View All Items

Title: Edward Gorey's illustrations of misshapen children.
Creator: McGlothlin, Kristin L., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Twentieth century American illustrator Edward Gorey's pen and ink drawings subvert traditional images of children ; his images represent the tenets of disability theory, cuteness, and whiteness in relation to child figures in children's literature. Inspecting Gorey's illustrations provides insight into traditional images of children, and emphasizes how his portraits represent children as disabled figures. I examine four books containing Gorey's illustrations for literary and aesthetic...
Show moreTwentieth century American illustrator Edward Gorey's pen and ink drawings subvert traditional images of children ; his images represent the tenets of disability theory, cuteness, and whiteness in relation to child figures in children's literature. Inspecting Gorey's illustrations provides insight into traditional images of children, and emphasizes how his portraits represent children as disabled figures. I examine four books containing Gorey's illustrations for literary and aesthetic analysis. In The Doubtful Guest, a boy deals with psychological challenges ; in The Beastly Baby and The Shrinking of Treehorn, both the infant and Treehorn live with disabled bodies; The Gashlycrumb Tinies displays aspects of psychological, physical, and positional disabilities through alphabetized portraits of girls and boys. This thesis connects disability theory, cuteness, and whiteness to children's literature to address pervasive, predetermined images of children in Western literature and questions the larger issue of whether the elements comprising adult interpretations of child-images can harm real children.
Show less
Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360956
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Emily Dickinson: the language of a spiritually periipheral perspective.
Creator: Gallagher, Linda Pergolizzi., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Emily Dickinson was a poet who existed at the center of her nineteenth-century United States culture and yet wrote from a periphery located at the edge of her being. Integral to understanding her poetry is a contextual awareness of her spiritual struggle. The experience of cultural marginalization and the way it informs art through a peripheral perspective has been the focus of examination in much of modern and post-modern literary studies where attention is given as much to an author's...
Show moreEmily Dickinson was a poet who existed at the center of her nineteenth-century United States culture and yet wrote from a periphery located at the edge of her being. Integral to understanding her poetry is a contextual awareness of her spiritual struggle. The experience of cultural marginalization and the way it informs art through a peripheral perspective has been the focus of examination in much of modern and post-modern literary studies where attention is given as much to an author's cultural station as to his or her artistic creation. A close study of Emily Dickinson's poetry reveals a spiritually marginalized perspective which closely resembles the structural framework of cultural marginalization. While there are areas of Dickinson's poetic perspective where these two experiences merge, my examination of Dickinson concentrates on her personal spiritual liminality in her relationship with God as expressed in the context of her poetry and letters.
Show less
Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/47851
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Spirituality, Spiritual life in literature, Belief and doubt in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Employing cultural landscapes in community preservation: the case of Druid Hills, Atlanta.
Creator: Blythe, Rachel, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Druid Hills is a historic suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, that was initially designed by landscape architech Frederick Law Olmsted in 1893. As one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Druid Hills has faced the consequences of sprawl, particularly in the 1980s when the Georgia Department of Transportation proposed construction of the Presidential Parkway, an expressway that would have cut through the middle of the neighborhood. In opposition to the expressway, members of the surrounding communities...
Show moreDruid Hills is a historic suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, that was initially designed by landscape architech Frederick Law Olmsted in 1893. As one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Druid Hills has faced the consequences of sprawl, particularly in the 1980s when the Georgia Department of Transportation proposed construction of the Presidential Parkway, an expressway that would have cut through the middle of the neighborhood. In opposition to the expressway, members of the surrounding communities organized Citizens Against Unnecessary Thoroughfares In Older Neighborhoods (CAUTION). The strategic rhetoric of CAUTION's campaign emphasized Druid Hills' significance as "Olmsted's Vision of Atlanta," yet their use of this iconic figure did not capture the complete cultural landscape of Druid Hills. Although Olmsted designed the initial layout of the suburb, the suburb's form departed from his design during its development. I argue that preserving the community requires a comprehensive portrait of its varied history.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359291
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Ethnic neighborhoods, History, Historic preservation, Social life and customs, History and criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Entre Nebrija y Valdâes: un diâalogo gramatical sobre el castellano renacentista.
Creator: Lewis, Ron., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: The two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis...
Show moreThe two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis explores the linguistic substance of both works, evidence of the authors' personal attitudes and dispositions that influenced their works, and the political and social context surrounding all of these factors. The purpose of this investigation is to gain further insight into the Grammar and the Dialogue, as well as the history of Spain and the historical development of Castilian.
Show less
Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335108
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Spanish literature, Criticism and interpretation, Language and culture, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Establishing Hyrule: analyzing the construction of the world and levels in Shigeru Miyamoto's Ocarina of Time.
Creator: Hollingsworth, Douglas A., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are...
Show moreShigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are presented with cosmology of the virtual world and the divine ordering of the races that dwell there. In addition, this thesis explores how the process of building the virtual worldof Hyrule is mimicked in the design of the game's individual levels, in terms of the spaces that players explore, the rules they are bound by, and the goals that they must reach while progressing through the central plot.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359295
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Video games (Philosophy), Legend of Zelda (Game), Computer games, Psychological aspects
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.
Show less
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: An exploratory study of how lesbian women and gay men are portrayed in Jamaica's primary newspaper - The Gleaner, dancehall music, and the works of authors Kwame Dawes, Kei Miller, and Staceyann Chin.
Creator: Cann, Victoria E., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the treatment of gay men and lesbian women through the multilayered lenses of the local Jamaican newspaper - The Gleaner, Dancehall music, and select works of Kei Miller, Kwame Dawes, and Staceyann Chin. The study is an exploratory one and as such its methodology is not confined to a prescribed model, but instead draws on a diverse range of theorists, some from postcolonialism, feminism, cultural studies, philosophy, Caribbean studies and more. This project's intent is to...
Show moreThis thesis examines the treatment of gay men and lesbian women through the multilayered lenses of the local Jamaican newspaper - The Gleaner, Dancehall music, and select works of Kei Miller, Kwame Dawes, and Staceyann Chin. The study is an exploratory one and as such its methodology is not confined to a prescribed model, but instead draws on a diverse range of theorists, some from postcolonialism, feminism, cultural studies, philosophy, Caribbean studies and more. This project's intent is to add to the newly emerging canon on queer Caribbean identities by further exploring societal representations of gay sexuality. The first chapter looks at the portrayal of Jamaican gay men and lesbian women through the public discourse of the Jamaica Gleaner. The second discusses the treatment of male and female homosexuality in the popular discourse of Dancehall music. The third chapter analyses the depiction of Caribbean gay and lesbian sexuality through the recent works of authors Kei Miller, Kwame Dawes and Staceyann Chin.
Show less
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3169916
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Homosexuality
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Fearing the youth: economic turmoil, adult anxiety and the Japanese Battle Royale controversy.
Creator: Pagel, Caren., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: In December 2000, Japanese lawmakers took unprecedented steps to ban Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale from theaters prior to its scheduled release. The film was deemed "crude and tasteless" for its portrayal of teen violence in a state run game of kill or be-killed and attempts to ban the film were pursued through the film certification process all the way to the floor of Japanese parliament. This thesis investigates the controversy surrounding the release of Battle Royale and the socioeconomic...
Show moreIn December 2000, Japanese lawmakers took unprecedented steps to ban Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale from theaters prior to its scheduled release. The film was deemed "crude and tasteless" for its portrayal of teen violence in a state run game of kill or be-killed and attempts to ban the film were pursued through the film certification process all the way to the floor of Japanese parliament. This thesis investigates the controversy surrounding the release of Battle Royale and the socioeconomic and cultural factors - in particular, the Japanese recession and widening generation gap of the 1990s - that influenced both the film's message and the extraordinary political reaction in Japan. This thesis argues that the objections to the film were not based solely on the violent content as is often reported, but rather were the combination of adult economic and cultural anxiety regarding themselves and the youth, the anti-authority message of the film that encouraged the youth to reject adult systems, and a political campaign that exploited the adult fears by using Battle Royale as a scapegoat for youth problems.
Show less
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172429
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Influence, Motion pictures, Censorship, Violence in motion pictures, Sensationalism in motion pictures, Politics and government, Social life and customs
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: " Feasting with panthers": unstable sexual identity and the pedagogic Eros in the Divine Comedy.
Creator: Morris, Albert., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study is to analyze the problem posed by homosexuality in Dante's Commedia. I look at several topics and questions : A) What are the implications of homosexuality in regards to both justice in the polis and to divine justice in the next world? B) What are the poetics of queer variance? C) What are the oedipal issues surrounding the Dantean father-figures VIrgil, Brunetto Latini, and other males? D) What is the role of the pedagogic Eros in promoting a strong national bond...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to analyze the problem posed by homosexuality in Dante's Commedia. I look at several topics and questions : A) What are the implications of homosexuality in regards to both justice in the polis and to divine justice in the next world? B) What are the poetics of queer variance? C) What are the oedipal issues surrounding the Dantean father-figures VIrgil, Brunetto Latini, and other males? D) What is the role of the pedagogic Eros in promoting a strong national bond and social ethos? E) Where does Dante situate "sodomites" (and, by extension, what role does desire play) in the schemata of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, and why is this important? All of these questions are interrelated and have a bearing on Dante's notion of the good society and divine justice.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358756
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Homosexuliaty, History, Love in literature, Criticism and interpretation, Desire in literature, Criticism and interpretation, Mind and body in literature
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.
Show less
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)

Title: El final del tango Perâonista: la desintegraciâon del cuerpo social en No Habrâa Mâas Penas ni Olvido.
Creator: Fuentes, Delia Pamela., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This thesis analyzes the complexities of Argentinean politics during Juan Domingo Perâon's last presidency, (1973-1974), as presented in Osvaldo Soriano's novel No habrâa mâas penas ni olvido. Soriano's work, set in the fictitious town of Colonia Vela, in the state of Buenos Aires, illustrates in a small scale the different social and political components that make up the national body. Historical and fictitious elements dramatize the conflict among the left and right wings of the Peronist...
Show moreThis thesis analyzes the complexities of Argentinean politics during Juan Domingo Perâon's last presidency, (1973-1974), as presented in Osvaldo Soriano's novel No habrâa mâas penas ni olvido. Soriano's work, set in the fictitious town of Colonia Vela, in the state of Buenos Aires, illustrates in a small scale the different social and political components that make up the national body. Historical and fictitious elements dramatize the conflict among the left and right wings of the Peronist Party. These two factions divide the villagers, who hold diverse images of Perâon and what the party entails, while putting their political beliefs and physical well-being at stake. Quickly the two splinter parties trigger an open arm conflict while fighting under the same slogan: "Perâon o muerte". Supported by diverse theoretical perspectives, this thesis reveals that Soriano's novel sheds light into one of the most confusing periods of Argentinean history while rescuing the sacrifices of the people.
Show less
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3175015
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Spanish American literature, Criticism and interpretation, History, Literature and the war, Politics and government, Social life and customs
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A fistful of facts: reconsidering Dziga Vertov's cinematic truth.
Creator: Salomone, Peter., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: In 1919, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov declared a "death sentence" on fictional films. Vertov championed his own unique method of non-fiction filmmaking, called Kino-Eye, which is based on Vertov's ideas regarding truth in cinema. Although he does not write specifically about Vertov or film, the philosopher Nelson Goodman offers a contrasting view of truth in general. By comparing the Kino-Eye method to Goodman's philosophy, we can better understand Vertov's radical ideas and see more...
Show moreIn 1919, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov declared a "death sentence" on fictional films. Vertov championed his own unique method of non-fiction filmmaking, called Kino-Eye, which is based on Vertov's ideas regarding truth in cinema. Although he does not write specifically about Vertov or film, the philosopher Nelson Goodman offers a contrasting view of truth in general. By comparing the Kino-Eye method to Goodman's philosophy, we can better understand Vertov's radical ideas and see more clearly how the concept of cinematic truth has changed over time.
Show less
Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77687
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Documentary films, Sources, Motion pictures, Philosophy, Film criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

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.
Show less
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)

Title: La fuerza de la tradiciâon: representaciones del estudiante en la novela picaresque.
Creator: Fernandez del Paramo, Javier., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: The genre of the "picaresque" (romances of roguery), which were popular in sixteenth-century Spain, contain the literary type of the "picaro" or rogue, which can appear at times as a "student." The current work presents the historical context of the Spanish university and of the student's life as well as the representation of the "student" in several picaresque novels, namely, Mateo Aleman's El Guzman de Alfarache, Vicente Espinel's Marcos de Obregâon, Jerâonimo de Alcalâa y Yâanez's El...
Show moreThe genre of the "picaresque" (romances of roguery), which were popular in sixteenth-century Spain, contain the literary type of the "picaro" or rogue, which can appear at times as a "student." The current work presents the historical context of the Spanish university and of the student's life as well as the representation of the "student" in several picaresque novels, namely, Mateo Aleman's El Guzman de Alfarache, Vicente Espinel's Marcos de Obregâon, Jerâonimo de Alcalâa y Yâanez's El donoso hablador, and Francisco de Quevedo's El Buscâon, in order to contrast the social reality of the student and its literary representation. The literary character of the "student" does not depart only from its reality. Its characteristics are based on the student stories from the oral medieval tradition, a residual cultural elements, as described by Maxime Chevalier, as well as the emerging picaresque narratives.
Show less
Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/172672
Subject Headings: Picaresque literature, Spanish, History and criticism, Spanish fiction, Criticism and interpretation, Point of view (Literature), Characters and characteristics in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Gender and the abject in the symbolic landscapes of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm.
Creator: McAdams, Janine., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The literature of the fin de siáecle challenged established societal norms through its use of avant-garde literary forms and controversial subject matter. This study will examine the use of landscape metaphors in two major works of fin de siáecle literature, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm, in order to reveal how these texts critique and re-vision the social dualities of gender. A wide range of literary...
Show moreThe literature of the fin de siáecle challenged established societal norms through its use of avant-garde literary forms and controversial subject matter. This study will examine the use of landscape metaphors in two major works of fin de siáecle literature, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm, in order to reveal how these texts critique and re-vision the social dualities of gender. A wide range of literary theories-including, feminist theory, semiotics, and ecocriticism-are used to interpret these authors' influential narratives. This thesis will also apply Julia Kristeva's theory of the abjects-representing the permeability of the physical and social bodies-to critically examine the literal and metaphorical landscapes of Stevenson's city and Schreiner's farm. Thus, these visionary texts embody an organic and feminist understanding of the self as a permeable social construct that exists free of borders.
Show less
Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683128
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Sex role in literature, Semantics (Philosophy), Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Gender, disability, and literature in the Global South: Nepali writers Jhamak Ghimire and Bishnu Kumari Waiwa (Parijat).
Creator: Acharya, Tulasi., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis explores gender, disability and literature in the Global South through an examination of the writings of two physically disabled contemporary women writers from Nepal, BIshnu Kumari Waiwa and Jhamak Ghimire. I show how these renowned contemporary writers challenge stigmas of the disabled body by deconstructiong the "ideology of ability" through their poetry, fiction, and autobiographical narratives. Religious and cultural values disable women's autonomy in general, and create even...
Show moreThis thesis explores gender, disability and literature in the Global South through an examination of the writings of two physically disabled contemporary women writers from Nepal, BIshnu Kumari Waiwa and Jhamak Ghimire. I show how these renowned contemporary writers challenge stigmas of the disabled body by deconstructiong the "ideology of ability" through their poetry, fiction, and autobiographical narratives. Religious and cultural values disable women's autonomy in general, and create even greater disadvantages for women who are physically disabled. Challenging these cultural stigmas, Waiwa and Ghimire celebrate sexuality and disability as sources of creativity, agency, and identity in narratives that deconstruct cultural or social models of sexuality, motherhood, and beauty. In this thesis feminist disability and feminist theory guide an analysis of Waiwa and Ghimire's writing to advance our understanding of gender, culture, disability and literature in the Global South.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356903
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Prejudices in literature, Discrimination against people with disabilities, Stigma (Social psychology), Women in literature, Social conditions
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A gendered approach to synaesthesia using the poetry of John Keats and Emily Dickinson.
Creator: Lucky-Medford, Lindsay., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The Greek term synaesthesia, which literally translates into 'perceiving together,' is known among most literary critics as the mixing of sensations. The term is applied in literature to the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another. For instance: 'hearing' a color or 'seeing' a 'smell.' That is, the description of sounds in terms of colors such as a "blue note;" of colors in terms of sound such as "loud shirt;" of sound in terms of taste such as "how sweet the sound;" and of...
Show moreThe Greek term synaesthesia, which literally translates into 'perceiving together,' is known among most literary critics as the mixing of sensations. The term is applied in literature to the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another. For instance: 'hearing' a color or 'seeing' a 'smell.' That is, the description of sounds in terms of colors such as a "blue note;" of colors in terms of sound such as "loud shirt;" of sound in terms of taste such as "how sweet the sound;" and of colors in terms of temperature such as a "cool green." Although synaesthesia has been used by a variety of poets throughout the centuries, my focus will be on its use in the poetry of John Keats and Emily Dickinson. While critics and scholars have considered this subject before, normally it is approached in terms of its specific meaning within a particular poem. In contrast, I argue that Keats and Dickinson employ synaesthesia to crystallize a poetic perspective, a literary world view, and that this perspective significantly pertains to a variety of gender issues in the nineteenth century. Consequently, I contend that both poets were dealing with the large theme of an imaginative poetic world in which synaesthesia transmutes and synthesizes gender so that a "blue note," male and female, are radically the same and yet "other." After reviewing the scholarship of synaesthesia in Keats's and Dickinson's poetry, I will analyze a series of poems that illustrate my thesis, fleshing out the implications of a gender synthesis that makes us see both poets challenging and subverting the gendered commonplaces of the 19th century.
Show less
Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683136
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Versification, Criticism and interpretation, Versification, Synesthesia, Senses and sensation, Emotions and cognition
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A good woman is hard to find: discovering the voice of the woman satirist in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood.
Creator: Paxton, Virginia A., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: While Flannery O'Connor's characters and narrative landscape may share a history with those of other works often labeled "Southern gothic," her heavily judicious narrative voice utilizes the depravity of the South struggling to find its identity as a means to explore her vision of God's mercy and distinguishes her work as satirical criticism. This thesis analyzes her construction of a distinctive satirical narrative voice for Wise Blood, particularly as it deviates from how she initially...
Show moreWhile Flannery O'Connor's characters and narrative landscape may share a history with those of other works often labeled "Southern gothic," her heavily judicious narrative voice utilizes the depravity of the South struggling to find its identity as a means to explore her vision of God's mercy and distinguishes her work as satirical criticism. This thesis analyzes her construction of a distinctive satirical narrative voice for Wise Blood, particularly as it deviates from how she initially wrote the first chapters as presented in earlier short stories like "The Train" and "The Peeler." Here, the ways in which O'Connor revises her diction and syntax to create a satirical tone will be examined closely. For the purposes of this paper, satire is defined as a literary work aimed at utilizing irony, hyperbole, or sarcasm to reveal, critique, and correct some moral, ethical, or social phenomenon or situation that the author finds reprehensible.
Show less
Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/221951
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Feminism and literature, Didactic fiction, American, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Grammars of communion.
Creator: Shaw, Elliot., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: In response to assertions championing the absence of meaning and significance in language originating from Jacques Derrida's linguistic concepts of deconstruction, George Steiner and John Sheriff provide analyses of language that assert the opposite. Through an emphasis on subjectivities and subjective experience in the world, both find meaning to be bonded to subjective volition and the connectivities between subjects and language systems. For Steiner, this emphasis comes in the form of...
Show moreIn response to assertions championing the absence of meaning and significance in language originating from Jacques Derrida's linguistic concepts of deconstruction, George Steiner and John Sheriff provide analyses of language that assert the opposite. Through an emphasis on subjectivities and subjective experience in the world, both find meaning to be bonded to subjective volition and the connectivities between subjects and language systems. For Steiner, this emphasis comes in the form of asserting the presence of others and the responsibilities we have to them, while Sheriff depicts how the semiotics of Charles Peirce make meaning-making subjective and communal. I argue, therefore, that in contrast to conceptions of language that challenge the presence of meaning in language, a structure of language as conceived through Charles Peirce's semiotics and George Steiner's vision of language asserts a dependability of language and the presence of meaning based on principles of connection and communion.
Show less
Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3361055
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Influence, Language and languages, Philosophy, Communication, Philosophy, Deconstruction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Hanging in the balance: the lure of Nietzsche's Apollonian and Dionysiac impulses in Kate Chopin's The Awakening.
Creator: Salamin, Jessica., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis represents a study of Kate Chopin's groundbreaking novel, The Awakening. Further, it applies Nietzsche's principles of Dionysiac and Apollonian impulses to the literary analysis of the novel. I argue that the protagonist of the novel, Edna Pontellier, embarks on a quest to determine how she may live an authentic life - that is, a life whereby she is true to herself above all others. Ultimately, her search for self is overwhelmed by the imbalance of the Apollonian and Dionysiac...
Show moreThis thesis represents a study of Kate Chopin's groundbreaking novel, The Awakening. Further, it applies Nietzsche's principles of Dionysiac and Apollonian impulses to the literary analysis of the novel. I argue that the protagonist of the novel, Edna Pontellier, embarks on a quest to determine how she may live an authentic life - that is, a life whereby she is true to herself above all others. Ultimately, her search for self is overwhelmed by the imbalance of the Apollonian and Dionysiac impulses against which she struggles. Because Edna cannot successfully mediate this struggle, she reaches the conclusion that she may only attain a truth to her self if she finds that truth in death.
Show less
Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/216407
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Self in literature, Women and literature, History
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (120)	+ -
Honors Student Theses (30)	+ -

Symbolism in literature (31)	+ -
History (20)	+ -
History and criticism (13)	+ -
Influence (8)	+ -
Literature and society (8)	+ -

Music (7)	+ -
Narration (Rhetoric) (7)	+ -
Postmodernism (Literature) (7)	+ -
Psychological aspects (7)	+ -
Feminism in literature (6)	+ -
Politics and government (6)	+ -
Social aspects (6)	+ -
Literature and science (5)	+ -
Philosophy (5)	+ -
Sex role in literature (5)	+ -
Comic books, strips, etc (4)	+ -
English fiction (4)	+ -
Feminism and literature (4)	+ -
Feminist theory (4)	+ -
Identity (Psychology) in literature (4)	+ -
Imperialism in literature (4)	+ -
Motion pictures (4)	+ -
Self in literature (4)	+ -
Women and literature (4)	+ -
Aesthetics (3)	+ -
Desire in literature (3)	+ -
Fantasy fiction, English (3)	+ -
Human-animal relationships in literature (3)	+ -
Philosophy in literature (3)	+ -

United States (16)	+ -
England (6)	+ -
Great Britain (5)	+ -
Caribbean Area (4)	+ -
Japan (3)	+ -

Spain (3)	+ -
Argentina (2)	+ -
Europe (2)	+ -
France (2)	+ -
Jamaica (2)	+ -
Soviet Union (2)	+ -
Africa, Southern (1)	+ -
Albania (1)	+ -
Atlanta (1)	+ -
Atlanta (Ga.) (1)	+ -
Australia (1)	+ -
Belgium (1)	+ -
Catalonia (1)	+ -
Druid Hills (1)	+ -
Georgia (1)	+ -
Germany (1)	+ -
Haiti (1)	+ -
Kingston (Jamaica) (1)	+ -
Latin America (1)	+ -
Mexico (1)	+ -
Nepal (1)	+ -
Persepolis (Iran) (1)	+ -
Peru (1)	+ -
Poland (1)	+ -
South Carolina (1)	+ -

Search In

Pages

Pages

Sort Results By:

Narrow results by:

Collection

Topical Subject

Geographic Subject

Temporal Subject

Genre Subject

Title as Subject

Genre

Type of Resource

Language

Creator

Format

Owner

English (139)	+ -
Spanish (9)	+ -
Italian (1)	+ -