Modern Literature Commons^™

Humor In The Teaching Of Writing: A Microethnographic Approach, Christian F. Hempelmann

Faculty Publications

This paper presents the content of a critical thinking and writing course, along with similar courses derived from it, designed around the topic of humor and culminating in a microethnographic investigation of humor in students’ lives. The aims of the paper are threefold: to offer a general rationale for using humor in the writing classroom; to illustrate different types of potentials and dangers of such an approach; and to suggest extensions of the findings to the second-language writing classroom. The paper offers texts, writing prompts, and activities for instructors teaching classes that focus on the writing process in a first …

Burroughs's Postcolonial Visions In The Yage Letters, Melanie Keomany

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Burroughs's Postcolonial Visions in The Yage Letters" Melanie Keomany discusses the contents of William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg's The Yage Letters which could be dismissed as openly bigoted and racist. Keomany posits that the text reveals valuable connections between the colonial expansion of the eighteenth century and 1950s USA and Latin America. By re-shaping Burroughs's lived experiences in the Amazon into a text where the narrator William Lee mimics sardonically and parodically the colonial scientific explorer, The Yage Letters provides valuable insight into the complex postcolonial context of the mid-twentieth century.

The Impact Of Burroughs's Naked Lunch On Chester's The Exquisite Corpse, Jaap Van Der Bent

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Impact of Burroughs's Naked Lunch on Chester's The Exquisite Corpse" Jaap van der Bent posits that although Alfred Chester was critical of most Beat writing, in Tangier in the early 1960s he associated not only with Paul Bowles, but also with William S. Burroughs. Van der Bent argues that The Exquisite Corpse, the experimental novel Chester wrote in Tangier, shows the influence of the city's geography and especially the content and form of Burroughs's Naked Lunch.

Burroughs As A Political Writer?, Alexander Greiffenstern

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Burroughs as a Political Writer?" Alexander Greiffenstern discusses political elements in William S. Burroughs's work. Greiffenstern looks at Burroughs's text "The Coming of the Purple Better One" written for Esquire about the Democratic National Convention in Chicago 1968. By writing a surprisingly personal text, Burroughs might have captured something about the significance of the convention that many later historical accounts miss. In the end, Burroughs leaves the critical reader no other choice than to attempt a historical and political analysis.

Politics Of Feminist Revision In Di Prima's Loba, Polina Mackay

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Politics of Feminist Revision in di Prima's Loba" Polina Mackay explores Diane di Prima's two-volume epic Loba (1998) and, through a comparison of di Prima to the work of Adrienne Rich, argues that Loba practices a politics of feminist revision. Further, Mackay examines the ways in which di Prima starts to move away from the recovery project of female voices in patriarchal culture, associated with late twentieth-century Feminism, towards a women's literature which need not be defined entirely through its resistance to patriarchal narratives of gender in men's literature. Here it focuses on di Prima's revisionist …

Imagination As A Response To Naturalism: C.S. Lewis’S The Chronicles Of Narnia In Light Of The Anscombe Affair, Allison P. Reichenbach

Senior Honors Theses

In this paper I suggest The Chronicles of Narnia were occasioned by Elizabeth Anscombe’s critique of chapter three of Miracles. Instead of a retreat from debate, The Chronicles show that the Supernatural is not something to be contemplated, but instead experienced. In the stories, the children’s dominant naturalism and ignorance of Supernaturalism personally encounter the highest Supernatural being. When transitioning from Miracles to The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis’s writing altered from operating under the Argument from Reason to the experience of imagination in order for the reader to personally experience – not contemplate – Supernaturalism. Fairytale, romance, and …

Review: Shakespeare’S Stage Traffic: Imitation, Borrowing And Competition In Renaissance Theatre. Janet Clare., Kelly Stage

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Shakespeare’s Stage Traffic is a fit title for Janet Clare’s investigation of Shakespeare and his theatrical environment. While her subtitle outlines the key practices that underpin her readings of Shakespeare’s plays, their co-texts, and their competition, the idea of traffic best encapsulates the complexity of the relationships that Clare charts. As she writes, Shakespeare’s Stage Traffic may enable “a more conjoined critical study of the plays of the early modern stage — one that will take into account the networks of influence, exchange, and competition of stage traffic that make up the matrix essential for talent to flourish” (267). Her …

Quelle Modernité Congolaise ? Et Quelle(S) Modalité(S) Pour La Dire ?, Charles Djungu-Simba K

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This study examines literary production in DR Congo especially with regard to the short story genre. This is based on the work of a generation of young writers who conceive their engagement with a literary field still under the sway of their elders as an avenue for self-assertion in a declining society portrayed through characters that find it difficult to carve a place in the sun. Their works showcase uncommon possibilities of expression that harness the virtues of economy and authenticity, suggesting the traits of what Congolese modernity should not be, given that authors seem to be more concerned with …

Fabulations Ou Imaginaires Vacillants : L’Écriture De Rakotoson Et Raharimanana Entre Histoire, Mémoire Et Urgence Du Social, Ute Fendler

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The two writers from Madagascar, Michèle Rakotoson and Jean-Luc Raharimanana, fill empty memorial spaces by writing texts that vary from autobiographical mode, via the historical one, up to some elements of oral tradition with the objective to create anticipatory texts. The article analyzes the entanglement of references to reality and to fiction drawing on the notion of “fabulation” by Deleuze and of “half-knowledge” by Flahaut.

Cross-Language Community Engagement: Assessing The Strengths Of Heritage Learners, Elise Dubord, Elizabeth Kimball

Faculty Work

This article reports on university students’ learning outcomes stemming from their work as language partners in a community-based learning project in an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class with adult Spanish-speaking immigrants. We present a rubric designed to assess student learning in the collaborative, cross-language nature of the partnership that moves beyond notions of language acquisition. The rubric was used to score the reflective writing of students in two university classes who participated in this off-campus partnership, one in Spanish for majors, and one in English for general education students. Our analysis focuses on correlations between students’ language …

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

Young People's Literature Of Algerian Immigration In France, Anne Schneider

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Young People's Literature of Algerian Immigration in France" Anne Schneider discusses questions of language, hybridity, and heritage in some works for young people published in France about Algeria and/or Algerian-French identity, by Leïla Sebbar, Jean-Paul Nozière, Azouz Begag, and Michel Piquemal. She argues for the need for an intercultural education at primary school that uses literature about immigration to highlight questions of place, belonging, exile and language. Schneider's focus is on Begag's Un train pour chez nous (2001) and Piquemal's Mon miel, ma douceur (2004). These texts use linguistic hybridity and an emphasis on common human experiences …

Minor Transnational Writing In Ireland, Borbála Faragó

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Minor Transnational Writing in Ireland" Borbála Faragó investigates the poetic work of some of Ireland's migrant writers through the lens of minor transnationalism. Ireland's peculiar migration history where there are two quite distinct groups of inward migrants, requires careful rethinking of terminology. Faragó proposes to circumnavigate the binary approach of investigating center versus periphery and instead look for lateral connections between marginalized groups. Reading the works of Ireland's internal others brings to the fore issues of authenticity, ethics, and identity that can foreground some of the ambiguities inherent in transnational studies today. Interpreting the oeuvre of these …

The History, Memory, And Representation Of The Holocaust: Reflections On A Yearlong Freshman Seminar And Study Trip, Brian Vetruba, Cecily Hibbs, Talia Wazana, Abigail Wippel, Erin Mcglothlin, Anika Walke

WashU Libraries Presentations

Presented at the Lessons and Legacies conference on Holocaust Studies in November 2016, these posters document a year-long freshman FOCUS seminar held at Washington University in St. Louis in 2015-2016 that aimed to give incoming college students a sophisticated understanding of the causes, dynamics, representation, and memory of the Nazi genocide. Created and co-taught by Anika Walke and Erin McGlothlin, this intensive academic engagement featured two semesters of coursework focusing on the history and the literary and filmic representation of the Holocaust and a twelve-day trip to Germany, Poland and Lithuania. The group visited important Holocaust-related sites to deepen their …

James Joyce Dubliners Run: He Went Through The Narrow Alley Of Temple Bar Quickly, Barry Sheehan

Other resources

I write a blog www.jj21k.com which looks at the works of James Joyce, the environment which he wrote about and changes that have taken place since he wrote about them. The blogposts are predominantly about Dublin. As part of discovering Dublin by reading and Running I have written several longer pieces.

This piece creates a running narrative that runs through each of the Dubliners stories, physically connecting them and making observation on them and the city of Dublin.

You can see more background information and other posts on www.jj21k.com.

Don Quixote In Russia In The 18th And 19th Centuries: The Problem Of Perception And Interpretation, Slav N. Gratchev Phd

Modern Languages Faculty Research

This paper examines the problem of the perception of Don Quixote in Russia in the XVIII and XIX centuries. The author wants to demonstrate that this process of appropriation has had a long and complex history, and there were specific reasons for this. Don Quixote, the first modern fiction novel, upon arrival in Russia, received minimal attention and was perceived as a very simple and comic book. Then, little by little, it began to gain importance. Most of the materials the author uses for this presentation are available only in Russian, and they are kept in the scientific libraries …

The Ideology Of Madness: The Rejected Artist Vs. The Capitalist Society In As I Lay Dying, Jared R. Mcswain

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This article examines the character of Darl Bundren in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying from the position that he is an artist functioning in a society that ultimately rejects and condemns him through the vessel of ideological conceptions of madness. Topics explored include the ideology of madness, the ideological project of capitalism, queering as a weapon to support an ideology, essential characteristics of “the artist” type, and the consequences of perceived madness.

Songs Of Passage And Sacrifice: Gabriella Ghermandi’S Stories In Performance, Laura Dolp, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

In this time and on this page, Spivak's island seems an apt place to begin a discussion about storytelling, resistance, and belonging. This chapter documents a conversation originating from two disciplinary perspectives-literature (Ferraro) and music (Dolp). We explore how spoken-word performance in a global context can facilitate social empowerment, craft a cultural past, and invigorate political consciousness. Although our analytical strategies and some of our conclusions differ, we share the assertion that the notion of artistic citizenship as it is defined elsewhere in this collection is considerably complicated, and even requires redefinition, in the context of non-Western cultures. Our present …

Pathos, Fall 2016, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Jessica Moore

Volume 11 No. 1

Willa Cather Editing Sarah Orne Jewett, Melissa J. Homestead

Department of English: Faculty Publications

“In reading over a package of letters from Sarah Orne Jewett,” Willa Cather wrote in her preface to the Mayflower Edition of The Best Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett (1925), “I find this observation: ‘The thing that teases the mind over and over for years, and at last gets itself down rightly on paper—whether little or great, it belongs to Literature.” Cather’s private letters and her public statements in the form of essays, interviews, and speeches testify abundantly that Jewett had teased Cather’s mind over and over in the years following her friend and mentor’s death in 1909. Furthermore, as …

Around Sonja: On The First Russian Translation, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

The first Russian translation of Wonderland was published anonymously in 1879 as Sonja v tsarstvie diva (Sonja in a Kingdom of Wonder, hereinafter referred to as Sonja).¹ Deep Victorian mysteries surround it. Its translator remains unknown—but a hint from Lewis Carroll himself leads one to Russian aristocrats, patrons of the arts, and famous writers. Its readership is undocumented, but the faces of children who most likely first read this book are still well known in Russia today, having been painted by the most famous nineteenth-century Russian artists. Further, as one looks carefully at the text itself, one …

Under The Bridge - Vol. 2, Issue 1 (Fall 2016), Tim Hendrickson

Under the Bridge

Acknowledgements - 2 / A Message From the Editors - 4 / An Opening Prayer - 5

Special Section—Election 2016

Jordan Ghiglia - Equanimity: A Christian Case for Gary Johnson -  9 / Ben Lashar - Why I Support Donald Trump -  12 / Tim Hendrickson - Clinton 2016: A Vote for the Perhaps Mediocre - 16

Non-Fiction: Dr. Shaniqua Jones - Chapter One, 1 Ingalls Drive -  18 / Laura G. Van Blaricom - In and Out of Madness -  23 / Eric Los, Dr. Abbie Schrotenboer, and CESAG - Getting Acquainted with Our Local Wildlife -  24 / …

How To Be A French Jew: Proust, Lazare, Glissant, Paul J. Fadoul

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my dissertation I use Auerbach's insights developed in his Mimesis to demonstrate that in A la recherche, Proust captures the political and racial concerns of his times, proposing as a solution a heterogeneous French society where cultural, ethnic, and religious groups live together in mutual respect and understanding. In his novel, Proust echoes ideas developed by Bernard Lazare in Le Nationalisme Juif (1897) as well as in the literary output of the first French Jewish Renaissance (early1900’s to the mid1930’s). These authors responded to the portentous mix of Nationalist and anti-Semitic politics by urging the creation of a separate …

Between Life And Literature: The Influence Of Don Quixote And Madame Bovary On Twentieth-Century Women's Fiction, Victoria Tomasulo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project demonstrates the influence of two foundational novels in the Western canon, Don Quixote and Madame Bovary, on twentieth-century British, Italian, and Anglo-American women’s fiction. Both novels illustrate the dangers and pleasures of literary influence. Stylistically innovative, they anticipated concerns that were of import to feminist literary critics in the seventies and beyond: the transformative power of the reading encounter, its normative and subversive effects on gendered identities, and the need of individual writers to liberate themselves from the shackles of literary convention. Drawing upon textual and paratextual evidence such as interviews, journal entries, and essays, I argue …

Testimonios (Re)Creados: La Nueva Novela Testimonial Latinoamericana, Reynaldo Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last twenty years, the writing of testimonial literature in Latin America has gradually declined due in part, because civil war struggles in Central and South America have ceased and the misrepresentation of facts in testimonial narratives have discouraged readers and critics from studying testimonial literature with the same enthusiasm as previously done. Another contributing factor is the question of authorship of these narratives because of problematic issues in identifying whether or not the informant or the transcriber authored the work. Furthermore, scholars realize that at times the transcriber interrelate fact and fiction to the extent of creating a …

Waking Dreams: Modernist Intoxications And The Poetics Of Altered States, Jason Ciaccio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Intoxication as a poetic principle is often identified with the romantic imagination. The literature of the intoxicated reverie is commonly thought of as synonymous with works such as Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” DeQuincey’s accounts of numerous nightmares and reveries, a number of Keats’ odes, Novalis’ hymns, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s stories, and Poe’s oneiric Gothic tales. Each of these, in part through their opiation or the incorporation of various other draughts, evokes a realm of dreams and visions of various sorts that are commonly associated with romantic poetic practices. The ecstatic trance, the sense of passing into another domain that is …

Wet Data: The Ocean And Its Negative Archive, Kendra M. Sullivan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper and the poetry cycle (Wet Data) it describes are in dialogue with a wide array of social and cultural histories of the sea; the production of the sea as a social, economic, and militarized space; maritime ethnographies; as well as artistic and literary projects stemming out of what are now being termed offshore art and forensic literature. The ocean is a contested territory that plays a profound and often under-examined role in defining geopolitics and nationalism under globalism. In eco-critical and creative art contexts, the sea is often represented as a metaphor for loss, the outside, …

An Escape From Language Into Language: The Internal Exile Of Louis Wolfson, Antoine N. Rideau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper aims to show how the life and work of American francophone author Louis Wolfson - who suffered from schizophrenia and underwent a self-imposed exile from his own mother tongue - might serve to illuminate European émigré writers' relationships to multilingualism.

Oh Bother: Milne, Steinbeck, And An Emerging Circuit Split Over The Alienability Of Copyright Termination Rights, Allison M. Scott

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Science Fiction In The Spanish University: The Boundaries That Need To Be Broken, Sara Martín

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

The aim of this article is to trace what Rosi Braidotti calls an ‘accurate cartography’ as regards the limited space that science-fiction occupies in the Spanish university. SF has not yet overcome in Spain what Brian Baker has called its ‘crisis of legitimation’. Teaching this genre and doing research on it is, hence, still conditioned within our national borders by boundaries broken in the Anglo-American university many decades ago. Here I examine these boundaries, paying special attention to the institutional limitations preventing scholars from introducing innovations in teaching and research. Another main barrier, as I argue here, is the lack …