Theory and Criticism Commons^™

Jamesonian Analysis Of Contemporary American Rape Autobiographies, Michele Laaksonen

English Theses & Dissertations

Sexual assault is widespread throughout America; unfortunately, because this crime breeds shame in its victims, most sexual assault victims never tell anyone. But, as Confessional writing became popularized in contemporary society and more victims felt the need and space to speak out, the rape autobiography developed as an essential tool in understanding the epidemic of sexual violence and the ways in which victims internalize their experiences.

Since sexual assault is a societal problem, and narratives arc a tool for victims to express themselves and expose the sexual violence within a society, rape narratives should be analyzed as windows into American's …

Retracing The Novel: Amatory Fiction And The Novel's Rise, Sarah Elizabeth Alderfer

English Theses & Dissertations

Arguing against. Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel and other academically accepted accounts of the history of the novel, this thesis positions amatory fiction at the forefront of novel's traditional genealogy by comparing amatory fiction with the Gothic novel in order to link the two genres outside of realistic fiction such as Pamela. Using Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood and The Monk by Matthew Lewis as representative examples of amatory fiction and Gothicism, respectively, this thesis ultimately establishes a connection between the three genres. It examines the similarities in amatory fiction and Gothicism through their use of …

The Use Of Free Indirect Discourse In Burney, Austen, And Eliot, Elizabeth H. Harlan

English Theses & Dissertations

Free indirect discourse, a narrative technique used in third-person novels, occurs when the private thoughts of a character are voiced in a narrative passage and no indicator such as "she thought" is present. This technique, also known as represented thought or style indirect libre, is a blurring of the line between the character and the narrator. Although popularized in the works of Jane Austen, free indirect discourse can be traced back even further to Fanny Burney and it first appears as third person narratives are beginning to replace epistolary and journal-like novels. Some have attributed the development to a growing …

The Creation And Destruction Of Surrogate Worlds In Montana Literature, Julie Lyn Mcmurray

English Theses & Dissertations

Montana writers create surrogate worlds where their characters escape the oppressiveness of the real world. The vast and varied landscape of Montana is more than a setting for many of these authors. It becomes symbolic of a national mind set that the open land will offer redemption or inner peace. Therefore, many characters become one with their natural environment. However, the writers destroy their alternative worlds by introducing emotion or real world problems into it.

Four Montana writers will be examined in detail. In Chapter II, I discuss Myron Brinig's Wide Open Town and his use of surrogate worlds. Brinig …

Spatiality In Ulysses And Cubism, Lingchei Chen

English Theses & Dissertations

The paper is a study of James Joyce's Ulysses and Cubism in modern art. Both forms, as the paper presents, use similar techniques to establish multidimensionality in the work of art. In a spatial novel like Ulysses, because of its techniques, the reader is allowed to experience exactly what the characters experience as Joyce presents every aspect of the Dublin life simultaneously. A Cubist painting does the same. As the Cubist painter captures every side of the object and simultaneously presents these different views on the canvas, the spectator is therefore able to apprehend the object from every possible angle, …

"A Terror And A Dream": Domestic Imagery In The Poetry Of Anne Sexton, Frances S. Waters

English Theses & Dissertations

Women writers often experience a conflict between traditional feminine roles and the less traditional role of the female writer. And for those writers, like Anne Sexton, who choose not to choose between roles, the result is conflict. This conflict, recognized by previous critics and evident in Sexton's biography and poetry, results in a domestic imagery expressing this vacillation. In this study, submitted in partial fulfillment for the M. A. degree in English, I provide an in-depth study of Sexton's domestic imagery. I concern myself with two imagery patterns: one, in which the symbolic image's meaning changes randomly with no controlling …

Samuel Becket's Use Of "Silence", Russell V. Watkins

English Theses & Dissertations

Silence is an important aspect of modern literature. No other living writer has made more adept use of silence in his fictional works than has Samuel Beckett. In this thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the M.A. degree in English, I provide an in-depth study of Beckett's use of silence both in his prose works and in his plays. Not only does this thesis provide an in-depth study of Beckett's use of silence, but it also provides a brief survey of how Beckets use of silence has gradually evolved in his fictional works, and comments on the significance of …

Durability Of Addison's Criticism Of Milton, Vivian Marguerite Duke

English Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

The Fragmented Individual In The Poetry Of John Crowe Ransom, Jahaila Morris Harper

English Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

An Examination Of Sir Edwin Arnold's The Light Of Asia And The Light Of The World, J. Karl Nicholas

English Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.