English Language and Literature Commons^™

Variations On Leitmotif: Firebird Rises, Virginia Beikmann

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis begins with an introduction that discusses the various influences on the development of the creative novella portion. These influences include Russia literature and folklore, as well as the genres of alternative history and speculative fiction. The novella takes place in a re-imagining of Moscow, Russia during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The novella portion is driven by a close focus on character, with emphasis on reactions to wartime pressures and interpersonal relationships forming the central conflict.

Place-Based Fiction: Tourist Town Stories, Keegan Waller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

I first conceived of the idea for this short story collection in my early 20's while working as a ski lift operator, bartender, construction worker, and window cleaner in Park City, Utah. At the same time, I was becoming interested in short fiction through the works of authors like Raymond Carver, Chuck Palahniuk, and Charles Bukowski, whose dirty realism has played a large role in the formulation of my thesis. I intend to write a story collection that moves their genre into a more modern setting. While this collection will not fit perfectly into the dirty realist box, the themes …

The Last Days Of Elder Mitchell, Jack Bylund

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The Last Days of Elder Mitchell is a novella following the eponymous Latter-Day Saint missionary as he narrates the miracles performed by his colleague, Elder Gibson, as well as his personal grappling with his queer identity as he serves a high-demand religion that condemns people like him. The narrative explores the intersection of queerness and faith, the form of the novella, and the healing nature of autobiographical fiction.

Satanic Ritual Abuse Hysteria; A Discourse Analysis, Sloan Watson

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

During the 1980s, moral panic erupted nationwide as allegations of satanic abuse of children were made public, sparking inflammatory headlines and sensational news stories that drove fear and doubt into the hearts of many. Known as Satanic Ritual Abuse Hysteria, this mass hysteria is now widely acknowledged to be absurd, as allegations were proven false and the mistakes made by those in positions of power were brought to attention. However, this still leaves us to question how society within this era so easily came to believe these now-proven falsities and outlandish claims of mass ritual abuse. Using Van Dijk’s “Ideology …

Lifelong Movie Goers, Hardworking Filmmakers, And Oscars Discourse, Haley Kamola

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This paper focuses on the discourse surrounding the Academy Awards, often referred to as the Oscars. The differences in discourse between people working in the film industry and those who watch movies are analyzed, as they represent the supplier and recipient of films and filmmaking. These two groups offer varied perspectives on the topic. The discourse of another group, a group in-between–student filmmakers–is also analyzed. To many people, what makes a film “good” is quite subjective, so the Academy Awards are often a subject of discourse. One particular focus of discourse will be the 2024 Academy Awards. There were a …

Unveiling Deception: Discourse Analysis Of Sora And The Impact Of Ai On Misinformation, Kellen Edwards

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In today’s era of information abundance, combating the proliferation of misinformation is paramount. The growing concern within the release of artificial intelligence–AI models–have exemplified concerns through Open AI’s new text-to-video learning language model: Sora, heightening the ever-present issue of how artificial intelligence will be a detriment to society. This project is a culmination of a comprehensive analysis regarding the ongoing discourse of the effects of this language learning text-to-video model and its impending effects of deception. Implementing James Paul Gee’s meticulous discourse analysis tools, I was able to meticulously examine online discussions spanning diverse social media platforms to unearth underlying …

Lessons Lost: The Complicated Filtering Of History Curricula, Kate Burchnell

Quest

Argument and Proposal Essay

Research in progress for ENGL 1302: Composition II

Faculty Mentors: Lisa Kirby, PhD and Kyle Wilkison, PhD

Introduction from Dr. Lisa Kirby

It was my pleasure to work with Kate Burchnell on her paper, “Lessons Lost: The Complicated Filtering of History Curricula.” Kate’s project began as an assignment in my Fall 2021 Composition II course. This assignment allowed students to choose a topic they were passionate about, write a persuasive essay about the issue, and propose a solution to the problem. Students were encouraged to pick topics in their future professions or fields of study. As …

Back Matter

Articulāte

No abstract provided.

Utopia & Dystopia In Postcolonial Constructions Of Place, Ikera Olandesca

Articulāte

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The Evolution Of Chinese Beauty, Leah Cashin

Articulāte

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Hard-Boiled Queer Detective Fiction, Ava King

Articulāte

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Latinx Futurism In Mañana: Latinx Comics From The 25th Century, Olivia Bernard

Articulāte

No abstract provided.

Motherhood As Immigration In Asian American Literature, Maggie Malin

Articulāte

No abstract provided.

Articulāte Vol. Xxix

Articulāte

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Front Matter

Articulāte

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Editor's Note

Articulāte

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Gen Zers And Millennials Are Still Big Fans Of Books – Even If They Don’T Call Themselves ‘Readers’, Kathi Inman Berens, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Identifying with an activity is different from actually doing it. For example, 49% of Americans play video games, but only 10% identify as gamers. According to a recent survey we conducted, there’s also a small gap between reading activity and identity for younger readers: 61% of Generation Z and millennials have read a print book, e-book or audiobook in the past 12 months, but only 57% identify as readers.

And yet there was a puzzling aspect of our results: The 43% of Gen Z and millennials who didn’t identify as readers actually said they read more print books per month …

Embracing Our Inner Weird Barbie, Kayla Mackney

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

Homemade Language, Conservative Fro-Yo, And Sci-Fi Sloths: How Speculative Migration Fiction Confronts The Ends Of Worlds By Challenging The Nation-State, Zoe R. Scheuerman

English Honors Projects

This English literature thesis project explores an emerging, genre-defying body of fiction which I call “speculative migration fiction.” Speculative migration fiction imagines how ongoing global developments like climate change, technological development, and war may shape future migrations. Drawing on Benedict Anderson’s conception of national culture, Wendy Brown’s theory of the border, and Caroline Levine’s understanding of literary form, as well as close readings from Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, and 2 A.M. in Little America by Ken Kalfus, I argue that transnational migrations move toward becoming postnational migrations as migrants evade border …

Austen's Realist Feminine Icon, Sean Mcconnell

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Queer Gazes Back: A Dowry Of Blood As A Queer Mirror To Cisheterosexual Gothic Fears, Robin Bozik

English

This paper examines the connection between the contemporary Gothic A Dowry of Blood and its literary predecessors, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Carmilla. Through a focus on queer bodies, this work demonstrates the evolution of queer lineage-making and responses to cisheterosexual threats. Using literature as a “mirror” to gaze back on the visceral fears held by those who fall outside the norms of gender and sexuality in their respective time periods, this work also examines social tensions in the 21^st century surrounding reproduction and gender-affirming care.

In addition to literary analysis of the primary texts, this paper is …

"My Hideous Progeny": Complicating Preconceived Notions Of Monstrous Beings In "Frankenstein" And "Jurassic Park", Megan Engstrom

English

This project examines and complicates preconceived notions of the monstrous in Frankenstein and Jurassic Park. By engaging with monster theory, I interrogate how the creators are destructive beings and their creations are only trying to fit into their made bodies. I also complicate the ideas of family when interacting with monsters or monstrous places – specifically looking at how isolation/creation of them will affect people. These ideas are questioned to confront a normalized perception of monsters as the villains. By examining the monstrous in Frankenstein and Jurassic Park, I am questioning the very idea of how a monster is created …

Georgia Ghosts: History, Folklore, And The Roots Of The Southern Gothic, Katherine M. Mcdowell

Master's Projects

There is something quintessentially human about ghost stories, yet particular regions tend to be more powerfully associated with haunted folktales than others. One of the regions is the southeastern United States. In fact, these oral traditions appear to have influenced the area's best-known literary subgenre: the Southern Gothic.

Why is the South considered haunted? Are there particular qualities in historical events that make them more likely to engender ghost stories? What makes the South's folkloric spirits so powerful that they appear even in modern literature? Most of all, what connects the region's history and folklore with the Southern Gothic? By …

Subversion Of Traditional Gender Roles In Macbeth, Olivia Eubanks

Merge

No abstract provided.

Written In Blood: The Cultural Work Of Family, Sexuality, And Race In Adaptations Of Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire, Ariana Alvarado

Undergraduate Theses

Anne Rice’s gothic novel “Interview with the Vampire” (1976) has not only stood the test of time as a cult classic, but has continued to be told and retold through a film adaptation (1994) and recent AMC television production (2022). Looking through the lens of adaptation theory and the ideas of Nina Auerbach in Our Vampires, Ourselves, this presentation highlights how both the original novel and subsequent adaptations use the figure of the vampire to represent the social changes of the era of its creation, particularly in regards to queerness and sexuality.

Noticing The Brush Strokes: Literary Markers In Hebrew Narratives, Shelbey Hunt

Masters Theses

As the people who set out to write, edit, and form the Bible may have used embellishments to enhance their narratives, could they also have left literary markers to help the reader chart a course between the historical and the enhanced? The purpose of this thesis is to find these literary markers. Exposing any potential grammatical or syntactical signpost can help the reader understand how they should view a given Biblical story and help reveal the messages the authors behind the scripture were sharing. The book of Jonah will be used as a case study to both discover and elaborate …

“Young In Deed”: Feminine Affect And Agency In Young Adult Shakespeare Adaptations, Juliana Hall

English

Approaching the cultural behemoth that is Shakespeare can be daunting, especially for young audiences; the language is antiquated and can be difficult to understand, and, due in part to the age of these works, the content is often rooted in bigoted ideologies. Young adult (YA) novel adaptations have begun reintroducing readers to Shakespeare, not only significantly enhancing the narratives, but encouraging readers to play with Shakespeare’s language in new, accessible, and exciting ways. By looking at two twenty-first century YA novel adaptations of Shakespeare’s original plays alongside the accompanying source material, I analyze how female protagonists engage with their emotions …

Unequal Punishment Of Women And Minorities In The Workplace, Jorden Woodson

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

Rewrite The Past And Remember The Future: How Expatriates Built An Independent Ireland, Morgan Grabowski

English and Creative Writing Honors Papers

This paper seeks to answer the question “How did Ireland create a unique identity after gaining independence from England?” In order to answer that question, I analyzed five different Irish authors who wrote in a timeframe spanning the first half of the twentieth century. These authors are W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, Elizabeth Bowen, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett. These authors, at one point or another, wrote texts which are considered Irish, while living abroad. Because of this, this paper focuses on their status as expatriates, and how that influenced their contributions to the Irish Literary Revival, which is the literary …

Rumer Godden, An Author To Be Remembered, Yet Is Forgotten: How Godden’S Novels Can Impact Our Lives And Our Theology, Halle Beranek '24

Annual Celebration for Student Scholarship and Creativity

Halle Beranek ’24, English Literature and Theology major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Darra Mulderry, Center for Engaged Learning