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CURIOUS DOCUMENTARY: JAMES AGEE'S "LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN"
Title
A CURIOUS DOCUMENTARY: JAMES AGEE'S "LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN".
Creator
RAYMOND, CATHLEEN O'CONNOR., Florida Atlantic University, Coyle, William
Abstract/Description
James Agee and Walker Evans co-authored Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which was published in 1941. Topically viewed, the work resembles a documentary, a genre popular during the 1930's, but Agee expanded this style of writing not only to explore the lives of three tenant families but also to show the exploitation of this damaged group of human beings. concurrently, Agee turns the camera lens on his audience in order that the reader may see the trapped, possessed, and fertilized nature of life...
Show moreJames Agee and Walker Evans co-authored Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which was published in 1941. Topically viewed, the work resembles a documentary, a genre popular during the 1930's, but Agee expanded this style of writing not only to explore the lives of three tenant families but also to show the exploitation of this damaged group of human beings. concurrently, Agee turns the camera lens on his audience in order that the reader may see the trapped, possessed, and fertilized nature of life. Furthermore, Agee assists the reader in understanding the process by which a new art form is created, as he involves the critic in a struggle with words. Agee demonstrates the embodiment of the "actuality" of existence, the sorrow and the joy of the human condition.
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Date Issued
1985
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14231
Subject Headings
Agee, James,--1909-1955--Criticism and interpretation, Authors--Political and social views, Literature and society
Format
Document (PDF)
Naturalist tendencies in three novels by Edith Wharton
Title
Naturalist tendencies in three novels by Edith Wharton.
Creator
Mullins, Marjorie L., Florida Atlantic University, McGuirk, Carol
Abstract/Description
Although Edith Wharton once said she considered herself a writer of novels of manners, she exhibits naturalist tendencies in her writing. She shows the potential of both heredity and environment to ensnare and suppress the individual in his or her quest for self-determination. In The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, Wharton reflects upon the changes that caused society to enforce its rules all the more strongly in an attempt to maintain its stability. In Ethan Frome she develops one...
Show moreAlthough Edith Wharton once said she considered herself a writer of novels of manners, she exhibits naturalist tendencies in her writing. She shows the potential of both heredity and environment to ensnare and suppress the individual in his or her quest for self-determination. In The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, Wharton reflects upon the changes that caused society to enforce its rules all the more strongly in an attempt to maintain its stability. In Ethan Frome she develops one of the generally accepted themes of naturalism: the waste of human potential because of the forces of society. In these novels Wharton moves beyond the usual realism found in much of her fiction and places her characters in naturalist roles.
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Date Issued
1996
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15270
Subject Headings
Wharton, Edith,--1862-1937--Criticism and interpretation., Naturalism in literature., Literature and society--United States., American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.
Format
Document (PDF)
Revis(it)ing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Title
Revis(it)ing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness: women, symbolism, and resistance.
Creator
Smith, Kathryn M., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is, admittedly, a text with many racist, imperialist and sexist subtexts. A feminist literary analysis, however, can extract women's empowerment and agency. This thesis takes a closer look at the Mistress (also known as the African woman) and the Intended, two women with vastly different racial and class backgrounds who, in their own ways, demonstrate resistance. This thesis analyzes Mr. Kurtz's often ignored sketch in oils, arguing that the sketch itself...
Show moreJoseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is, admittedly, a text with many racist, imperialist and sexist subtexts. A feminist literary analysis, however, can extract women's empowerment and agency. This thesis takes a closer look at the Mistress (also known as the African woman) and the Intended, two women with vastly different racial and class backgrounds who, in their own ways, demonstrate resistance. This thesis analyzes Mr. Kurtz's often ignored sketch in oils, arguing that the sketch itself demonstrates the colonial mentality of difference and the disruption of that difference. It then explores both the Mistress and the Intended in detail, positing that while the Mistress uses the colonizers' fear of the wilderness and its silence to her advantage, the Intended takes control over her own domestic circumstance. Overall, this author asserts that the Mistress and the Intended, while often dismissed, are noteworthy, important, and influential characters in Heart of Darkness.
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Date Issued
2009
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/192989
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Feminism in literature, Racism in literature, Imperialism in literature, Literature and society, Criticism and interpretation
Format
Document (PDF)
Unrecognized Pasts and Unforeseen Futures: Architecture and Postcolonialism in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury
Title
Unrecognized Pasts and Unforeseen Futures: Architecture and Postcolonialism in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury.
Creator
Haugk, Danielle, Hagood, Taylor, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
This thesis examines the genesis, maintenance, and failure of rigid and exclusionary societal models present in William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. Yi- Fu Tuan's analysis of the concepts space and place serves as the foundational theoretical framework by which human spatiality may be interpreted. Combining Tuan's observations and architectural analysis with Edouard Glissant's concepts of atavistic and composite societal models allows for a much broader consideration of various political...
Show moreThis thesis examines the genesis, maintenance, and failure of rigid and exclusionary societal models present in William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. Yi- Fu Tuan's analysis of the concepts space and place serves as the foundational theoretical framework by which human spatiality may be interpreted. Combining Tuan's observations and architectural analysis with Edouard Glissant's concepts of atavistic and composite societal models allows for a much broader consideration of various political ideologies present in the South. Following this, it becomes necessary to apply a postcolonial lens to areas of Faulkner's literature to examine how these societal models are upheld and the effects they have on characters in both Reconstruction and post- Reconstruction eras. Within Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner showcases an aspect of southern history that allowed this societal model to flourish, how this model affected those trapped within it, and its ultimate failure for future generations.
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Date Issued
2017
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004905, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004905
Subject Headings
Faulkner, William,--1897-1962.--Absalom, Absalom!--Criticism and interpretation., Faulkner, William,--1897-1962.--Sound and the fury--Criticism and interpretation., Glissant, Édouard,--1928-2011--Criticism and interpretation., Tuan, Yi-fu,--1930---Criticism and interpretation., Space (Architecture)--Southern States--History--19th century., Postcolonialism--Southern States., Plantation life in literature., Imperialism in literature., Literature and society--Southern States--History--20th century., Place (Philosophy) in literature.
Format
Document (PDF)
use of the bastard identity
Title
The use of the bastard identity: from Victorian subverters to superheroes in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Creator
Dessler, Ryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
This project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of...
Show moreThis project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of illegitimacy being used as a literary device in novels by Victorian authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In the second chapter, I examine the role illegitimacy plays in the origin stories of canonical comic book superheroes Batman and Superman. Lastly, in the third chapter, I scrutinize the role illegitimacy plays in defining the human condition within science fiction as human culture continues to advance technologically towards a post human world.
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Date Issued
2012
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355567
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Literature and society, History, Comic books, strips, etc, Criticism and interpretation, Illegitimacy in literature, Sex role in literature, Sensationalism in literature
Format
Document (PDF)
Mobile Modernity: Transportation in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway
Title
Mobile Modernity: Transportation in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.
Creator
Johnston, Carrie E., Furman, Andrew, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description
A central paradox in modernism is its disdain for mass culture, despite mass culture 's undeniable presence in modernist literature. American authors writing during the early twentieth century tried to establish themselves as "highbrow" by leaving the U.S. and traveling to Europe. In doing so, they created a particular aesthetic characterized by depictions of the transportation that facilitated this travel. These depictions reveal modernism's dependence on mass culture, and more importantly,...
Show moreA central paradox in modernism is its disdain for mass culture, despite mass culture 's undeniable presence in modernist literature. American authors writing during the early twentieth century tried to establish themselves as "highbrow" by leaving the U.S. and traveling to Europe. In doing so, they created a particular aesthetic characterized by depictions of the transportation that facilitated this travel. These depictions reveal modernism's dependence on mass culture, and more importantly, create a space in which modernist authors can negotiate what was once a choice between high or low culture, exile or tourist, and ultimately, modernism or mass culture. Analyzing the car and train scenes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises reveals the hybrid spaces made available to these authors through transportation.
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Date Issued
2008
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000930
Subject Headings
Fitzgerald, F Scott--(Francis Scott),--1896-1940--Tender is the night--Criticism and interpretation, Hemingway, Ernest,--1899-1961--Sun also rises--Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society--United States, Symbolism in literature, Travel in literature, Postmodernism (Literature)
Format
Document (PDF)
food of fools
Title
The food of fools: an analysis of the Fools' gustatory imagery in King Lear.
Creator
Sparer, Sara Rafferty., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
The character of the Fool in William Shakespeare's King Lear uses hitherto unexamined gustatory imagery as a linguistic device to achieve the literary fool's function of imparting wisdom that masquerades as nonsense. While previous critics have analyzed the linguistic devices of puns, riddles, and rhymes used by medieval and Renaissance literary fools, this thesis argues not only that the Fool's gustatory imagery constitutes the dominant motif in the play, but also employs food theory to...
Show moreThe character of the Fool in William Shakespeare's King Lear uses hitherto unexamined gustatory imagery as a linguistic device to achieve the literary fool's function of imparting wisdom that masquerades as nonsense. While previous critics have analyzed the linguistic devices of puns, riddles, and rhymes used by medieval and Renaissance literary fools, this thesis argues not only that the Fool's gustatory imagery constitutes the dominant motif in the play, but also employs food theory to demonstrate how these image patterns provide political commentary on the dramatic action. The Fool's pattern of gustatory imagery is employed as well by characters who can be seen as variations on the wise fool. Through these characters, Shakespeare establishes a food chain motif that classifies some characters as all-consumptive, even cannibalistic, and others as their starving prey. The pattern of food imagery offers a range of perspectives, from highly critical to idealistic, on the play's meaning and political relationships.
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Date Issued
2009
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/227981
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Food, Symbolic aspects, Food in literature, Literature and society, Criticism and interpretion
Format
Document (PDF)
Voice of society"
Title
"The Voice of society": Dickens' surprising lesson in diplomacy spoken by the "innocent" table in Our Mutual Friend.
Creator
Hernandez, Patricia., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description
In Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and...
Show moreIn Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and the last word of the debate is given to the mysterious table-man character. Rather than allowing a central protagonist to champion his thoughts, Dickens surprises his readers by making an exemplary moral figure of a mild, minor character from among the ranks of the pompous aristocracy. Twemlow's speech makes a familiar Dickensian point about the need for social reform in a strange, politically incorrect way.
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Date Issued
2007
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/40950
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Class consciousness in literature
Format
Document (PDF)
identidad fronteriza a travâes de las experiencias generacionales en Sirena Selena vestida de pena
Title
La identidad fronteriza a travâes de las experiencias generacionales en Sirena Selena vestida de pena.
Creator
Magdaleno, Ariana Heydi., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description
Afro-Puerto Rican Mayra Santos-Febres's novel Sirena Selena vestida de pena (2000) demonstrates the intrinsic social relationship that exists between generations in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. The historical similarity between these regions permits a comparison in life stories of marginalized peoples. Puerto Rican godmothers and transvestites Martha Divine and Valentina Frenesâi prepare goddaughter, quinceänera and bolerista Sirena Selena in her performance in order to launch a career...
Show moreAfro-Puerto Rican Mayra Santos-Febres's novel Sirena Selena vestida de pena (2000) demonstrates the intrinsic social relationship that exists between generations in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. The historical similarity between these regions permits a comparison in life stories of marginalized peoples. Puerto Rican godmothers and transvestites Martha Divine and Valentina Frenesâi prepare goddaughter, quinceänera and bolerista Sirena Selena in her performance in order to launch a career and conquer the strategies of survival. Meanwhile, Dominican millionaire Hugo Graubel manages his life publicly as a heterosexual husband and privately as a gay man and strongly attempts to capture enigmatic Sirena Selena. Whereas the Dominican, pre-adolescent, poor, and mulatto Leocadio discovers the veiled world of tourism that offers alternate possibilities of economic survival. The previous generations' transgression of society's binary definitions created alternate spaces that continue to pave the way for future generations that will refuse and resist conforming to static patriarchal and heterosexual mainstream classifications.
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Date Issued
2009
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/369190
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Identity in literature, Sex role in literature, Literature and society, Homosexuality and literature
Format
Document (PDF)
Power politics
Title
Power politics: gender and power in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name.
Creator
Smith, Rebecca Ann., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
While literary critics acknowledge Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name as sensation novels that were considered popular literature during the 1860s, many critics often fail to recognize the social and political implications embedded within these texts. In No Name, for instance, Collins's use of a heroine that is disinherited and deemed illegitimate by the law emphasizes the overpowering force of patriarchy. In response to patriarchal law, therefore, the...
Show moreWhile literary critics acknowledge Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name as sensation novels that were considered popular literature during the 1860s, many critics often fail to recognize the social and political implications embedded within these texts. In No Name, for instance, Collins's use of a heroine that is disinherited and deemed illegitimate by the law emphasizes the overpowering force of patriarchy. In response to patriarchal law, therefore, the heroines of Lady Audley's Secret and No Name attempt to improve their social positions in a society that is economically dependent upon men. Braddon's Lady Audley and Collins's Magdalen Vanstone are fictional representations of women who internalize the inequality of patriarchy and strive to contest male domination. By centering their novels on heroines who endeavor to defy Victorian social norms, Braddon and Collins highlight the problem of the female in a male-dominated society.
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Date Issued
2009
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210519
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, Sex role in literature, Patriarchy in literature
Format
Document (PDF)
Marie Corelli
Title
Marie Corelli: Britain's most popular forgotten author.
Creator
Moss, Doris., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
Marie Corelli was arguably the most popular British novelist of the early 1900s, yet few today even know her name. Though she is not the only author to lose popularity, her enormous influence during her lifetime deserves consideration. What people liked about Marie Corelli can shed light on why the rise of modernism is seen as such a break from the popular in literature. This paper examines two of her bestsellers, A Romance of Two Worlds and The Sorrows of Satan, in light of the fin de...
Show moreMarie Corelli was arguably the most popular British novelist of the early 1900s, yet few today even know her name. Though she is not the only author to lose popularity, her enormous influence during her lifetime deserves consideration. What people liked about Marie Corelli can shed light on why the rise of modernism is seen as such a break from the popular in literature. This paper examines two of her bestsellers, A Romance of Two Worlds and The Sorrows of Satan, in light of the fin de siáecle, as well as the critical response to her work from both modernist and postmodern perspectives. Corelli is of interest today because her popular female characters are women who affirm traditional femininity yet also pursue and wield great power. The question I raise is whether Corelli's work is best seen as illustrative of theories about popular literature or as contradictory to them.
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Date Issued
2011
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172426
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Women and literature, History, Literature and society, History, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation
Format
Document (PDF)
Inviting but frustrating over-simplification
Title
Inviting but frustrating over-simplification: (re)reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
Creator
Smith, Kathryn M., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description
Many critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin,...
Show moreMany critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin, Whore, Mother, etc. Through my reading, we gain a greater understanding of the novel as a whole, instead of as a fractured, deterministic, and plot-driven tragedy. I begin my argument by examining Hardy's subtitle, "A Pure Woman," asserting that our focus should be on the word "Woman" and Tess's subjectivity, not reductive concepts of "purity" or chastity. In Chapter Two, I examine two significant scenes that occur in Alec's carriage, showing how many critics' readings underestimate Tess as helpless, and arguing that she fights against her oppressor in covert ways. My third chapter continues this defense of Tess by critiquing the critical debate surrounding the sexual encounter in "The Chase". I posit that the entire debate is flawed and that Tess should be defined based upon her actions and not simply her sexuality. Lastly, in my conclusion I present a broader defense of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, in which I assert that the ambiguous plot scenes in Tess are conscious attempts by Hardy to subvert traditional assumptions about what is important in a novel. My goal in this thesis is to critique popular but simplistic interpretations of Tess of the d'Urbervilles which diminish Tess's role; instead, I emphasize the way her character, in the words of critic Kathleen Blake, "invites but frustrates oversimplification."
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Date Issued
2007
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11601
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Social change in literature, Literature and society
Format
Document (PDF)