for being grounded firmly in realism, the world of fairies, existing most prominently in nineteenth-century children's literature, crept into novels and stories written for adults. The novel Jane Eyre, frequently discussed regarding its treatment of nineteenth century social issues, contains gothic and romantic elements alongside the realist mode. These elements contribute to a "transformation" of the text into a fairy tale. The novel becomes a fairy tale not in structure alone, …

Joshua, This Is Your Story: Tribute To Joshua Uzoigwe, 1946-2005 (With Three Poems By The Deceased From Nsukka Harvest, 1972), Chukwuma Azuonye

Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series

Renowned Musicologist and poet, Professor Joshua Uzoigwe, former head of the Music Department at the University of Uyo, joined the ancestors last month. Described as "a music educator, composer, performer and musicologist [and as someone who] directed several musical concerts in which he featured his own works and works by other modern Nigerian composers." It was also said that "his intention was to create an awareness of this music in an intellectual environment such as Obafemi Awolowo University and in Nigeria at large."

Reprinted below are a tribute to Professor Uzoigwe by our ALA colleague and friend, Professor Chukwuma Azuonye …

Nurturing Sense Of Place Through The Literature Of The Bioregion, Patrick Howard

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paper explores the possibility that a participatory engagement with the literature of the bioregion, in this case the North Atlantic coast, may work against the life alienating tendencies of our modern culture, to reaffirm and renew our children’s consciousness of and sensitivity for their place in a larger Earth community. We are in need of another way of knowing our place, a way to activate and reactivate the complex articulations and relations of things. Through the literature of the bioregion and a bodily, imaginative and participatory engagement with the other-than-human, children can return to the conditions of human embeddedness …

"More Than Ever Can Be Spoken": Unconscious Fantasy In Shelley's Jane Williams Poems, Thomas R. Frosch

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Creole Carnival: Unwrapping The Pleasures And Paradoxes Of The Gift Of Creolization, Kevin Frank

Publications and Research

In this essay Kevin Frank goes against the current in questioning the social and intellectual embrace of the poetics of creolization, in terms of its the efficacy in subverting biases that underpinned colonial subordination and exploitation.

"Let's Research": Inviting Tutors Into The Conversation, Beth Godbee

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Lady Caroline Lamb Before Byron: The Godfrey Vassal Webster Affair, Paul Douglass

Faculty Publications, English and Comparative Literature

This article provides an overview of the love affairs of Lady Caroline Lamb. Before she met Lord Byron, she had a long messy affair with Godfrey Vassal Webster. Their affair was known through letters which was held in the British library, the public records office in Chichester, and the like. Caroline cannot or will not adapt to the complicated social milieu of regency London.

What Lord Byron Learned From Lady Caroline Lamb, Paul Douglass

Faculty Publications, English and Comparative Literature

Lady Caroline Lamb fictionalized the Byronic persona in Glenarvon (1816) and gave voice to the female characters that remain largely silent in Byron’s early work. Byron responded to her mimicry and to the female perspective of Glenarvon by creating a feminized hero and strong speaking roles for women in Don Juan, though his stated purpose was to undermine, not uphold, feminine power.

Eng 3704-051: Contemporary American Literature, Guzlowski

Summer 2005

No abstract provided.