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- Title
- “COMING AT THE WONDER ITSELF”: MISCLASSIFICATION, MISUNDERSTANDING AND THE INTEGRATED VISION OF RUSSELL HOBAN’S 1967 NOVEL THE MOUSE AND HIS CHILD.
- Creator
- Richards, Charles, Ulin, Julieann, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
-
In 1967, Russell Hoban’s first novel, The Mouse and His Child was published and reviewed as a children’s book, despite the fact that the author considered it not to be directed towards a child audience. Since that time, it has been generally analyzed and evaluated as a work of children’s literature (specifically) and not as literature in the general sense. Because the book deals with adult subjects and concepts it has not fared well with those who have measured its success solely on the basis...
Show moreIn 1967, Russell Hoban’s first novel, The Mouse and His Child was published and reviewed as a children’s book, despite the fact that the author considered it not to be directed towards a child audience. Since that time, it has been generally analyzed and evaluated as a work of children’s literature (specifically) and not as literature in the general sense. Because the book deals with adult subjects and concepts it has not fared well with those who have measured its success solely on the basis of its being classified as a children’s book. This thesis hopes to liberate the work from this classification by carefully analyzing the concepts which underpin its action, specifically its ontological speculations, its personification of the fall from grace and the felix culpa, the relationship of the protagonists to their complex antagonist Manny Rat, and, finally, in the symbol of “the last visible dog” which represents the infinite and what lies beyond the self (which, in fact, is actually the self). This thesis also examines how Hoban continued working with these themes and concepts in the novels he wrote after publishing The Mouse and His Child.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2022
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014008
- Subject Headings
- Hoban, Russell--Criticism and interpretation, Literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "JULIA" CHARACTERIZATION IN THE PLAYS OF LILLIAN HELLMAN.
- Creator
- BELL, KATHLEEN T., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
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The Julia character, as depicted in the essay in Pentimento, provides a character model for Lillian Hellman's plays. Julia's strength of personal responsibility provides Hellman a measure by which her characters succeed or fail, a criterion upon which personal worth is judged. Julia's strength, compassion, and personal responsibility are depicted in varying degrees in the characters created in Watch on the Rhine, The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, The Searching...
Show moreThe Julia character, as depicted in the essay in Pentimento, provides a character model for Lillian Hellman's plays. Julia's strength of personal responsibility provides Hellman a measure by which her characters succeed or fail, a criterion upon which personal worth is judged. Julia's strength, compassion, and personal responsibility are depicted in varying degrees in the characters created in Watch on the Rhine, The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, The Searching Wind, and The Autumn Garden. As reflected in the plays, Julia is Hellman's model, her ideal; she is the vehicle for Hellman's strong personal and social statements.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1980
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14044
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Modern, Theater, Literature, American
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- “Odd Apocalyptic Panics”: Chthonic Storytelling in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam.
- Creator
- Nugent, Ashley Frances, Mason, Julia, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
I argue that Margaret Atwood’s work in MaddAddam is about survival; it is about moving beyond preconceived, thoughtless ideology of any form with creative kinship. Cooperation and engagement cannot be planned in advance, and must take the form of something more than pre-established ideology. I will discuss MaddAddam in light of Donna Haraway’s recent work in which she argues that multispecies acknowledgement and collaboration are essential if humans are to survive and thrive in the coming...
Show moreI argue that Margaret Atwood’s work in MaddAddam is about survival; it is about moving beyond preconceived, thoughtless ideology of any form with creative kinship. Cooperation and engagement cannot be planned in advance, and must take the form of something more than pre-established ideology. I will discuss MaddAddam in light of Donna Haraway’s recent work in which she argues that multispecies acknowledgement and collaboration are essential if humans are to survive and thrive in the coming centuries. By bringing the two texts into dialogue, one sees that Atwood’s novel constitutes the kind of story deemed necessary by Haraway for making kin in the Chthulucene. Various scenes depicting cooperation and interdependence among humans and other animals offer chthonic models of kinship; these relationships, as opposed to ideological and anthropocentric isolation, will serve as the means of surviving and thriving within an ongoing apocalypse.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013090
- Subject Headings
- Atwood, Margaret, 1939- MaddAddam trilogy., Haraway, Donna Jeanne., Atwood, Margaret, 1939---Criticism and interpretation.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "Room for you and me": an ethical critique of noncanonical labor literature.
- Creator
- McDermott, Rachel., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
Labor literature is in popular and academic neglect. I argue that labor literature's neglect is unjust, and I provide a way of examining labor literature that can rescue it from neglect. I shall be concerned with labor literature's academic decline due to its apparent lack of value according to traditional standards of literary criticism. I will argue that ethical criticism - criticism of literature that considers the ethics of a work as a part of its literary value - can reveal new...
Show moreLabor literature is in popular and academic neglect. I argue that labor literature's neglect is unjust, and I provide a way of examining labor literature that can rescue it from neglect. I shall be concerned with labor literature's academic decline due to its apparent lack of value according to traditional standards of literary criticism. I will argue that ethical criticism - criticism of literature that considers the ethics of a work as a part of its literary value - can reveal new complexities in labor literature. An ethical critical analysis of the representation of American labor movements and workers in noncanonical texts will show the distinctive ethical value such texts hold. I will argue that labor texts possess ethical value insofar as they help readers develop awareness of complex ethical issues posed by labor and community, and that the ethical value of labor literature provides a new reason to value such works.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342209
- Subject Headings
- Narration (Rhetoric), Authenticity (Philosophy) in literature, Criticism and interpretation, Labor in literature, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "The Accidental Tourist": Novel and film.
- Creator
- Askew, Jennifer Y., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
The Accidental Tourist, a 1985 novel by Anne Tyler, is the story of Macon Leary, a man whose life and marriage have been shattered by the tragic death of his son. Despite these dismal circumstances, Tyler's book is quirky, offbeat and ultimately comic, due primarily to the unfailing tolerance and humor of the author herself. Lawrence Kasdan's 1988 film adaptation of Tyler's novel is thematically consistent with the book. Kasdan unerringly recognized the scenes naturally suited to...
Show moreThe Accidental Tourist, a 1985 novel by Anne Tyler, is the story of Macon Leary, a man whose life and marriage have been shattered by the tragic death of his son. Despite these dismal circumstances, Tyler's book is quirky, offbeat and ultimately comic, due primarily to the unfailing tolerance and humor of the author herself. Lawrence Kasdan's 1988 film adaptation of Tyler's novel is thematically consistent with the book. Kasdan unerringly recognized the scenes naturally suited to dramatization, and in places he successfully transfers Tyler's dialogue directly to the screen with effective comic results. Throughout most of the film, however, the tone is melancholy and the overall effect is much heavier than the novel. Superb acting by William Hurt and Geena Davis help to give Kasdan's film depth and power.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1991
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14703
- Subject Headings
- Literature, American, Cinema
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "The Battle of Maldon": Evidence of the move away from epic heroism.
- Creator
- Baird, Diane Stetson, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
The Battle of Maldon is a poem of change, a pivot point in the English literary tradition. It lies between Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both in time and in intent. The Maldon poet created finely interrelated philosophic and social commentary in his poem, playing the epic hero against the newer Christian martyr. He used both characterizations to create a picture of Byrhtnoth as a political martyr. With some understanding of the historical and religious perspectives of tenth...
Show moreThe Battle of Maldon is a poem of change, a pivot point in the English literary tradition. It lies between Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both in time and in intent. The Maldon poet created finely interrelated philosophic and social commentary in his poem, playing the epic hero against the newer Christian martyr. He used both characterizations to create a picture of Byrhtnoth as a political martyr. With some understanding of the historical and religious perspectives of tenth century England, it is possible to begin to appreciate The Battle of Maldon and to understand its pivotal role in artistic evolution. The poet integrated disparate ideas to produce an Anglo-Saxon work of surprising complexity that has survived for one thousand years.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1991
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14779
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Medieval, Literature, English
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- “THE TROUBLE BEGAN LONG BEFORE”: THE POST-APOCALYPTIC PRESENT OF OCTAVIA BUTLER’S KINDRED.
- Creator
- Moskal, Christopher R., MacDonald, Ian, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
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The aim of this thesis is to examine Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred as a work of post-apocalyptic literature that uses American slavery as its apocalyptic event. I will argue that Kindred critiques the use of linear time and the narratives of progress that are commonplace within the science fiction genre by focusing on an apocalypse from America’s historical past, instead of creating an apocalypse in an imagined future. To do this, I will examine how the novel challenges the reader’s...
Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to examine Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred as a work of post-apocalyptic literature that uses American slavery as its apocalyptic event. I will argue that Kindred critiques the use of linear time and the narratives of progress that are commonplace within the science fiction genre by focusing on an apocalypse from America’s historical past, instead of creating an apocalypse in an imagined future. To do this, I will examine how the novel challenges the reader’s understanding of time and history alongside another work of post-apocalyptic literature, Walter M. Miller Jr’s novel A Canticle for Leibowitz. I will also utilize apocalyptic theory to argue that Kindred should be considered a post-apocalyptic novel, and by comparing it to Butler’s other works of apocalyptic fiction. Ultimately, Kindred expands the possibilities of postapocalyptic fiction by demonstrating that we are already living in a post-apocalyptic reality.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2021
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013763
- Subject Headings
- Butler, Octavia E. Kindred, Apocalyptic fiction, Butler, Octavia E.--Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- “THIS LAND IS IN MY BONES”: WITCHES, MAGIC, AND ECOLOGICAL RELATIONALITY IN TERRY PRATCHETT’S TIFFANY ACHING SERIES.
- Creator
- Peebles, Amanda, Miller, Timothy, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
-
Tiffany Aching and the Witches of the Discworld Series use knowledge that is based on working with and connecting to the natural world instead of against it, primarily through their use of magic without using magic and their use of “headology,” to create the desired effect without detriment to the ecology of the Discworld. This puts them in contrast with the male, Unseen-University wizards, whose magic works against the ecology of the Discworld as it changes and corrupts the world around it....
Show moreTiffany Aching and the Witches of the Discworld Series use knowledge that is based on working with and connecting to the natural world instead of against it, primarily through their use of magic without using magic and their use of “headology,” to create the desired effect without detriment to the ecology of the Discworld. This puts them in contrast with the male, Unseen-University wizards, whose magic works against the ecology of the Discworld as it changes and corrupts the world around it. Further, the relationship that Tiffany Aching has within her home, the land she was born in, and her ecology becomes a nexus between the natural world and human communities. This connection between herself and her land is comparable to the one that Ged learns through his journey in Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. This connection between the authors is not simply a categorical one but one that connects them, their work, and an ideological push against individualism that relies on interconnectedness between species.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2022
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014003
- Subject Headings
- Pratchett, Terry. Tiffany Aching series, Pratchett, Terry. Discworld series, Fantasy literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- (Re)making men, representing the Caribbean Nation: authorialIndividuation in works by Fred D’Aguiar, Robert Antoni, andMarlon James.
- Creator
- Gifford, Sheryl C., Machado, Elena, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
This dissertation proposes that West Indian contemporary male writers develop literary authority, or a voice that represents the nation, via a process of individuation. This process enables the contemporary male writer to unite the disparities of the matriarchal and patriarchal authorial traditions that inform his development of a distinctive creative identity. I outline three stages of authorial individuation that are inspired by Jung’s theory of individuation. The first is the contemporary...
Show moreThis dissertation proposes that West Indian contemporary male writers develop literary authority, or a voice that represents the nation, via a process of individuation. This process enables the contemporary male writer to unite the disparities of the matriarchal and patriarchal authorial traditions that inform his development of a distinctive creative identity. I outline three stages of authorial individuation that are inspired by Jung’s theory of individuation. The first is the contemporary male writer’s return to his nationalist forebears’ tradition to dissolve his persona, or identification with patriarchal authority; Fred D’Aguiar’s “The Last Essay About Slavery” and Feeding the Ghosts illustrate this stage. The second is his reconciliation of matriarchal (present) and patriarchal (past) traditions of literary authority via his encounter with his forebears’ feminized, raced shadow; Robert Antoni’s Blessed Is the Fruit evidences this process. The third is the contemporary male writer’s renunciation of authority defined by masculinity, which emerges as his incorporation of the anima, or unconscious feminine; Marlon James’s The Book of Night Women exemplifies this final phase of his individuation.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004021
- Subject Headings
- Antoni, Robert -- 1958- -- Blessed is the fruit -- Criticism and interpretation, D'Aguiar, Fred -- 1960- -- Feeding the ghosts -- Criticism and interpretation, D'Aguiar, Fred -- 1960- -- Last essay about slavery -- Criticism and interpretation, James, Marlon -- 1970- -- Book of night women -- Criticism and interpretation, Jungian psychology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A Collection on Would-Be-Motherhood.
- Creator
- Saldana, Elizabeth, Bucak, Ayşe Papatya, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis is composed of a collection of essays on the themes of motherhood, loss, and grief. Through the use of innovative form, these essays thread together personal narratives and research to find language for complicated manifestations of loss. These essays experiment with structure and form to grapple with the illusive nature of memory, loss, and healing. The essays in this collection attempt to find healing and meaning through language and meditation. This collection is also an...
Show moreThis thesis is composed of a collection of essays on the themes of motherhood, loss, and grief. Through the use of innovative form, these essays thread together personal narratives and research to find language for complicated manifestations of loss. These essays experiment with structure and form to grapple with the illusive nature of memory, loss, and healing. The essays in this collection attempt to find healing and meaning through language and meditation. This collection is also an attempt at categorizing grief when normative societal ideas are challenged by complicated loss. This work serves as a call to action that there should be better recognition of uncommonly recognized manifestations of grief.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2023
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014158
- Subject Headings
- Creative writing, Essays
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A Consequence of English-First: Florida’s Separate and Unequal Writing Curricula.
- Creator
- Batchelor, Claudett V., Leeds, John, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
In this thesis, I examine the structure of developmental or remedial English education at U. S. two-year community colleges, specifically focusing on the disparities between Florida’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP), an English as a Second Language (ESL) program, and Developmental English (Dev English), a Basic Writing program. Both programs supposedly prepare disadvantaged and/or immigrant students for freshman composition, but they employ very different pedagogies. Drawing on existing...
Show moreIn this thesis, I examine the structure of developmental or remedial English education at U. S. two-year community colleges, specifically focusing on the disparities between Florida’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP), an English as a Second Language (ESL) program, and Developmental English (Dev English), a Basic Writing program. Both programs supposedly prepare disadvantaged and/or immigrant students for freshman composition, but they employ very different pedagogies. Drawing on existing research and my own experience as a student and a teacher, I present English as it is employed to assimilate and empower second-language users, investigate the role of Florida’s institution in promoting EAP over Dev English, and discuss issues of identity and the categorization of students. I close by recommending the teaching of English as a Second Language – reading, writing, and basic language skills – to all developmental students, immigrant or native, to equip them for higher learning and a competitive workforce.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005921
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A Little Extra: A Collection of Personal Essays.
- Creator
- Brittany K. Rigdon, Schmitt, Katherine, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
-
After losing over a hundred pounds, between the years of 2010 and 2015 and having two invasive revisionary plastic surgeries, I wrote this book of personal essays to explore how trauma—both externalized and internalized—shapes and misshapes the body. As individuals living in a western, consumer-driven culture, we have become adept at scrutinizing our bodies—to the point of self-immolation. In this way, our bodies have become fragmented. In this collection, I am building a narrative 'body.'...
Show moreAfter losing over a hundred pounds, between the years of 2010 and 2015 and having two invasive revisionary plastic surgeries, I wrote this book of personal essays to explore how trauma—both externalized and internalized—shapes and misshapes the body. As individuals living in a western, consumer-driven culture, we have become adept at scrutinizing our bodies—to the point of self-immolation. In this way, our bodies have become fragmented. In this collection, I am building a narrative 'body.' The text explores body issues and anxieties in an attempt to rebuild the marginalized body through voice. Each personal essay is thematically bound to a body part. In the essays, fragmentation and objectification meet connectivity and the wholeness that can be found in the interstices.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2020
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013492
- Subject Headings
- Essays
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A long way to go.
- Creator
- Drouin, Roger Real, Bucak, Ayse Papatya, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
As Samuel and Thomas take up a fight that no one else will to protect the wild lands they love, they are forced further from the quiet lives they have built. These are the two main characters in the novel A Long Way to Go. Samuel photographs the elusive and rare birds that most people never get a chance to see. As he seeks out the most elusive, possibly-extinct Northern Stilted Curlew, he struggles with the memory of his wife, who died a year earlier after a battle with cancer, and the...
Show moreAs Samuel and Thomas take up a fight that no one else will to protect the wild lands they love, they are forced further from the quiet lives they have built. These are the two main characters in the novel A Long Way to Go. Samuel photographs the elusive and rare birds that most people never get a chance to see. As he seeks out the most elusive, possibly-extinct Northern Stilted Curlew, he struggles with the memory of his wife, who died a year earlier after a battle with cancer, and the scarred relationship with his son Ryan, a young artist. Ryan meets the mysterious Karia, and as he gets to know her, he too begins his own kind of search.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004245
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A Materialist Critique of the Settler Occupation of Maine in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.
- Creator
- Cleaver, Nathan, Balkan, Stacey, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
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This project seeks to give Stephen King and Pet Sematary full consideration through applying a multi-faceted ecocritical approach to a novel so clearly founded on the relationship between the land and its inhabitants. Through my analysis of the environment’s role in Pet Sematary, I will engage with important questions asked by both Historical and New Materialists in order to examine as completely as possible the relationship between Indigenous peoples and colonist conceptions of property,...
Show moreThis project seeks to give Stephen King and Pet Sematary full consideration through applying a multi-faceted ecocritical approach to a novel so clearly founded on the relationship between the land and its inhabitants. Through my analysis of the environment’s role in Pet Sematary, I will engage with important questions asked by both Historical and New Materialists in order to examine as completely as possible the relationship between Indigenous peoples and colonist conceptions of property, land use, and nonhuman agency present in the pages. Study of this sort engages in a critique of settler colonial ideals through a thorough examination of one of popular culture’s most successful and apparently errant offenders of intentional appropriation of Indigenous belief. Ultimately, this project seeks to reclaim not only Pet Sematary or King’s oeuvre, but the horror genre more broadly. Given the genre’s affordances for critiquing material histories, this project asserts horror’s utility for the development of new understandings of old fears and particularly as a means of asserting nonhuman agency.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2020
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013603
- Subject Headings
- King, Stephen, 1947-, Materialism, Ecocriticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A troubled past: reconfiguring postwar suburban American identity in revolutionary road, 1961 and mad men, 2007-2012.
- Creator
- Kiley, Erin M, Ulin, Julieann V., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis takes a cultural studies approach to representations of post-war U.S. suburbia in Richard Yates’ 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, as well as in the contemporary AMC television series Mad Men. These texts explore the postwar time period, which holds a persistently prominent and idealized space in the collective cultural imagination of America, despite the fact that it was a period troubled by isolationism, containment culture, rampant consumerism, and extreme pressure to conform to...
Show moreThis thesis takes a cultural studies approach to representations of post-war U.S. suburbia in Richard Yates’ 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, as well as in the contemporary AMC television series Mad Men. These texts explore the postwar time period, which holds a persistently prominent and idealized space in the collective cultural imagination of America, despite the fact that it was a period troubled by isolationism, containment culture, rampant consumerism, and extreme pressure to conform to social roles. This project disrupts the romantic narrative of postwar America by focusing on the latent anxiety within the suburban landscape—by interrogating the performative nature of the planned communities of the 1950s and 1960s and exposing the tensions that were borne out of the rise of domesticity and consumerism. This project explores the descent into a society obsessed with consumerism and conformity, and seeks to interrogate the culture’s false nostalgia for the time period.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004031
- Subject Headings
- Families -- United States -- History -- 20th century, Mad Men (Television program) -- Criticism and interpretation, Nostalgia, Suburban life -- 20th century -- Criticism and interpretation, Suburban life -- 20th century -- Social aspects, Television programs -- Social aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Abjection and social transformation in John Fowles's Mantissa and A Maggot.
- Creator
- Skolnick, Jenifer A., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
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In John Fowles's last two novels, he alters his authorial project of discovering freedom for an individual from a social system to how a social system can be changed from within. Using Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection and her interpretation of the semiotic versus symbolic processes of signification, readers can determine how an imbalance in the human signifying process has become corrupted by power. Through Fowles's heroines and semiotic irruptions of the symbolic order in both Mantissa...
Show moreIn John Fowles's last two novels, he alters his authorial project of discovering freedom for an individual from a social system to how a social system can be changed from within. Using Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection and her interpretation of the semiotic versus symbolic processes of signification, readers can determine how an imbalance in the human signifying process has become corrupted by power. Through Fowles's heroines and semiotic irruptions of the symbolic order in both Mantissa and A Maggot, Fowles reveals weaknesses in the symbolic, and consequently, moments where transformation of a patriarchal, symbolic system can be recognized. These moments of strain on the symbolic are significant because they cause a disruption of the rules and borders that define a social system like patriarchy. By calling attention to these moments, the categorical imperatives that have been imposed on women and perpetuated for the purpose of maintaining power relations can thus be subverted. In Mantissa and A Maggot, Fowles accomplishes a breaking of the boundaries, both within and of the text, by providing a literary space where readers can glimpse the power of the semiotic, the corruption of social conditioning, and gain a new perspective of their own symbolic/social system in the real world.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2979382
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.), Culture, Semiotic models, Symbolic interactionism, Symbolism in literature, Postmodernism (Literature)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- About Her: A Novel.
- Creator
- Mattingly, Mary, McKay, Becka, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
About Her is a story of grief, regret, and the lengths some of us will go to avoid confronting and healing from trauma. Charlotte Day is a twenty-year-old college student embarking on her senior year of college when her younger sister Abby dies in a botched fake suicide attempt. In the wake of said tragedy, Charlotte is left behind with her loving, well-intentioned father and sedated, increasingly distant mother. As Charlotte attempts to cling to normalcy, her efforts fail once she returns to...
Show moreAbout Her is a story of grief, regret, and the lengths some of us will go to avoid confronting and healing from trauma. Charlotte Day is a twenty-year-old college student embarking on her senior year of college when her younger sister Abby dies in a botched fake suicide attempt. In the wake of said tragedy, Charlotte is left behind with her loving, well-intentioned father and sedated, increasingly distant mother. As Charlotte attempts to cling to normalcy, her efforts fail once she returns to school, seeking out a path of unhealthy relationships and partying, which culminates in the former honors student dropping out of her senior year. A coming-of-age story at its core, About Her explores the dysfunctional ways one young woman navigates grief and fractured relationships while learning to forgive herself along the way.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013237
- Subject Headings
- Novel, Creative writing, Grief
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Above all, Sara.
- Creator
- Garcia, Janelle, Bucak, Ayse Papatya, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
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The following manuscript charts the relationship between first cousins, Sara and Marina, from the day they are both born, only minutes apart, to the day Marina and Sara, both seven years old, witness Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries’ victorious march to the capitol, to the present day, when an ailing Sara reaches out to her estranged cousin, asking Marina to return to the land she risked her life to leave. This multigenerational novel also explores the destructive effects of Sara’s...
Show moreThe following manuscript charts the relationship between first cousins, Sara and Marina, from the day they are both born, only minutes apart, to the day Marina and Sara, both seven years old, witness Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries’ victorious march to the capitol, to the present day, when an ailing Sara reaches out to her estranged cousin, asking Marina to return to the land she risked her life to leave. This multigenerational novel also explores the destructive effects of Sara’s political activism and gigantism on her parents, Elisa and Rolando, whose conflicted feelings towards their daughter have as much do with unrequited love and regret as they do with her Communist loyalties. Finally, this manuscript pushes against the conventions of the novel by exploring variations in structure, perspective, and style.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004248
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Add It Up.
- Creator
- McIntyre, Kelly., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
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Prone to immaturity, restlessness, and rash behavior, Kel was never exactly the epitome of responsibility ; however, despite her longtime tendency to veer toward all that is childish, she somehow managed to hold her life together- except for the times she didn't. Add It Up tells the story of exactly that:"the times she didn't." Like an epic poem, Add It Up is a collection of lyric essays chronicling a journey. Starting even before her very beginning, it gives insight into exactly what it is...
Show moreProne to immaturity, restlessness, and rash behavior, Kel was never exactly the epitome of responsibility ; however, despite her longtime tendency to veer toward all that is childish, she somehow managed to hold her life together- except for the times she didn't. Add It Up tells the story of exactly that:"the times she didn't." Like an epic poem, Add It Up is a collection of lyric essays chronicling a journey. Starting even before her very beginning, it gives insight into exactly what it is that made her what she was, what she is, and what she intends to be. The pieces of this collection, Prologue, or The Letter I Wish I Wrote Myself Four Years Ago ; Kelpedia ; A Little Bit Peter ; Breakdowns ; Wyrd ; (un)fair ; Kindred ; and Kellypedia, can stand alone, but it's way better if they don't ; it's way better if you add them up.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358600
- Subject Headings
- Conduct of life, Essays, Symbolism in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Aesthetic immersion and imaginative constructs in the novels of Henry James.
- Creator
- Alvarez, Alberto Gabriel, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
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A recurrent condition plaguing many of James's characters can be diagnosed as an aesthetic dependency. These characters turn their back on "the real thing" and exist in a precarious world of beauty and misplaced ideals. The novels examined present various methods James's characters utilize to elude the actual world. In The Tragic Muse, the line that separates mimetic art and actuality is nonexistent. Through imitation and performance characters create and represent what ought to be. Aesthetic...
Show moreA recurrent condition plaguing many of James's characters can be diagnosed as an aesthetic dependency. These characters turn their back on "the real thing" and exist in a precarious world of beauty and misplaced ideals. The novels examined present various methods James's characters utilize to elude the actual world. In The Tragic Muse, the line that separates mimetic art and actuality is nonexistent. Through imitation and performance characters create and represent what ought to be. Aesthetic immersion and imaginative constructs are opposed methods of escape in The Spoils of Poynton. The Ambassadors depicts a world where characters conspire to disguise the truth. Lambert Strether's imagination is stimulated by this milieu and takes flight. Similarly, the characters in The Wings of the Dove go to extreme lengths to realize their aesthetic visions. Ultimately, each character in these novels must deal with the sacrifices that are made when one chooses to exist in a world consisting solely of beauty and imagination.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1996
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15331
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Modern, Literature, American, Literature, English
- Format
- Document (PDF)