English Language and Literature | Open Access Articles

Ladies Of The Forest: Melian And Mielikki, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

In this roundtable paper the author compares Melian, the Lady of Doriath, with the mysterious Mielikki of the Kalevala and The Story of Kullervo.

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Anatomic By Adam Dickinson, Heather Houser

The Goose

Review of Adam Dickinson's Anatomic.

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Melusine, Invisible Leadership And The Future (In The Past), Jan Shaw

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This paper considers the operation of “invisible” leadership in the figure of Melusine from the late Middle English romance Melusine. By invoking contemporary leadership theory, this paper identifies leadership maneuvers in Melusine that are similar to those often practiced by women today, but the discourses of gender identity then ultimately render Melusine’s leadership invisible, just as leadership discourses today often render female leadership invisible. By uncovering the operation of “invisible” leadership in the figure of Melusine and identifying commonalities with the leadership of women today, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the contemporary problem of the marked …

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Some Notes On The Nonexistence Of Wakanda, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

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Exploring The Truths And Fabrications Of Sir John Mandeville, Jake Sanborn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville presents a unique and nuanced perspective of the Eastern World during the time of the Crusades. By critically analyzing the still-unknown author’s depictions of the Eastern lands and their peoples, I demonstrate that it is possible to gain a deeper understanding of the status of Christianity during the late 14th century. The Travels comments upon the concepts of Eastern religions and cultural practices in a way that is remarkable and surprising — instead of reacting to such topics with hostility or aggression, the likely-Christian author of The Travels is willing to learn from those …

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Matrons, Mothers, And Monsters: The Heroine In Beowulf, Grendel, And The Mere Wife, Grace Lucier

College Honors Program

This thesis examines the relationship between gender and heroism in the Beowulf tale and two of its modern retellings. It includes an exploration of the medieval gender roles of the original epic using Seamus Heaney and E. Talbot Donaldson’s translations. This thesis also addresses the ways in which some characters disturb gender binaries and social roles — especially in the case of Grendel’s mother. The second and third chapters focus on two retellings of the Beowulf text respectively: John Gardner’s Grendel , told from the perspective of the monster Grendel; and Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife , which is …

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Female Torture Poetry: Petrarchan Love And Carpe Diem, Luke C. Widlund

Theses and Dissertations

My MA thesis examines sixteenth and seventeeth-century lyric poetry by the male poets Sir Philip Sidney, John Donne, Thomas Carew, and Andrew Marvell. These poets make use of different lyric genres and forms, including Petrarchan sonnets and carpe diem arguments, to torture the purported female mistresses. A close examination of specific works, including Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, Donne’s “The Apparition”, Carew’s “Song: Persuasion to Enjoy”, and Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” demonstrates that they all share a preoccupation with weaponizing poetry in their depiction of mistresses and female lovers in pain and punishment. Poetry functions as a tool for imposing …

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More Human Than Human: Artificial People In Literature And Media, Taylor P. Amalfitano

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Though Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein over two hundred years ago, many of the main themes of alienation and revenge featured in Shelley’s novel reappear in HBO’s Westworld in 2016. This thesis establishes a genealogy for the stories of artificial people and analyzes the relationship between human beings and artificial life, as it is portrayed in speculative fiction and popular media. The popularity of robots and cyborgs is associated with people’s fear of technology, but their stories are often used as an allegory to explain aspects of the human experience that are unknown or difficult to understand. As artificial intelligence becomes …

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An Anthology Of Irish Nationalism: Music, Verse, Speeches, And Interviews Regarding The Betterment Of The State Of Ireland, From The Sixth Century Until The Liberation Of Ireland, Sofia J. Gilmore-Montero

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When I started this project because in my extensive amount of research into Irish literature, I found that the common theme in many of the works was nationalism and the desire to have a free state. I could not find any books that focused on nationalistic literature over the lengthy history of Ireland, only collections that pertained to a specific time period. This thesis project proposes introductory material and a potential table of contents to an anthology that would be centered around the theme of Irish nationalism in literature between the ninth century and the liberation of Ireland. It covers …

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A Story-Centered Approach To Ap English Literature, Curriculum, And Assessment, Christopher L. Mccurry

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Advanced Placement and Literature and Composition is the pinnacle of literary studies in the secondary school classroom. However, the content of the course and its primary mode of assessment equally damage the reputation of literary analysis as a purposeful academic field and threaten to further stigmatize the humanities in a moment when their usefulness is under scrutiny. Students should be shown how stories, and not literature, can be better appreciated in the AP literature classroom through a biocultural, and evolutionary approach to fiction and storytelling.

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The Pursuit Of Democracy: The Racial Subject And Sympathy’S Limits In Leaves Of Grass, Aidan Kennelley

University Honors Theses

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass has long been celebrated as a great work of American democracy, a work of democratic poetics. Throughout the text, Whitman goes to great lengths to sympathize with as many different sects of American society as possible. But where do his sympathies deserve scrutiny? By analyzing Whitman's relationship to the black, enslaved subject throughout the text, it becomes clear that there are limits to sympathy, and sympathetic intentions can inadvertently inflict violence upon subjugated groups. In turn, it becomes evident that Whitman’s democratic project is much more flawed and complicated than the way it is often …

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De-Stigmatizing Mental Health Through First Person Narration In Young Adult Literature, Tatum E. Francis

University Honors Theses

This thesis project includes a written short story titled "Quiet Dissonance" that explicitly depicts anxiety and depression within the genre of Young Adult literature. The purpose of this story is to consciously de-stigmatize the mental health issues by depicting these mental disorders as authentically as possible with both research and my own real-life experience of being diagnosed with both anxiety and depression, rather than relying upon stereotypes and the influence of the media. This story is consciously written through the point of view of first person narration, allowing for further exploration into the interiority of the thoughts of the protagonist …

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Weaving Urban Webs: Representations Of Urban Space In The First Four Issues Of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Cordelia Albertson

University Honors Theses

As the anthology Comics and the City explores, cities have been central to comics since the beginning of the modern medium. Yet, scholars have remarked little on the relationship between superhero identities and urban space. Peter M. Coogan's article, "The Hero Defines the Genre, The Genre Defines the Hero," in the anthology What is a Superhero?, cites an urban setting as a secondary identifier of the superhero genre and the superhero identity, but he makes no other remark on this facet in the article or his other work. Much of the works existing on the subject of urbanism and …

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The Language Of Rats: Unwelcome Animals And Interspecies Connection In Contemporary Anglophone Fiction, Kieran Leigh Lyons

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Language of Rats: Unwelcome Animals and Interspecies Connection in Global Contemporary Fiction consists of three essays examining the representation of what I call unwelcome animals in contemporary Anglophone novels from the United States, Nigeria, and India. These animals often live alongside humans yet are perceived as threats or annoyances. Literary depictions of this fraught relationship reveal, and sometimes critique, the intellectual structures that shape how we understand and represent interspecies connections. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the interspecies dimensions of contemporary fiction by bringing together the fields of environmental criticism, animal studies, postcolonialism, and U.S. Southern studies. …

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A Soundless Feminine Representation: An Ecofeminist Reading Of "The Eolian Harp", Eve Echternach

University Honors Theses

Focusing on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp," this essay centers on the erasure and replacement of women's voices through descriptions of the environment and the common themes between the two. In many works of poetry and writing, women are compared to the natural world and vice versa. Though Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp" is categorized as a conversation poem, the dialogue of his wife, Sara Fricker, and any other feminized figures are omitted. Within this poem, one can see the environment and women's cohabitation being used to flatten their character, remove agency, and to place the male figures in the …

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Trauma, Violence, And Deathly Consequences: Female Justice In Contemporary Literature And Television Adaptations, Allie Owens

English MA Theses

Over the past decade, a familiar villainous character has begun to arise in television adaptation: the mentally-fractured heroine who turns to villainy: women who have been attacked, raped, or lost loved ones to villains. These attacks and losses trigger murderous rampages and other violence that often leads to their descent into villainy. Netflix’s Jessica Jones, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, feature heroines that turn to violence to get revenge. However, the violent heroines in these texts and television adaptations do not just become villains; some …

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A World Ruled By Unknowns: The Psychological Effects Of The Supernatural And Natural Worlds In Emily Brontë'S Wuthering Heights, Jordan Cymrot

Student Theses and Dissertations

Emily Brontë (1818-1848) wrote Wuthering Heights in 1847 at a point of collision between Romantic thought and Victorian ideals. Her novel exemplifies a developed and deliberate effort to represent a world ruled by forces out of one’s control, the most evident example of this being the supernatural force that overtakes the novel. In her precise focus on the language and natural landscape that bind this novel together, her characters emerge as representative of the psychological complexity produced by the coexistence of the mundane and the extraordinary. My thesis focuses on the effects of the natural landscape and the forces that …

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“Lay Down My Soul At Stake”: Of Female Friendship In The Merchant Of Venice, Othello, And The Winter’S Tale, Audrey-Melody Cubas

Student Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I will not only shift a critical eye on both male and female friendship, but more specifically and extensively, I will examine how Shakespeare treats female friendship in three of his plays: The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Winter’s Tale. The female pairs of focus, in play order, will be Portia and Nerissa, Desdemona and Emilia, and Hermione and Paulina. Additionally, I will give an overlook of the history of Renaissance friendship portrayal in both the literary and historical accounts. This historical background will serve to highlight the clear contrast between the emphasized …

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Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

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Tolkien’S Library: An Annotated Checklist, By Oronzo Cilli, Andoni Cossio

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

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Becoming C.S. Lewis: A Biography Of Young Jack Lewis (1898-1918), By Harry Lee Poe, Andrew C. Stout

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

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"Written By The Finger Of God": C.S. Lewis And Historical Judgement, Phillip Irving Mitchell

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Lewis’s distrust of scientific laws for history, rather than undercutting his practice of literary history, existed alongside a basic, cautionary trust in representing the past. His methods of history writing included offering an overall plot, developing characters and corporate quasi-characters, and making analogies with the present to increase readerly sympathy (or antipathy) with long-gone cultures. Despite his strong rhetorical tendency to generalize, Lewis did not place absolute faith in his historical narratives. They were made to be argued with, supplemented, and even over-turned. The article pays particular attention to three documents from Lewis’s career as a literary historian: 1) his …

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The 'Wyrdwrīteras' Of Elvish History: Northern Courage, Historical Bias, And Literary Artifact As Illustrative Narrative, Richard Z. Gallant

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Tolkien’s legendarium writings display a subtle command of the perspectives and aims of different storytellers, as this examination of the many “chroniclers of Elvish history” and their various motivations demonstrates. At the meta-level, the paper discusses Tolkien’s own historiographical aims in using these different voices to advance sometimes opposing views of military motive and courage.

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Fearless Joy: Tom Bombadil’S Function In The Lord Of The Rings, Robert B. Chapman-Morales

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

In The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil is usually viewed as either a silly and unimportant interruption or as a character with only a very minor function, but certainly not as a character of importance like Gandalf. Recently, scholars have shown the importance of laughter and humor in J.R.R. Tolkien's works. This essay continues the discussion by showing how Bombadil is important and necessary to the narrative of The Lord of the Rings as an embodiment of joy, and more broadly demonstrates the essential revivifying importance of joy to the entire tale.

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"Divided 'Twixt The Lover And The Friend": Katherine Philips, Caroline Drama, And The Poetics Of Platonic Friendship, Jennifer Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the influence of Caroline theater on Katherine Philips’s friendship verses.

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Habituation And The Aesthetics Of Disenchantment In Proust’S Search Of Lost Time Vols. I-Ii, Hayley C. Nusbaum

Theses and Dissertations

Habit is a central theme for Proust. The rich discourse on habit died in the early twentieth century, and little has been written about habit in Proust since. Proust’s understanding of habit stems from the philosophical traditions of habit and memory; he reproduces these ideas to draw the crucial connection between habit and disenchantment.

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Briefly Noted, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The Wanderer’s Hávámal, translated by Jackson Crawford; Cinderella across Cultures: New Directions and Interdisciplinary Perspectives , edited by Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère et al.; A Palace of Pearls: The Stories of Reb Nachman of Bratslav, retold by Howard Schwartz; Electra: A Gender Sensitive Study of the Plays Based on the Myth, by Batya Casper; Forschungsdrang und Rollenspiel: Motivgeschichtliche Betrachtungen zum Fantasy-Rollenspiel Das Schwarze Auge, edited by Stefan Donecker et al.

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Full-Text Articles in English Language and Literature

Ladies Of The Forest: Melian And Mielikki, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

Anatomic By Adam Dickinson, Heather Houser

The Goose

Melusine, Invisible Leadership And The Future (In The Past), Jan Shaw

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Some Notes On The Nonexistence Of Wakanda, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

Exploring The Truths And Fabrications Of Sir John Mandeville, Jake Sanborn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Matrons, Mothers, And Monsters: The Heroine In Beowulf, Grendel, And The Mere Wife, Grace Lucier

College Honors Program

Female Torture Poetry: Petrarchan Love And Carpe Diem, Luke C. Widlund

Theses and Dissertations

More Human Than Human: Artificial People In Literature And Media, Taylor P. Amalfitano

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

An Anthology Of Irish Nationalism: Music, Verse, Speeches, And Interviews Regarding The Betterment Of The State Of Ireland, From The Sixth Century Until The Liberation Of Ireland, Sofia J. Gilmore-Montero

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A Story-Centered Approach To Ap English Literature, Curriculum, And Assessment, Christopher L. Mccurry

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Pursuit Of Democracy: The Racial Subject And Sympathy’S Limits In Leaves Of Grass, Aidan Kennelley

University Honors Theses

De-Stigmatizing Mental Health Through First Person Narration In Young Adult Literature, Tatum E. Francis

University Honors Theses

Weaving Urban Webs: Representations Of Urban Space In The First Four Issues Of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Cordelia Albertson

University Honors Theses

The Language Of Rats: Unwelcome Animals And Interspecies Connection In Contemporary Anglophone Fiction, Kieran Leigh Lyons

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A Soundless Feminine Representation: An Ecofeminist Reading Of "The Eolian Harp", Eve Echternach

University Honors Theses

Trauma, Violence, And Deathly Consequences: Female Justice In Contemporary Literature And Television Adaptations, Allie Owens

English MA Theses

A World Ruled By Unknowns: The Psychological Effects Of The Supernatural And Natural Worlds In Emily Brontë'S Wuthering Heights, Jordan Cymrot

Student Theses and Dissertations

“Lay Down My Soul At Stake”: Of Female Friendship In The Merchant Of Venice, Othello, And The Winter’S Tale, Audrey-Melody Cubas

Student Theses and Dissertations

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Tolkien’S Library: An Annotated Checklist, By Oronzo Cilli, Andoni Cossio

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Becoming C.S. Lewis: A Biography Of Young Jack Lewis (1898-1918), By Harry Lee Poe, Andrew C. Stout

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

"Written By The Finger Of God": C.S. Lewis And Historical Judgement, Phillip Irving Mitchell

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The 'Wyrdwrīteras' Of Elvish History: Northern Courage, Historical Bias, And Literary Artifact As Illustrative Narrative, Richard Z. Gallant

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Fearless Joy: Tom Bombadil’S Function In The Lord Of The Rings, Robert B. Chapman-Morales

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

"Divided 'Twixt The Lover And The Friend": Katherine Philips, Caroline Drama, And The Poetics Of Platonic Friendship, Jennifer Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

Habituation And The Aesthetics Of Disenchantment In Proust’S Search Of Lost Time Vols. I-Ii, Hayley C. Nusbaum

Theses and Dissertations

Briefly Noted, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

In Memoriam: The Last Inkling, John Rateliff

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The Unicorn As The Embodiment Of The Numinous In The Works Of Peter S. Beagle, Weronika Łaszkiewicz

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Tolkien’S Tom Bombadil: An Enigma “(Intentionally)”, Suzanne Jacobs

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature