Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Drowning In Sacrifice: Maggie Tulliver’S Role In George Eliot’S The Mill On The Floss, Kami E. Bates

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Upon examining the personal rejection and eventual demise of Maggie Tulliver, the protagonist of The Mill on the Floss, it becomes evident that her death is a sacrifice through which she demonstrates the morality of George Eliot’s religion of humanity. Maggie is a headstrong, intelligent, and memorable character who does not fit into her community and ultimately drowns in a flood while attempting to save her loved ones. The story begs the question: why must such an endearing main character perish? One possibility is that her character flaws make her downfall inevitable. The high-class and hypocritical members of the …

The Anti-Hero And The Wallflower Heroine: Moll Flanders And Mansfield Park In Dialogue, Alex Valin

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

Daniel Defoe’s 1722 novel Moll Flanders and Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, published ninety years later, retain many narrative similarities. The protagonists of both novels find themselves born poor, symbolically adopted by a well-to-do family, whom they are Othered from to a certain degree, and eventually marry one of the sons of said family. However, no reader of literature could say that Moll Flanders and Fanny Price are the same character. Rather, the differences in their characters come from the amount of agency afforded to them by the respective novel. Ultimately, these two characters form prototypes of characters to be ingrained …

Digital Expressionism And Christopher Wheeldon’S Alice’S Adventures In Wonderland: What Contemporary Choreographers Can Learn From Early Twentieth-Century Modernism, Kelly Oden

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

How can classical ballet adapt to a world that is in an ever more rapid state of flux? By uncovering an example of the kind of interdisciplinary artistic collaboration that contributed to the thriving artistic environment of the early twentieth century, a model for artistic success emerges. By examining modernism and Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in relation to Christopher Wheeldon’s groundbreaking 2011 ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a correlation between the success of the Ballets Russes and the success of Wheeldon is exposed. I argue that by applying the modernist practice of interdisciplinary interaction to his own productions, Wheeldon …

Death Defied: James Joyce's Naturalistic Evolution, Cody D. Jarman

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Death, as a thematic and narrative motif, is of particular import to the Naturalistic literary approach. This is extremely evident in the work of James Joyce, on whom the Naturalist movement had a notable influence. Throughout his career Joyce utilized the subtext surrounding death in the father-son relationship to criticize Irish culture as it appears in his works. However, Joyce was not content to simply recreate a textbook interpretation of Naturalism. Joyce developed the core principles of the Naturalistic approach, starting with a basic and purely Naturalistic approach in his early writing; Joyce eventually managed to subvert and reinterpret the …

The John Milton Digital Library, Dana Haugh

Library Faculty Publications

The John Milton Digital Library (JMDL) is an online platform for scholars, researchers, students, professors, and information seekers interested in learning more about John Milton and his works. The JMDL aims to serve as an information and community resource for those wishing to study Milton’s works alongside critical reviews, biographical information, and upcoming and existing exhibitions that may be of interest to those in the field. It is the only digital library of its kind and offers a host of useful and intellectually stimulating content, while giving its users access to the complete works of John Milton, courtesy of the …

Review Of Testimony On Trial: Conrad, James, And The Contest For Modernism, Richard Ruppel

English Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Brian Artese's Testimony on Trial: Conrad, James and the Contest for Modernism, published by University of Toronto Press.

A Single Man Of Good Fortune: Postmodern Identities And Consumerism In The New Novel Of Manners, Bonnie Mclean

Dissertations (1934 -)

In my dissertation, I argue that the novel of manners, while sometimes considered a moribund genre, presents itself as a genre relevant to contemporary criticism of social change from consensus politics to privatization both at governmental and domestic levels. I establish both key terms, cultural and theoretical trends, and define the novel of manners in context as a historical genre and a contemporary one. I further explore the novel of manners as a commentary on social and moral problems, particularly in tensions between social morality and individual morality that emerge when manners break down, a concept originally highlighted by Henry …

Saving The Grotesque: The Grotesque System Of Liberation In British Modernism (1922-1932), Matthew Henningsen

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation re-situates the grotesque in a critical tradition that emphasizes its function as a liberating force, rather than its traditional role as an arouser of terror and amusement. I then apply the grotesque liberation to the High Modern literary environment of Britain in order to reveal the grotesque dimensions of this period. To accomplish these goals of re-situating the grotesque, and applying the grotesque to High Modernism, I create a so-called "Grotesque System of Liberation." This system consists of three stages (the Symbolic, Real, and Non-Symbolic Symbolic) that trace a specific text's progress from a state of illusory stability …

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Faculty Publications & Research

Why Tolkien?

Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?

From Present To Past: Contextualizing The Sonnet, Nicole Trackman

Understanding Poetry

Students will learn the components of a Shakespearean sonnet by looking at the intentions and figurative language of modern music and tracing it back to Spenser’s blazon “Sonnet XV” and Shakespeare’s response in “Sonnet 130”. This lesson allows multiple entry points into the language, content and form of Shakespeare’s sonnets. This lesson can be used at the beginning of a unit on Shakespeare, Renaissance poetry, or sonnets.

"My Own Little Home": Historical Places Of Peace In British Literature, Erin Kayla Choate

Tenor of Our Times

No abstract provided.

Review Of Barbara K. Seeber, Jane Austen And Animals, Lucinda Cole

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In this review of Barbara K. Seeber's Jane Austen and Animals (Ashgate, 2013) Lucinda Cole summarizes this foundational book and emphasizes the role of animal studies scholars in linking feminism and environmental issues.

Review Of Helen E.M. Brooks, Actresses, Gender, And The Eighteenth-Century Stage: Playing Women, Leslie Ritchie

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Review Of Kerri Andrews, Ann Yearsley And Hannah More, Patronage And Poetry, Catherine Keohane

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review of Ann Yearsley and Hannah More, Patronage and Poetry by Kerri Andrews.

Review Of Amanda E. Herbert, Female Alliances: Gender, Identity, And Friendship In Early Modern Britain, Angela Rehbein

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review of Amanda E. Herbert, Female Alliances: Gender, Identity, and Friendship in Early Modern Britain. New Haven: Yale UP, 2014. xi, 256 pages: illustrations; 24 cm. ISBN 978-0-300-17740-4.

Mansfield Park Comes To Life: Teaching And Staging Elizabeth Inchbald’S Lovers’ Vows In An Austen Course, Misty Krueger

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This essay discusses how I incorporated readers theatre into a senior seminar on Jane Austen and her contemporaries. The article recounts how my students read Elizabeth Inchbald’s 1798 drama, Lovers’ Vows, and Austen’s 1814 novel, Mansfield Park, and then were inspired at the end of the seminar to take part in a readers theatre production of the play. In order to set up this pedagogical example, the essay addresses the theatrical episode of Mansfield Park, the controversies surrounding Lovers’ Vows, and the ways in which I edited the play and prepared students to create a “little …

Shared Ideas Among Friends: The Common Ground Of Owen Barfield, J.R.R. Tolkien, And C.S. Lewis, Phillip Joe Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

No abstract provided.

Jane Austen's Heroines--And Some Others, Neda H. Jeny

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Jane Austen’s Heroines--and Some Others

Jane Austen is the earliest English novelist whose novels are still widely read today; in fact, they are becoming more popular all the time.

Of course, there are good reasons for this popularity. Apart from Austen’s creation of unforgettable characters, and her exquisite irony and sense of humor, there is one other thing I’d like to discuss today: her heroines could be called, in a sense, brilliant (and often unorthodox) adaptations of universally recognized types. For example, Elizabeth Bennet is so remarkable a character because she is, at the same time, a sort of Cinderella …

Contextualizing The Writings Of J.R.R. Tolkien On Literary Criticism, Sherrylyn Branchaw

Journal of Tolkien Research

This essay offers a reinterpretation of Tolkien's writings about literary criticism, which are focused on Beowulf, fairy stories, and his own works. Whereas his writings have often been taken to mean that analytic scholarship is not valid and should not be pursued, my essay takes the intellectual climate of the time into consideration and offers an alternative interpretation, according to which he did not mean to forbid these studies outright and indeed intended that scholars should continue writing them. The essay ends with a call to academics not to be discouraged by his strong language from producing analytic studies.

Discordant Desire: Morley’S Polyphony In Shakespeare’S Twelfth Night, Helen Plevka

2015 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

From Orsino’s opening line, “If music be the food of love, play on,” to Feste’s concluding song of solitude, William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will is relentlessly full of music, whether explicitly calling for sound or indirectly invoking references to musical ideas (1.1.1). Shakespeare utilizes music not only to entertain the listeners of his plays but also to employ its inane ability to enhance and empower human speech. The musicality of this play, first performed at a feast on February 2, 1602, would have been understood and appreciated by its original audience as Elizabethan England experienced a golden …

Shakespeare And School Counseling, Nick Abel

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

In the ongoing search for therapeutic tools and techniques to use with students from kindergarten through the 12^th grade (K-12), it is unlikely that many school counselors have considered the work of William Shakespeare. Generally confined to upper-level high school English classrooms, the work of “The Bard” is more likely to be considered an obstacle for students to overcome than a resource to enhance their academic, career, or personal/social development (Anderson & Anderson, 2003). While Shakespeare may not have a place in every school counseling program, below are some possibilities for using his work in contemporary K-12 settings.

Shakespeare And Teaching Rhetorical Technique In The Speech Classroom, Amanda Arp

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Shakespeare’s artistic communication within the speeches of his plays has the potential to augment student learning in college speech communication courses. Studying Shakespeare is appropriate in college speech communication courses because students could achieve improved rhetorical skills. Studying Shakespeare could even fulfill learning objectives of speech communication classes. For example, at Iowa State University, one of the learning objectives of the speech communication foundation course, SP CM 212, is to “select appropriate language to communicate ideas vividly, accurately, and respectfully” (LeFebvre 3). William Shakespeare’s plays have thrived because of his vivid, rhetorical language. Therefore, by studying the language of several …

A Contemporary Ophelia Reads The Sonnets, Vicki J. Simpson

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Shakespeare’s Ophelia is a complex character—she’s multilayered, conflicted, and evocative. Exactly how a woman from such a golden age of exploration and expansion in England’s history could have lived such a circumscribed existence is certainly understandable, given the time period, but it’s also an incalculable tragedy. In this piece, I invite you to suspend your disbelief and join me in an imaginative quest to see how this star-crossed noblewoman from Denmark might approach Shakespeare’s Sonnets 29, 30, and 122, from a decadent, epicurean, self-indulgent, and entirely postmodern perspective.

Reality In Shakespeare And The Digital World [A Review By John Sievers Of Shakespeare And The Digital World: Redefining Scholarship And Practice, Edited By Christie Carson And Peter Kirwan], John Sievers

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

The collection of essays edited by Christie Carson and Peter Kirwan, Shakespeare and the Digital World: Redefining Scholarship and Practice, came to me at a pertinent moment. I started reading it after I had pushed a squeaky-wheeled cart full of twenty-eight iPads to class, then used a document camera displaying my iPad and fingers to show the class how to search a database. Later that day, I also observed a student use a smartphone-based online dictionary app to hear how to pronounce Ceres. The student then used his new knowledge to further a group discussion about scansion in lines …

A Review By Regina Marler For Becoming Virginia Woolf: Her Early Diaries And The Diaries She Read, By Barbara Lounsberry, Regina Marler

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Very rarely, when bending the head over some worthy academic volume, perhaps with a title something like, Post-postmodernisms of Cross-colonial Language Theories or (Mal)contents: Forematter Errata in Eighteenth Century Rural Sermons, a revelation strikes the reader around page fifteen: “My God, I am actually going to enjoy this.” Some of us have experienced this jolt of pleasure and intellectual communion but few realize that it can occur even when the author has, unaccountably, snatched one of the best titles from a handwritten shortlist the reader has kept taped near her desk for her own current work-in-progress. Such, I can …

Faculty Author Series-Dr. Brenda Ayres

Honorable Mention

Announcement about Dr. Brenda Ayres' presentation on Feminism and Christian Scholarship. This is a lecture event for the JFL Faculty Authors Series.

Altered Perspective, Jaymee L. Wagner

The Kabod

This paper analyzes Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations by discussing how and why Pip’s perspective on social classes and individual morality changes as a result of the various characters and events he encounters throughout the novel.

The Rhetoric Of Exile In The Preaching And Teaching Of The Anglo-Saxon Church: Glimpses Of The Cultural Ideology In Old English Homilies, Yi-Chin Huang

The Hilltop Review

Abstract.

This article explores how the early medieval vernacular homiletic discourse produced in Anglo-Saxon England strategically employs the rhetoric exile, a theme whose significance is also articulated widely in Old English poetry. As words denoting such similar ideas as exile, banishment, exclusion, casting/driving out, etc., recur significantly in the homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church, including the homilies of Ælfric, Wulfstan, and the Blickling and Vercelli Codices, I propose an analysis of the instances in which the rhetoric about exile is used in preaching and theology in order to reveal not only the Church authors/teachers’ ability and effort to translate Latin …