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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: 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.
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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: Add It Up.
Creator: McIntyre, Kelly., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: 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.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358600
Subject Headings: Conduct of life, Essays, Symbolism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Among cats, between cemeteries, and inside morgues.
Creator: Thompson, Lana., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: thesis is written with the intent to connect work I have created since writing The Wandering Womb: a cultural history of outrageous beliefs about women. It began as a collage of stories, poetry, images and memories. I intended to funnel this accumulation of mental maps, unusual vistas and events, poetic moments of inertia, into an alembic that would yield a unique residue, but it boiled over and only words remain. The starting point of these experiences took me to back rooms of museums,...
Show morethesis is written with the intent to connect work I have created since writing The Wandering Womb: a cultural history of outrageous beliefs about women. It began as a collage of stories, poetry, images and memories. I intended to funnel this accumulation of mental maps, unusual vistas and events, poetic moments of inertia, into an alembic that would yield a unique residue, but it boiled over and only words remain. The starting point of these experiences took me to back rooms of museums, morgues, surgical suites and special collections libraries throughout the world to explore the stuff of curiosity. Martin Buber (1878-1965) allegedly, but not verifiably, is quoted as writing, "All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." Cats in cemeteries, sixteenth century anatomy books, babies in bottles, two headed calves, and chapels constructed from bones are but a few of the marvelous destinations I have discovered.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3338859
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: anekdota.
Creator: Wood, Scott., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: anekdota is an exploration of the form of short short fiction. The exploration contains original works of fiction as short as five words and as long as twelve-hundred words. The exploration seeks new forms for fiction by frustrating and manipulating our traditional sense of story structure. At times, the exploration also investigates a form of conceptual art known as "found language" whereby original material is created by transforming, reframing, and collaging previously published material....
Show moreanekdota is an exploration of the form of short short fiction. The exploration contains original works of fiction as short as five words and as long as twelve-hundred words. The exploration seeks new forms for fiction by frustrating and manipulating our traditional sense of story structure. At times, the exploration also investigates a form of conceptual art known as "found language" whereby original material is created by transforming, reframing, and collaging previously published material. anekdota translates from the Greek as "unpublished things."
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3338860
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Postmodernism, Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Bingo and other stories.
Creator: Peacock, Richard., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: "Bingo" and Other Stories is a collection of short stories whose individual primary characters are forced to make profound changes in the wake of a discovery that comes about as a result of a tragedy or strained personal relationship or a combination of both. This collection is multigenerational in its collective scope and it reflects influences that come from the African-American and Southern literary traditions. In addition, it uses realism to create the settings for and sensibilities of...
Show more"Bingo" and Other Stories is a collection of short stories whose individual primary characters are forced to make profound changes in the wake of a discovery that comes about as a result of a tragedy or strained personal relationship or a combination of both. This collection is multigenerational in its collective scope and it reflects influences that come from the African-American and Southern literary traditions. In addition, it uses realism to create the settings for and sensibilities of the characters who populate the stories. Stories in the collection are also connected in how they conjure up various geographical locations in Florida, especially regions of Florida that identify with the traditional American South.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186770
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Short stories, American, Conduct of life, Southern States, In literature, African Americans in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The bones of the ox: how J.R.R. Tolkien's cosmology reflects ancient Near Eastern creation myths.
Creator: Dutton, Amanda M., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Scholars have well established the influence of the Old and Middle English, Norse, Welsh, and also Medieval Latin and Christian mythologies that influenced the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. In particular, the mythology contained in The Silmarillion, specific the cosmology, behaves as sacred texts do in the primary world and mirrors a number of extant mythologies when they are directly compared. Several scholars have note, but as yet no one has studied in depth, the relationship between the...
Show moreScholars have well established the influence of the Old and Middle English, Norse, Welsh, and also Medieval Latin and Christian mythologies that influenced the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. In particular, the mythology contained in The Silmarillion, specific the cosmology, behaves as sacred texts do in the primary world and mirrors a number of extant mythologies when they are directly compared. Several scholars have note, but as yet no one has studied in depth, the relationship between the cosmology the The Silmarillion to that of a number of extant ancient Near Eastern mythologies. This thesis seeks to address that gap in the scholarship by specifically exploring Tolkien's mythological creation story in relation to those of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Abrahamic of the Near East. Such a comparative study reveals a number of structural and thematic parallels that attest to the complexity of Tolkien's work that and can be used to argue that his mythology can be considered as well-developed and surprisingly authentic as any of these ancient mythological traditions.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355562
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Myths in literature, Symbolism in literature, Cosmology, Middle Eastern literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Can I call you brother?.
Creator: Norberg, Elizabeth Andrea., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and...
Show moreThe following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and searches for a model of what butch is and is not but she continues to feel emotionally and physically cut off from the people she cares about. Ultimately, Sarah realizes she can move fluidly between many genders. When she stops trying to be a stereotype, she is finally able to connect with the people she cares about.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186332
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Lesbians, Attitudes, Homosexuality, Philosophy, Stereotype (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A certain animation.
Creator: Christakis, George A., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This is a collection of short stories that flirt with non-traditional forms. They are character-driven pieces, in which plot is of secondary importance to the relationships created and established. Ambiguity and abstraction are valued, as is the balance between mood and humor. Scientific principles fuel some of the pieces here, most of which do not attempt to take place in reality, but rather create their own arena to contain the events that follow.
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3340698
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Short stories, American
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao: an epistemological fantasy.
Creator: Creed, Daniel B., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao, published in 1936, has been widely read in the last eighty years and has influenced significant authors in the field of fantasy, yet it has been examined in just three critical studies in that time. This study examines Finney's novel as an epistemological fantasy, a heretofore undefined term that precipitates an epistemological crisis of knowing and certainty. The novel opens a way for fantasy literature to establish itself in a Modernist landscape by...
Show moreCharles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao, published in 1936, has been widely read in the last eighty years and has influenced significant authors in the field of fantasy, yet it has been examined in just three critical studies in that time. This study examines Finney's novel as an epistemological fantasy, a heretofore undefined term that precipitates an epistemological crisis of knowing and certainty. The novel opens a way for fantasy literature to establish itself in a Modernist landscape by foregrounding the marvelous and extraordinary knowledge that lies just outside the realm of human experience. Finney presents Dr. Lao's circus as a surrogate model of success, and while many of the characters in the novel are unable to accept the truth offered them by the beings of fantasy, the author uses their experiences to satirize the complacencies he witnessed upon returning to America from the Far East in the 1930s.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683122
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Knowledge, Theory of, in literature, Fantasy fiction, American, Criticism and interpretation, Postmodernism (Literature)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A Child's Prayer.
Creator: Bergkamp, Jill., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: A Child's Prayer is a Creative Work of 28 poems. This collection examines the relationship between religion and the familial, the habitual and the sublime. Through the reconfiguring of stories, often from a child's point of view, this collection seeks to question the past through the process of retelling it. Themes that are prevalent include memory, alienation, nourishment, and the sacramental. A Child's Prayer gently questions patriarchal religion and its multi-generational effects.
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3166836
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Poetry (Collections), Conduct of life, Family, Religious aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A collection of stories from the ground up.
Creator: Clark, Dustin., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The stories proposed within this thesis examine the daily lives of working class men, women, and children and the subtle dynamics of the relationships between them. The stories engage a variety of narrative perspectives, sometimes employing serious overtones and sometimes shifting toward humor. Stylistically, the stories construct a single unified voice that sifts through common themes including alcoholism, self-pity, the loss of culture, grief, distrust, absolution, and hero worship.
Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2953828
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Working class, Labor
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Constituting community: expanding perceptions of community in Rawlings's Cross Creek and Thoreau's Walden.
Creator: Curran, Julianne., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Both Thoreau and Rawlings call attention to humanity's need to expand its perceptions and interpretations of what it means to be a part of a community in Walden and Cross Creek, respectively. Building on the established idea of what it means to be incorporated into a human community, each author also implores his or her readers to extend the perceived boundaries of what comprises a "community" to include the natural world. Ultimately, both texts point to the need for the establishment of what...
Show moreBoth Thoreau and Rawlings call attention to humanity's need to expand its perceptions and interpretations of what it means to be a part of a community in Walden and Cross Creek, respectively. Building on the established idea of what it means to be incorporated into a human community, each author also implores his or her readers to extend the perceived boundaries of what comprises a "community" to include the natural world. Ultimately, both texts point to the need for the establishment of what Aldo Leopold calls a land ethic, which requires the re-drawing of communal boundaries to include the land with man as a citizen rather than a conqueror of Nature. Thoreau and Rawlings demonstrate how an individual can start to expand his or her conception of community to move closer to Leopold's ideal by recounting the different experiences they have with human society and nature while living at Walden Pond and in Cross Creek, Florida. However, each author uses different approaches. Thoreau concentrates primarily on reflecting upon improving his individual self in order to eventually improve his Concord community. Rawlings, on the other hand, makes a greater effort to reflect upon her interactions with the people of Cross Creek in addition to her interactions with Nature in order to strengthen her bonds with these things. Such a difference causes Rawlings to be read as presenting a re-vision of Thoreau's ideas about the relationship between humankind, one's community, and Nature. While the kinds of experiences Thoreau and Rawlings encounter might be different, in the end it is their emphasis on the importance of an individual's relationship to the community-one that includes both humans and Nature-that resonates with readers.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683121
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, National characteristics, American, in literature, Nature, Effect of human beings on
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Diamonds in the Rough.
Creator: Friedman, Efrat., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Diamonds in the Rough is a dramatic coming-of-age novel, chronicling the experiences of college student Sofia Dayan. The intricacies of the Forty-Seventh Street diamond exchange are revealed during Sofia's time as an office assistant to a Hassidic diamond dealer, and she slowly discovers that her boss is involved in an illicit transaction concerning her father. Also coping with the symptoms of a newly diagnosed illness, rheumatoid arthritis, she begins a relationship with David Cohen - her...
Show moreDiamonds in the Rough is a dramatic coming-of-age novel, chronicling the experiences of college student Sofia Dayan. The intricacies of the Forty-Seventh Street diamond exchange are revealed during Sofia's time as an office assistant to a Hassidic diamond dealer, and she slowly discovers that her boss is involved in an illicit transaction concerning her father. Also coping with the symptoms of a newly diagnosed illness, rheumatoid arthritis, she begins a relationship with David Cohen - her father's former friend and business associate. Tensions build as Sofia manages her disease, attempts to strengthen her bond with David, and discovers what her father and boss are conspiring. Like a diamond, all the characters within the story are flawed beneath the surface and, to some degree, are living in illusions. Visual art and music enhance this primary theme; both often depict something beautiful but contain a darker subtext.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356784
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Diamonds, Interpersonal relationships, Coming of age
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The discourse of confession and the rhetoric of the devil: unnatural attraction and gender instability in Wuthering Heights and The Master of Ballantrae.
Creator: DeFalco, Dana., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Often overlooked in the nineteenth century Gothic novel are the complicated social issues existing within the text. In Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae, the authors each create villains who represent the preoccupation with appropriate sexuality and conventional gender roles existing in Victorian England. Brontèe's Heathcliff and Stevenson's James Durie embody all that is immoral and non-normative in society with their depraved behavior ;...
Show moreOften overlooked in the nineteenth century Gothic novel are the complicated social issues existing within the text. In Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae, the authors each create villains who represent the preoccupation with appropriate sexuality and conventional gender roles existing in Victorian England. Brontèe's Heathcliff and Stevenson's James Durie embody all that is immoral and non-normative in society with their depraved behavior ; however, because of the authors' craftiness with language, the authors, through their villains, manage to magnetize the other characters and subsequently emasculate those men in the text who emulate the Victorian ideal of masculinity. By focusing their novels on the plight of the Other and his disruption to the homogeneous rules regarding sexuality and gender in the nineteenth century, both authors articulate a profound understanding of the societal fears regarding these issues existing in their time.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3170602
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Homosexuality in literature, Symbolism in literature, Confession in literature, Desire in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Divine alchemy in Paradise Lost.
Creator: Rutherford, Andrea J., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his...
Show moreThis study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his deliberate use of the alchemical metaphor. These themes support the proposal that Milton, a Christian humanist, uses alchemy as a metaphor described in this study as "divine alchemy," which begins with his belief that Christians, inheriting original sin, must submit themselves to a transformative process similar to transmutation to restore right reason and, ultimately, achieve salvation.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358963
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Influence, Knowledge, Science, Symbolism in literature, Science in literature, Literature and science, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Eulogist.
Creator: Pagan, Michael J., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The Eulogist hastens along two structural/narrative approaches: the narrative sequence form and how it relays a poetic narrative in newer and more unique ways, and a dialogic approach I've termed a perpetual tense, where a variety of voices representing a variety of temporal realities are given agency to perform within the same space at the same time. Both approaches stem from my own philosophical views in response to such grandiose ideas as "language," "life," "moments," "love," etc., and...
Show moreThe Eulogist hastens along two structural/narrative approaches: the narrative sequence form and how it relays a poetic narrative in newer and more unique ways, and a dialogic approach I've termed a perpetual tense, where a variety of voices representing a variety of temporal realities are given agency to perform within the same space at the same time. Both approaches stem from my own philosophical views in response to such grandiose ideas as "language," "life," "moments," "love," etc., and how reversible they seem. I respond by offering a common denominator that appears to exist amongst these ideas: the presence of desperation that feels to be the only tangible element perpetually moving forward, represented within the narratives of the manuscript's four main characters: Hero, Heroine, Marvelous Swab (The Eulogist) and myself (The Eulogist). Ultimately, the resolution is found within each character's response to their desperation as well as their rationalizations behind each response.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3340696
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Poetry
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Excuse me (random acts of encounter and exploration).
Creator: Gregorio, Kelly Ann., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: I am living in a world of strangers. Growing up, I was told to never talk to them. As an adult, I have grown self-centered, spending my days filtering the external into my own internal truths. In doing so, a boundary has been set between my brain and everything beyond it. For different reasons I have stayed quiet over the years, and formed opinions of strangers by means of observation; but now, finally, I am reaching out. I am going to places I would not normally go to, slowing down enough to...
Show moreI am living in a world of strangers. Growing up, I was told to never talk to them. As an adult, I have grown self-centered, spending my days filtering the external into my own internal truths. In doing so, a boundary has been set between my brain and everything beyond it. For different reasons I have stayed quiet over the years, and formed opinions of strangers by means of observation; but now, finally, I am reaching out. I am going to places I would not normally go to, slowing down enough to notice, and trying something different. I am trying to talk to strangers, trying to get them to open up to me in a world where a lot of us have curled the focus inward. I am trying to explore, trying to overcome, approach, dig deeper, and above all, learn something that makes each one of us familiar.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3338858
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Narration (Rhetoric), Identity (Psychology), Context effects (Psychology), Conduct of life
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Existential consciousness, redemption, and Buddhist allusions in the work of Saul Bellow.
Creator: Durbeej, Jerry K., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Within the past two centuries, massive industrialization, technological and scientific advances, wars, diseases, failures in social systems, and religious, ethnic, and political conflicts have produced an existential angst that has saturated the collective consciousness of modern man. The atrocities of World Wars I and II induced European and American authors and artists to confront this state of disillusionment, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and dread; consequently, much of our modern...
Show moreWithin the past two centuries, massive industrialization, technological and scientific advances, wars, diseases, failures in social systems, and religious, ethnic, and political conflicts have produced an existential angst that has saturated the collective consciousness of modern man. The atrocities of World Wars I and II induced European and American authors and artists to confront this state of disillusionment, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and dread; consequently, much of our modern literature reflects this nihilistic darkness. In this state of grave doubts and uncertainties, the modern man finds himself alienated and disconnected from the very essences that ground him. Scholars of literature, philosophy, and the various arts and social sciences, having examined this contemporary dilemma, find just cause to question our western belief that science, technology, and materialism put the world in order. The further indictment is that these rational and materialistic forces have usurped the place of God and dismantled the ancient mythologies that once grounded our existence. This study examines the selected work of Saul Bellow and argues that his recurring themes of suffering, compassion, humanity, and renewal of the human spirit are antithetical to this collective existential angst. My argument introduces the doctrine of Existentialism and then explores the basic existentialist theory of Jean-Paul Sartre. From this platform, I later establish that Bellow takes a stand against this collective nihilism in favor of community and the celebration of life that are defined by a moral framework. Bellow's most representative novel in this vein of existential dislocation is Dangling Man., From this novel, I argue that there is an inherent flaw in the notion that man's essential existence can only be defined through his agency as an individual, and that man, not God, is ultimately responsible for his actions and destiny. This pursuit of existence based on personal freedom and intellectual synthesis is prone to failure; Bellow's point of view is that the existentialist, having disconnected himself from God and community, plunges into an abyss fraught with angst and turmoil. Bellow's theme of humanity instructs that our redemption lies not in our personal quest, but in our absorption and participation in a community framed by moral precepts and the respect for God. Finally, and from another angle and through Bellow's Herzog, I establish a connection to Buddhism. From these Buddhist allusions, I further affirm that the quest for authentic existence and redemption demands a confrontation with our angst and an acknowledgement of our suffering.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1870695
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Existentialsim in literature, Symbolism in literature, Buddhism and literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Far winter.
Creator: Rodrigues, Elizabeth., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This collection of poems engages narratives of geographical and emotional displacement on a journey toward a place from which to begin writing. The inciting narrative is one of travel - Brazil, to England, and to adulthood. A second narrative emerges as a gradual realization that these first displacements will never be truly resolved and that this lack of resolution is the only occasion from which to write. As the collection continues, the speaker of these poems is less and less comfortable...
Show moreThis collection of poems engages narratives of geographical and emotional displacement on a journey toward a place from which to begin writing. The inciting narrative is one of travel - Brazil, to England, and to adulthood. A second narrative emerges as a gradual realization that these first displacements will never be truly resolved and that this lack of resolution is the only occasion from which to write. As the collection continues, the speaker of these poems is less and less comfortable with pronouncement and more and more comfortable with action. The act of doing something - moving, driving, walking, escaping, returning, floating down a river of ice - is what creates the silence needed to proceed. Through the body, deafening directives can be temporarily suspended.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/177013
Subject Headings: Poetry, Symbolism in literature, Displacement (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Fight for education, fight for freedom: from object to subject in freedom narratives.
Creator: Messinger, Samantha., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative...
Show moreThe three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative tradition. These novels borrow from the tradition, not only in terms of structure, but also in terms of plot, point of view, theme, and resolution. Additionally, through the novels, one can see how the trauma of slavery in America permeates contemporary American homes, both White and Black. This thesis focuses on PUSH by Sapphire, The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips, and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison to illustrate the significance and the impact of the traditional slave narrative and the trauma of slavery on contemporary novels and American people.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342241
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Slavery in literature, Symbolism in literature, African American women novelists, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Criticism and interpretation (26)	+ -
Short stories, American (9)	+ -
Conduct of life (6)	+ -
Narration (Rhetoric) (5)	+ -
Poetry (5)	+ -

Postmodernism (Literature) (5)	+ -
Avant-garde (Aesthetics) (3)	+ -
Postmodernism (3)	+ -
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) (2)	+ -
Feminism and literature (2)	+ -
Identity (Psychology) (2)	+ -
In literature (2)	+ -
Influence (2)	+ -
Knowledge, Theory of, in literature (2)	+ -
Philosophy (2)	+ -
Psychological aspects (2)	+ -
Self in literature (2)	+ -
Technique (2)	+ -
Themes, motives (2)	+ -
Aesthetics (1)	+ -
African American women novelists (1)	+ -
African Americans in literature (1)	+ -
American prose literature (1)	+ -
Animals (Philosophy) (1)	+ -
Animals in literature (1)	+ -
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