English Language and Literature Commons^™

Integration Of Local Poetic Voices: An Interview With Lawson Fusao Inada, Alma Rosa Alvarez, John Rafael Almaguer

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

An interview with Lawson Fusoa Inada

It’S Kind Of A Curious Incident In The Bell Jar: Using Literature And Discussion To Advocate For Mental Health Education In The High School English Classroom, Margaret Keefe

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Literature has served as an outlet for those who have both written and read it, powerfully describing all aspects of the human condition—even the mental disorders we suffer from. Language Arts classrooms provide students with the ability to access and critically analyze this unique outlet for expression and understanding. Given the high rate of mental disorders among young adults and students, this often stigmatized issue cannot be ignored inside or outside the classroom. The purpose of this project is to analyze how texts which discuss mental disorders might be taught in the high school English classroom. This will include not …

“No Happy Woman Writes”: An Analysis Of Novels Of Seduction And Domestic Fiction In Early American Literature, Janene Johnson

Honors Program Theses and Projects

American novelists writing in the new Republic contributed to a collective cultural effort to create a new written voice. Writers in the new nation aimed to develop a style of writing distinct from the contemporary European conventions, one that would reflect American ideals and society. Though increasing in popularity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, novels and fictional works received an inauspicious stigma that marked the works, authors, and often even readers of the genre. Twentieth-century scholars of the early American novel denounced the genre as simply melodramatic romantic work that would not improve the intellect of the …

“Racial Repercussions Of The British Imperial Curriculum:” Misperceptions Of The Natives In George Orwell’S Burmese Days, Cyi Gyi Paradis

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This study explores how English writers falsely portray the indigenous people of the British colonies in novels. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, in particular, authors of Imperialist fiction often misrepresent natives in the British colonies as deviant, detestable, deplorable beings that lack moral compasses. By researching the fields of literature, history, education, and cultural studies, I will examine how George Orwell’s novel Burmese Days distorts descriptions of the Burmese people. Previous studies on Burmese Days focus mainly on misrepresentations of the Burmese as a homogenous race; however, my research will encompass how literary distortions target multiple …

The Desire To Escape And The Inability To Follow Through In James Joyce’S Dubliners, Alyssa M. Wheatley

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In my research, I will examine James Joyce’s Dubliners as a collection of stories that is unified by an ongoing theme; escape or the desire to escape. In the collection, the want or need to escape serves a major purpose throughout the characters and their lives. This thesis explores five stories that share this theme in particular: “The Sisters,” “Eveline,” “Araby,” “An Encounter,” and “The Dead.” Each story will be discussed in the context of how each story progresses from a want to an actual escape. In addition, the thesis also considers how these stories exhibit a progression towards isolation …

Probing The Promise Of Dual-Language Books, Lisa M. Domke

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Because dual-language books (DLBs) are written entirely in two languages, they have the potential to help readers develop multilingual literacy skills while acting as cultural and/or linguistic windows and mirrors. However, the ways in which publishers choose words when translating, format languages, and represent cultures have implications for readers in terms of identity, readability, and language learning. This content analysis of 69 U.S. Spanish–English dual-language picturebooks published from 2013–2016 investigated trends in DLBs’ cultural, linguistic, formatting, and readability factors. It also determined these trends’ relationships with publisher types, original publication language, and author and character ethnicity. Findings include that publishers …

The Plot Thickens : Illustrated Victorian Serial Fiction From Dickens To Du Maurier, Mary Elizabeth Leighton, Lisa Surridge

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

In the early 1800s, books were largely unillustrated. By the 1830s and 1840s, however, innovations in wood- and steel-engraving techniques changed how Victorian readers consumed and conceptualized fiction. A new type of novel was born, often published in serial form, one that melded text and image as partners in meaning-making.

These illustrated serial novels offered Victorians a reading experience that was both verbal and visual, based on complex effects of flash-forward and flashback as the placement of illustrations revealed or recalled significant story elements. Victorians’ experience of what are now canonical novels thus differed markedly from that of modern readers, …

The Voices Of Life And Death In Shakespeare’S Narrative Poems, Jonathan Locke Hart

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The article “The Voices of Life and Death in Shakespeare’s Narrative Poems” uses Shakespeare’s dedications and Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece to discuss art and life, death and life, life-writing and death-writing. The relation between life and art, often framed in terms of mimesis, is fraught with difficulties, so that the connection between ethics and aesthetics is intricate. After briefly discussing the theoretical debate on mimesis, this article examines closely Shakespeare’s narrative poems, to discuss life and death as well as, to some extent, health, illness. The poems explore the themes of time, love, lust and death …

Introduction: Reworking Walter Scott, Daniel Cook, Lucy Wood

Studies in Scottish Literature

An overview of Walter Scott's contemporary celebrity and evolving reputation, of scholarship on his afterlives, of the way his work has been reshaped in a variety of settings and media, and of the essays collected in this special issue.

Unsettling Geographies: Primitivist Utopias In Queer American Literature From Walt Whitman To Willa Cather, Benjamin Meiners

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In “Unsettling Geographies: Primitivist Utopias in Queer American Literature from Walt Whitman to Willa Cather,” I argue that the colonial discourse of primitivism played a central role in the queer literary imaginaries of both canonical and non-canonical U.S. authors. Building on the work of historians of sexuality who trace the complex development of the twentieth-century homo-/hetero- binary, I show how literary works produced in this historical moment—roughly 1860 to 1925—explored and in some instances even advocated alternative queer modes of citizenship and erotic imagination and practice. Focusing on the works of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Charles Warren Stoddard, and Willa …

Decolonizing Adoption Narratives For Transnational Reproductive Justice, Sung Hee Yook, Hosu Kim

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article “Decolonizing Adoption Narratives for Transnational Reproductive Justice,” Sung Hee Yook and Hosu Kim examine narratives emerging from transnational adoption practices, focusing on how birth mothers’ narratives—in which a victim-mother makes choices to give a child for adoption in hopes of a better life for the child, and awaits that child’s return—develop alongside and deviate from the normative orders of motherhood. While birth mothers’ self-transformative narrative illuminates their subjectivities—apart from victimhood, simmering in the latent form of agency—Yook and Kim argue that a compelling narrative of self-mastery produces another discursive trap which renders the numerous less-masterful birth mothers …

Changez/Cengiz's Changing Beliefs In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Valerie Kennedy

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, “Changez/Cengiz's Changing Beliefs in The Reluctant Fundamentalist” Valerie Kennedy analyzes the interrelation of individual subjectivity and global capitalism and the conflict between two belief systems in Mohsin Hamid’s novel. These are, first, a neoliberal system that sees individuals as rationally self-interested, mobile, economic units, and, second, a system based on a humanist definition of individuals as defined by nation, family, and tradition. Changez, the novel’s protagonist, initially endorses the first, but later rejects it for the second, due to his growing awareness of the impact on Pakistan of American geopolitics after 9/11. The essay also examines …

An Exploratory Study Of Acculturation Experiences Of Graduate Student Immigrants At The University Of San Francisco, Courtney Lamar

Master's Theses

This study explores the shared challenges during the acculturation process of graduate student immigrants pursuing higher education in the United States. 13 graduate student immigrants at the University of San Francisco discuss their experiences of cultural adjustment into U.S. culture. Through qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, this study seeks to understand the acculturation experiences of graduate student immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. This analysis is based on the individual-level experience examining attitudes and acculturation strategies in the dominant society. Analysis, possibly policy implication for institutions of higher education, and possible directions for future research …

Romantic Theology As Revelation Through Tom Bombadil And Goldberry In Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Brandon Best

Augsburg Honors Review

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil initially appears to be merely an eccentric, episodic character. Yet, upon close reading his enchanting spirit embodies moral significance throughout the trilogy when members in the war against Sauron recall his spirit in moments of hope and despair. Though he only appears to the Hobbits within the Old Forest, Bombadil represents ideals present throughout the entire story. As Tolkien wrote, “[Bombadil] represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he …

Frankenstein: A Feminist Interpretation Of Gender Construction, Jackie Docka

Augsburg Honors Review

There is a long history of exploring Frankenstein through a feminist lens. A historical examination that explores Mary Shelley’s life and the literature that influenced her writing is key to understanding the feminist elements of Frankenstein. Additionally, this paper will call upon Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity to examine the ways in which Victor’s monster constructs his own gender identity based upon his creator’s own flawed masculinity. Victor’s gender expression is defined by the time period in which he was created and also by the masculine literature of the time. While masculine literature helped to define both the monster’s …

Final Ma Portfolio, Laura Risaliti

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

MA portfolio, English

Queer Identity Construction In Benjamin Alire Sáenz’S Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe, Frank Ur

Senior Capstone Theses

Young Adult Literature has been consistently growing in popularity within recent years for its exploration of various topics such as LGBTQ Identity. Specifically, this canon of literature has begun the inclusive process of portraying minority voices and their navigation of queer identity. In this essay I explore Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s young adult novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Specifically, I explore the novel's main character and narrator Aristotle Mendoza. I move to examine the characteristics of machismo, heteronormativity, and internalized homophobia to analyze how Aristotle’s identity is at first made up by these characteristics and how …

African Poetry Libraries-A Global Collaboration, Lorna M. Dawes, Charlene Maxey-Harris

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

In 2014, the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) and the University of Nebraska (UNL)literary magazine-thePrairie Schooner established African Poetry Libraries in five countries; Ghana, Kenya,Uganda, Gambia and Botswana. The purpose of these libraries wasto support the creativity of aspiring and establishedpoets in their local communities. The University of Nebraska Libraries was asked toserve as consultants on the initiative by working with local volunteers to set up thelibraries and provideongoing assistance and advice to the new libraries during thefirst three years of their inception. The goal of the librariesis to support thelocal community of poets through access to contemporary poetry, and …

Alienation, And Its Antidote, Anna Nissley

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This poster visually portrays and distills arguments within the paper of the same name, outlining its principal arguments and incorporating pictures of people/landscapes discussed within.

Visionaries Of The Road, Storm A. Wright

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

No abstract provided.

Cultures Of American Theology, Evan Colon

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

No abstract provided.

Pineapple Poetry - Studying Literature Through A Food Studies Lens, Anke Klitzing

Articles

In his essay 'A Winter Feast', literature professor Paul Schmidt unveils the layers of meaning that Pushkin wove into the description of a New Year’s feast in Eugene Onegin. But unusually, Schmidt continues his essay making the jump from literary criticism to food studies by musing on the various items on the menu without reference to Onegin, but rather to the cultural and philosophical context of food, bringing in such varied references as Brillat-Savarin and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Studying food writing through the lens of literary criticism allows us to penetrate the social and symbolic meanings of food more deeply, while …

A Poetics Of Temperance: Gender, Genre, And Meaning-Making In Early Modern England, Cristina Maria Rosell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For several hundred years, the scholarly discussion of temperance was dominated by the legacy of classical models. This dissertation, titled A Poetics of Temperance: Gender, Genre, and Meaning-Making in Early Modern England, develops said discussion in a new way by forging a language about ethics and aesthetics into a poetics of temperance. The term poiesis derives from Greek and signifies “to make, create, produce” (OED). Accordingly, Aristotle uses the Greek poietes, “from which our word ‘poet’ derives,” to denote a “maker” (Murray xxxii). In brief, this project understands the role of women in emergent genres as …

Mislabeled Muses, Deborah L. Dougherty

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

No abstract provided.

Rebellion And Change On The Road Poster, Natalie Rude

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article talks about rebellion, which has always been a prominent piece of American history, but it has always been associated with world changing events. Rebellion is an action that is anything, regardless of size, that is out of the ordinary that results in personal change while on the road. Unfortunately, Rebellion on the road is gendered, meaning that while men can rebel and change wherever they wish, women can only rebel on the road, and all the personal changes women make disappear as soon as they leave the road. This is largely due to the social spaces constructed by …

A Literary Journey Back In Time, Hannah K. Heil

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

Before I began writing, I reflected on the effect literature has had on my life. I brainstormed different experiences in which I found literature to be very influential. I talked with various people including my parents and past teachers to ensure the accuracy of the various childhood stories I decided to write about. When it came time to put the final draft together, I focused on my various experiences with literature and the grand effect it has had on my life. I also incorporated why I value being a literate person today as a university student.

Editor's note: For this …

Claiming Your Life And Education, Kelly E. Corkery

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

My essay is a rhetorical analysis of Adrienne Rich’s speech, “Claiming an Education." I chose Rich’s speech because a friend of mine told me that her introduction to college seminar at Penn State discussed the speech, and I found the speech to be very interesting. After choosing the speech, I completed two drafts, which were both edited in both a peer review and by my instructor, Professor Strain. After my first draft, I also had a writing conference with Professor Strain to refine my work more. After my second draft, I met with Professor Strain again to discuss submitting this …

Learning To Read Was Great, Alyssa T. Mims

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This project was written with the intentions of telling the story of how I learned to read and the effects of my reading skills flourishing.

The Road That Got Us Here, Kayla M. Rotz

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article attempts to explain the romanticism of Native American culture existing in The United States and how it came to be. Through a chain of events this romanticism began. Forced Migration caused a social divide creating a separate social space for Native American people. Because of this negative social space we may see hegemony begin to take place. The American Government took Native children from their homes and forced them to assimilate into the general American population, thus creating a domino effect. In many cases children carry on a culture for other generations. However if these children are forced …

The Road That Got Us Here, Kayla M. Rotz

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article attempts to explain the romanticism of Native American culture existing in The United States and how it came to be. Through a chain of events this romanticism began. Forced Migration caused a social divide creating a separate social space for Native American people. Because of this negative social space we may see hegemony begin to take place. The American Government took Native children from their homes and forced them to assimilate into the general American population, thus creating a domino effect. In many cases children carry on a culture for other generations. However if these children are forced …