April 29, 2015: Fellowship Opportunity--Deadline 5/8/15!, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

No Absolutes: A Fantasy Collection, Tiffany M. Hughes

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Genre fiction, particularly fantasy and science fiction writing, has a mixed reception in academia across the world. The notion that make-believe characters and worlds could not be intellectually fulfilling is an old stereotype that reduces some of the most profound fiction of our era down to children’s tales. This fantasy collection serves as an example of how genre fiction can contain impactful stories that challenge our understanding of traditional values. As the title suggests, life, from relationships to self-identity, offers no absolutes for the future. Humanity faces uncertainty of the past, present, and future every day. These stories reflect the …

Between Subject And Tech Expertise: Collaborating With Faculty For Digital Humanities Projects [Presentation], Rose Fortier, Heather G. James, Wendy Fall

Library Faculty Research and Publications

Libraries are well-positioned for partnership with digital humanities efforts in several ways. The management of digital items and the description of information resources for future researchers make libraries natural partners in digital humanities projects. Often Humanities scholars will reach out to the library for support or even guidance in these projects.

At Marquette University, the Gothic Archive exemplifies the development of this collaboration. Though the Archive started as a humble collection of digitized and transcribed gothic chapbooks, it is being developed into an interwoven collection of digitized materials and contextual objects and promises to become a full-fledged digital humanities tool. …

April 28, 2015: New Issue Of Comparative Drama, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Gay And Lesbian Culture And Politics, John C. Hawley

English

As laws change and we move several generations away from the times of greatest struggle, the atmosphere that created the contemporary scene for gay and lesbian citizens, their culture and politics, becomes increasingly remote and potentially forgotten. As recent historians have recalled, though, “This was a population too shy and fearful to even raise its hand, a group of people who had to start at zero in order to create their place in the nation’s culture,” –an “invisible people” (Clendinen, 11). The movement for gay and lesbian rights in the United States, considered by many to have originated with the …

A Redemption Of Meaning In Three Novels By Italo Calvino, Dominick J. Knowles

English and Creative Writing Honors Papers

In this thesis I present three readings of Italo Calvino’s later novels: Invisible Cities (1972), If on a winter’s night a traveler (1979), and Mr. Palomar (1983). My primary aim is to defend Calvino against dominant scholarly interpretations that position him as a Postmodern nihilist, a literary trickster interested solely in toying with the mechanics of language. My analysis of Calvino’s work re-envisions him as a special breed of Postmodernist concerned with humanity’s ability to create spaces for meaning in spite of an indifferent cosmos. Drawing from psychoanalytic theory, cognitive science, analytic philosophy, and phenomenology, I synthesize my own critical …

Love, A Dream, Brittany A. Cordaro

Symposium of Student Scholars

No abstract provided.

‘I Am Not Your Justification For Existence:’ Mourning, Fascism, Feminism And The Amputation Of Mothers And Daughters In Atwood, Ziervogel, And Ozick, Mitchell C. Hobza

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the complexities of mother-daughter relationships in twentieth-century women’s literature that includes themes about fascism and totalitarianism. Of central concern is how mothers and daughters are separated, both physically and psychically, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Meike Ziervogel’s Magda and Cynthia Ozick’s The Shawl. Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born provides the theoretical framework for considering maternity and the institution of motherhood. These separations occur through two modes: physical separation by political force; and psychical separation through ideological difference and what Rich terms as “Matrophobia.” The physical separation is analyzed through a synthesis of Rich’s theory …

Holy Places, Dark Paths: Till We Have Faces And The Spiritual Conflicts Of C.S. Lewis, Joshua G. Novalis

Senior Honors Theses

Although Till We Have Faces (1956) was written late in C.S. Lewis’s life (1898-1963), during the peak of his literary renown, the novel remains one of Lewis’s least known and least accessible works. Due to its relatively ancient and obscure source material, as well as its tendency towards the esoteric, a healthy interpretation of the novel necessitates a wider look at Lewis’s life-long body of work. By approaching Till We Have Faces through the framework of Lewis and the corpus of his work, the reader can see two principal conflicts that characterize the work as a whole, and, more specifically, …

Zakiya Whatley, Visiting Assistant Professor Of Biology, Musselman Library, Zakiya Whatley

Next Page

In our last Next Page column of the year, Zakiya Whatley, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology, provides a recommended read for any budding geneticist; shares which books she's looking forward to reading next for her book group; and tells us what her students will be doing for class this Friday, April 24, 2015, in celebration of National DNA Day.

Review Of Joyce Carol Oates's Jack Of Spades, Eric K. Anderson

Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies

A review of Joyce Carol Oates's novel Jack of Spades with an emphasis on her history of using pseudonyms and the mystery/thriller genres.

"That Flesh-Locked Sea Of Silence”: Language, Gender, And Sexuality In Beckett’S Short Fiction, Emily F. Oliver

Honors College Theses

This paper asserts the interconnectedness of language, gender, and sexuality in the short prose of Samuel Beckett. “Assumption,” “First Love,” and “Enough,” are used as specific examples of Beckett’s fiction, selected because they assist in understanding Beckett’s participation in, and inversion of, the hegemonic privileging of the masculine. This interpretation focuses on the use of gendered language, verbalization as a sexual expression, and the manipulation of the “male” and “female” voice. The analysis is both informed by, and seeks to nuance, the linguistic criticism established by second-wave French feminists Kristeva, Irigaray, and Cixous.

The Nerd Hour Is At Hand: Portrayals Of Geeks And Nerds In Young Adult Literature Ad Popular Media, Jessica M. Stanley

Theses & Honors Papers

Turn on the television, open a book, or even walk down the street and you will no doubt notice at least one geek or nerd. Most Americans today have heard these terms, and each individual probably has his own working definition of what they mean. Unpacking those definitions, however, is tricky. What is a nerd? What is a geek? How does one identify a person as belonging to these groups? To analyze how modern culture understands geeks and nerds, one must first understand the history behind these terms. While most Americans today recognize and use the words "geek" and "nerd," …

Rhetoric Of The Body: Renaissance Cadaveric Studies And Their Influence In Shakespeare, Leslie Renee Malland

Student Theses and Dissertations

The histories of anatomy and rhetoric are integrally united and date back to the foci upon both by the ancients in Greece and Rome. Though anatomy and rhetoric may seem like they are two different worlds, the same concepts and themes run concurrently throughout the two studies. Rhetors use language to persuade others of what is true while anatomists use bodies to reveal man's truth. Thus, anatomy is nonverbal rhetoric -- communication and knowledge transferred by the body, not by language. The historical accounts of the matron Lucrece and the Roman general Caesar as told by Titus Livy and Plutarch …

Reviews, Emily E. Auger, Janet Brennan Croft, Mike Foster, Melody Green, Crystal Hurd, Eric Rauscher, Andrew Stout, Robert T. Tally, Jr.

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

Christianity and the Detective Story. Ed. Anya Morlan and Walter Raubicheck. Reviewed by Melody Green.

The Shamanic Odyssey: Homer, Tolkien, and the Visionary Experience Robert Tindall with Susana Bustos. Foreword by John Perkins. Reviewed by Emily E. Auger.

Gaining a Face: The Romanticism of C.S. Lewis. James Prothero and Donald T. Williams. Reviewed by Crystal Hurd.

The A-Z of C.S. Lewis: An Encyclopedia of His Life, Thought and Writings. Colin Duriez. Reviewed by Andrew Stout.

Under The Mercy: Charles Williams & The Holy Grail. Robert Peirano. Reviewed by Eric Rauscher.

Tolkien and the Modernists: Literary Responses to the Dark New …

Magical Genders: The Gender(S) Of Witches In The Historical Imagination Of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Lian Sinclair

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

Fruitfully explores the similarities between Pratchett’s theory of narrative causality and the gender theories of Butler and Foucault; all deal with an urge to fit gender performance into an established story. Pratchett’s witches engage in a balancing act between the gender expectations of their society and their own quests for agency and power.

Brienne Of Tarth And Jaime Lannister: A Romantic Comedy Within Hbo's Game Of Thrones, Inbar Shaham

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

“Romantic comedy” is not a genre whose conventions one would readily associate with the television series Game of Thrones, but this article makes a case for the evolving relationship between Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister as an intrusion of the “green world” of spring and summer into the bleak winter of the show. The unconventional ways in which both characters perform their genders are part of the interest and challenge of this relationship.

Tolkien Sidelined: Constructing The Non-Combatant In The Children Of Hurin, Victoria Holtz-Wodzak

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

Gives close attention to Morwen, Niennor, and Aerin, comparing them to Éowyn before she rode to battle and to Tolkien’s own mother Mabel and wife Edith. Also considers the situations of several male characters unable to or uninterested in serving in war, particularly Sador, Gwindor, and Brandir, and Tolkien’s own experiences on being sent home to England with trench fever.

St. Jerome's Narnia: Transformation And Asceticism In The Desert And Beyond The Wardrobe, John Gavin

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

Compares “two exercises in Christian myth-making”—C.S. Lewis’s Narniad and The Life of Paul the Hermit, the earliest work of the ascetic St. Jerome. Both are entertaining, and even whimsical at times, and feature communication with intelligent animals and a restoration of Paradise. Both also feature characters who model the value of asceticism and the solitary contemplative life.

Constructing Lothiriel: Rewriting And Rescuing The Women Of Middle-Earth From The Margins, Karen Viars, Cait Coker

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

Examines the presence and absence of female characters in Tolkien, in the Peter Jackson films, and in fanfiction, paying particular attention to a “footnote character,” Lothíriel, and what the body of fanfiction built around her brief mention as the daughter of Imrahil and wife of Éomer reveals about reader engagement with Tolkien’s texts.

Tolkien's Dialogue Between Enchantment And Loss, John Rosegrant

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

Examines the tension between the theme of loss underlying so much of the content of The Lord of the Rings, and the enchantment of the form of the work; the balance between the two generates a melancholy beauty that brings readers back to the book over and over again. Tolkien’s own biography is used as an example of this balance of loss and enchantment playing out in real life.

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

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

The majority of articles in this issue of Mythlore have to do with a selection of female characters in fantasy and their issues of agency, visibility, relationship, and gender roles.

"Because I'M A Girl, I Suppose!":Gender Lines And Narrativeperspective In Harry Potter, Melanie J. Cordova

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

Explores one of the interesting challenges in reading the Harry Potter series: the reader must eventually face the fact that Harry is not a totally reliable narrator or viewpoint character, especially as far as the female characters closest to him are concerned. Hermione especially suffers from his “teenage boy myopia.”

Isn't It Romantic? Sacrificing Agency For Romance In The Chronicles Of Prydain, Rodney M.D. Fierce

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

Addresses the vexed question of Princess Eilonwy’s gesture of giving up magic and immortality to be the wife of Taran and queen of Prydain. Was it a forced choice and a sacrifice of the capable and strong-willed girl’s agency and power, or does it proceed logically from her depiction throughout the series?

Chaoskampf, Salvation, And Dragons: Archetypes In Tolkien's Earendel, Tibor Tarcsay

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

Study of world-wide mythical archetypes in relation to Tolkien’s Eärendil. Lays out a broad array of evidence attesting to a complex of characteristics associated with a mythical morning-star character, chief among them an association with water, horses, boats, constellations, being a messenger or herald, and monster-slaying, particularly of monsters associated with chaos.

Notes, Nancy Martsch, Janet Brennan Croft, Edith Crowe, Richard West

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

Notes and Letters

Notes

• Thiepval Ridge and Minas Tirith. Proposes a specific source for certain imagery associated with the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. By Nancy Martsch

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• In Memoriam: Terry Pratchett in Mythlore. A listing of Terry Pratchett’s appearances in Mythlore as the subject of articles. By Janet Brennan Croft

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• In Memoriam: Tom Loback in Mythlore. A listing of artist Tom Loback’s appearances in Mythlore as illustrator or author. By Janet Brennan Croft and Edith Crowe

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Letters

• Corrects and expands on items in his Mythcon Guest of Honor speech (“Where …

Intro To Intros: Victorian Literature In Brief, Leah Kind

Classics of British Literature

Often, teachers struggle with a way to introduce students to a large canon (such as Victorian Literature) without overwhelming them with a heavy reading load. Many teachers can also not expect that students will read outside of class, and cannot devote great swaths of time to in-class reading. This lesson seeks to introduce students to some exemplary representational examples of Victorian literature by reading a portion of the novel’s first chapter, and allowing them to discuss what they have seen, analyze, make predictions, and draw conclusions, based on their reading. This lesson is most suitable for students who have already …

Uses Of Someone: Beyond Simple Person Reference, Yu-Han Lin

Purdue Linguistic Association Symposium

This study looks at how the non-recognitional reference form “someone” is used to refer to a known referent when a recognitional, such as a first name or a descriptive recognitional (Stiver, 2007), is available (Sacks & Schegloff, 1979). In a conversation, when participants have shared knowledge about who a referent is, the occurrence of “someone” connotes more than a simple reference to the referent. While there is little previous research concerning the use of a non-recognitional to complete particular social actions, in this study, I show how “someone” can be employed to accomplish disaffiliative actions such as complaints, accusations and …

Politics Of Identity And Oppression In Rhys’S Voyage In The Dark, Ellen Michelle Stringer

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

In this essay, “Politics of Identity and Oppression in Rhys’s Voyage in the Dark” I aim to explore the ways in which identity and the idea of the constructed ‘self’ are both created and continuously transformed by one’s experiences and memories. I argue that the protagonist of Rhys’s novel’s identity is ultimately shaped by her racialized experiences of growing up in the West Indies. In my discussion I analyze the color metaphors Rhys utilizes and the impact they have upon readers’ unconscious perceptions about race, ultimately aiming to deconstruct the commonly assumed/utilized dichotomy between white/black. I use these notions of …

Reaching Reality: Realistic Portrayals Of Racism, Paige Evans

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

This paper argues that genre is essential to the accurate depiction of racism. By focusing on three landmark texts—Richard Wright’s Native Son, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and Percival Everett’s Erasure—an overview of the most powerful genres in this discussion is given. The first, Realism, is defined by its determination to show physical reality. The next, Surrealism, is associated with cognitive reality. Poststructuralism, the last genre included, is described as using the cognitive effects of Surrealism to actively commentate and critique the physical realities of Realism. It is this interaction that marks Poststructuralism as the genre best suited …