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Title: Liberty Billings, Florida's forgotten radical Republican.
Creator: Asarch, Rhonda V., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: Unitarian preacher and Union Army officer Liberty Billings arrived in Florida in 1863 with the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. Billings settled in Fernandina and became active in Florida Reconstruction politics as a Radical Republican. Most ot the rhetoric regarding Billings focuses on his participation in the 1868 Florida Constitution Convention even though he went on to be State Senator and an influential citizen in Fernandina. This thesis examines the life of Liberty Billings...
Show moreUnitarian preacher and Union Army officer Liberty Billings arrived in Florida in 1863 with the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. Billings settled in Fernandina and became active in Florida Reconstruction politics as a Radical Republican. Most ot the rhetoric regarding Billings focuses on his participation in the 1868 Florida Constitution Convention even though he went on to be State Senator and an influential citizen in Fernandina. This thesis examines the life of Liberty Billings focusing on events preceding and following the Convention. In doing so, it argues that Billings' participation in Reconstruction politics derived from his experiences prior to the Civil War as did his transition from emancipationist to reconciliationist. By examining the earlier years of Billings' life as well as the evidence of his campaigns during 1867, his term as State Senator and Supreme Court cases, it will be demonstrated that Billings abandoned racial equality for class supremacy.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356895
Subject Headings: Influence, History, Political parties, History, Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877), Politics and government
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The prairie and the pampas: a comparison of settlement policy and environmental influences on epic literature in the United States and Argentina.
Creator: Budinger, David., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis will examine the governmental settlement policies in two similar topographical areas, the North American prairie and the South American pampas. Specifically, three novels by Willa Cather, will be included: My Antonia, O Pioneers!, and A Lost Lady. They will be discussed in relation to the development of Nebraska as afforded by the Homestead Act of 1862 and compared to the very different land settlement policies of Argentina as conveyed through the Argentinian national epic poem El...
Show moreThis thesis will examine the governmental settlement policies in two similar topographical areas, the North American prairie and the South American pampas. Specifically, three novels by Willa Cather, will be included: My Antonia, O Pioneers!, and A Lost Lady. They will be discussed in relation to the development of Nebraska as afforded by the Homestead Act of 1862 and compared to the very different land settlement policies of Argentina as conveyed through the Argentinian national epic poem El Gaucho Martin Fierro by Josâe Hernâandez. Particular attention will be made to the influence of the land and its creatures as a shaping influence on the characters created by the authors. There will be additional examination of the effect these works had on historical development within their respective countries, which will involve social and political analysis to place the literature within the historical perspectives of both countries.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332177
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Epic poetry, Argentine literature, Criticism and interpretation, Environmentalism, Environmentalism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The celebration of uncertainty through gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights.
Creator: Copeland, Kimberly., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: While critics have argued that the Gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights merely illuminate the psyches of her characters, I show that these moments allow Brontèe to reveal a unique tension and overflow of emotion that arises between her two main protagonists. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these displays --scenes of ghostly hauntings, bloody violence, and excessive emotion--create a desirable uncertainty about the limits of life and love in this novel. This...
Show moreWhile critics have argued that the Gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights merely illuminate the psyches of her characters, I show that these moments allow Brontèe to reveal a unique tension and overflow of emotion that arises between her two main protagonists. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these displays --scenes of ghostly hauntings, bloody violence, and excessive emotion--create a desirable uncertainty about the limits of life and love in this novel. This uncertainty constitutes an escape from and an alternative to the conventional romantic relationship prescribed by social and narrative standards in which two people fall in love, get married, have children and die. In my thesis, I argue that the revelation of this desired uncertainty is made possible by Brontèe's use of Gothic devices and could not have been as successfully achieved by any other literary mode.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209987
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Gothic revival (Literature), English fiction, History and criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Let them run wild: childhood, the nineteenth-century storyteller, and the ascent of the moon.
Creator: Czerny, Val., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Drawing from literary criticism, ecological philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the wisdom of the female principle - or what Paula Gunn Allen perceives as "Her presence," the "power to make and relate"- this interdisciplinary study challenges dominant assumptions that habitually prevail in western cultural thinking. Let Them Run Wild investigates alternative, "buried" articulations which emerge in nineteenth-and early twentieth-century narratives that especially engage an audience of both...
Show moreDrawing from literary criticism, ecological philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the wisdom of the female principle - or what Paula Gunn Allen perceives as "Her presence," the "power to make and relate"- this interdisciplinary study challenges dominant assumptions that habitually prevail in western cultural thinking. Let Them Run Wild investigates alternative, "buried" articulations which emerge in nineteenth-and early twentieth-century narratives that especially engage an audience of both children and adult readers. Recognizing the fictions inherent in linear-driven thought, these articulations celebrate narrative moments where reason is complicated and reconjectured, where absence is affirmed as presence, and where tale-tellers disappear behind the messages they relate. By spotlighting legendary characters, Chapter One, "The Jowls of Legend," explains how "wild consciousness" resists legendary status. Chapters Two and Three discuss the interweaving journey of the wild arabesque in the Arabian Nights and untamed desire within Anne's transformative language in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Chapter Four, examining the death drive in Frank Norris's The Octopus, describes how it is reconceived in E. Nesbit's The Railway Children. Lastly, the Epilogue explores Juliana Ewing's "Lob Lie-By-the-Fire," tracing the manifestation of the female principle through its most wild activity - not hindered by gender - of service rendered through mystery and adventure. Wild consciousness advances through the collective identity of what Frederic Jameson has called the "political unconscious"and commissions older, better approximations of ideology through willing, spontaneous service., It acknowledges Homi K. Bhabha's articulation of "cultural hybridity," while, simultaneously, it directs such hybrid constructions of history, space, and negotiation outward toward a wild feminist critic Elaine Showalter has characterized as the "wild zone," customarily understood as a borderland space, is further reinterpreted as a borderless, expressive, timeless calling forth of receptive minds to engage in wildly compassionate, nonsensical acts and cunning, non-heroic feats in order to transform the inert, polemic systems that define our western collective mind. In short, this study refigures what Vandana Shiva identifies as cultural "patents on life," where "civilization" becomes small - a mere idea in a forest's deep heart.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209982
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Ecofeminism and literature, Philosophy of nature in literature, Narrative (Rhetoric), Criticism and literature, Storytelling in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The use of the bastard identity: from Victorian subverters to superheroes in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Creator: Dessler, Ryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of...
Show moreThis project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of illegitimacy being used as a literary device in novels by Victorian authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In the second chapter, I examine the role illegitimacy plays in the origin stories of canonical comic book superheroes Batman and Superman. Lastly, in the third chapter, I scrutinize the role illegitimacy plays in defining the human condition within science fiction as human culture continues to advance technologically towards a post human world.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355567
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Literature and society, History, Comic books, strips, etc, Criticism and interpretation, Illegitimacy in literature, Sex role in literature, Sensationalism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Edna Pearce Lockett: lady of the house.
Creator: Dooley, Terry L., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This thesis demonstrates how some women used the power of their ancestry and family name to run for political office, to become a positive role model for other women, and also to help pass laws favorable to the improvement of gender equality. Edna Pearce Lockett was unique, but also a reflection of the values of her community. Women who ran for office tended to have strong male figures in their lives that treated them as equals. They often were savvy enough to use the novelty of their gender...
Show moreThis thesis demonstrates how some women used the power of their ancestry and family name to run for political office, to become a positive role model for other women, and also to help pass laws favorable to the improvement of gender equality. Edna Pearce Lockett was unique, but also a reflection of the values of her community. Women who ran for office tended to have strong male figures in their lives that treated them as equals. They often were savvy enough to use the novelty of their gender to encourage positive press. Far from trying to be men, they accentuated their femininity through press accounts detailing their fashion sense, their dedication to feminine pursuits, and their ability to be ladies as well as serve their constituency. Edna Pearce Lockett's life also illustrates what society was like in central Florida during the first half of the 20th century for men and women living on and around the cattle industry.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186679
Subject Headings: Political and social views, Frontier and pioneer life, History, Women in politics, History, Feminism, History and criticism, Women, History, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Rifles, residents, and runaways: the conflict over slavery between civil and military authority in Maryland, 1861-1864.
Creator: Dunne, Brian Thomas., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: In the fall of 1864, Maryland became the first Border State to abolish slavery with the adoption of a new state constitution. In order to best understand the evolution of this event, the purpose of this study was to examine the civil-military relations of Maryland during the Civil War and how these relations affected the institution of slavery in the state. Therefore, the main argument is that the conflict between military and civil authorities in Maryland during the war revealed two points:...
Show moreIn the fall of 1864, Maryland became the first Border State to abolish slavery with the adoption of a new state constitution. In order to best understand the evolution of this event, the purpose of this study was to examine the civil-military relations of Maryland during the Civil War and how these relations affected the institution of slavery in the state. Therefore, the main argument is that the conflict between military and civil authorities in Maryland during the war revealed two points: first, that the federal government maintained a faithful vigilance over the state during the war and second, that the federal government exploited a fading slavery system to not only eliminate any possibility of Maryland entering the Confederacy, but also destroy any degree of Border State neutrality.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3170957
Subject Headings: Slavery, History, Slaves, Emancipation, History, Sources, History, Politics and government
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The ecstatic Whitman: the body and sufistic influences in Leaves of Grass.
Creator: Frabrizio, Ryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines Walt Whitman's use of the body in his poetry as a location for spiritual experience, and how his use of the body bears strong connection to its use by medieval Persian Sufi poets. The first chapter focuses upon Sufi poetry's role as a shared point of interest between Whitman and his onetime mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Their differing philosophies regarding the cultivation of the soul caused them to absorb Sufi ideas into their own bodies of work in separate ways, and...
Show moreThis thesis examines Walt Whitman's use of the body in his poetry as a location for spiritual experience, and how his use of the body bears strong connection to its use by medieval Persian Sufi poets. The first chapter focuses upon Sufi poetry's role as a shared point of interest between Whitman and his onetime mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Their differing philosophies regarding the cultivation of the soul caused them to absorb Sufi ideas into their own bodies of work in separate ways, and contributed to the split that eventually occurred between them. The second chapter focuses upon connections between Whitman's poetry and that of Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest Sufi poets yet an oftoverlooked figure in Whitman scholarship. The final chapter examines multiple ways in which Whitman expresses the divine nature of the body in several poems from Leaves of Grass, and how those expressions reflect Sufi influences.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342049
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, American poetry, Persian influences, Sufism in literature, Beauty, Personal, in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: "The Voice of society": Dickens' surprising lesson in diplomacy spoken by the "innocent" table in Our Mutual Friend.
Creator: Hernandez, Patricia., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: In Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and...
Show moreIn Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and the last word of the debate is given to the mysterious table-man character. Rather than allowing a central protagonist to champion his thoughts, Dickens surprises his readers by making an exemplary moral figure of a mild, minor character from among the ranks of the pompous aristocracy. Twemlow's speech makes a familiar Dickensian point about the need for social reform in a strange, politically incorrect way.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/40950
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Class consciousness in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Deep-fried harmony: the impact of pro-Judaic rhetoric in fostering Protestant-Jewish amity in the ante-bellum South.
Creator: Lebowitz, Scott H., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: Scholars of southern Jewish history maintain that ante-bellum southerners displayed genuine philo-Semitism towards their Jewish neighbors. Historians attribute this to the southern Jews "effort to assimilate into southern society and to the presence of other, more preferred, targets of the southerners" animus, namely blacks and Catholics. This analysis, however, is not sufficiently broad to explain the South's Protestant-Jewish dynamic. It neither appraises the relationship from the...
Show moreScholars of southern Jewish history maintain that ante-bellum southerners displayed genuine philo-Semitism towards their Jewish neighbors. Historians attribute this to the southern Jews "effort to assimilate into southern society and to the presence of other, more preferred, targets of the southerners" animus, namely blacks and Catholics. This analysis, however, is not sufficiently broad to explain the South's Protestant-Jewish dynamic. It neither appraises the relationship from the perspective of the Protestants, nor accounts for the intellectual inconsistencies such a conclusion presents regarding both Protestants and southerners, generally. This thesis identifies and responds to these shortcomings by examining southern philo-Semitism through the eyes of the Protestants and thesis argues that pro-Judaic rhetoric of southern evangelical clergy inundated southerners with favorable references and images of the biblical Jews, causing southerners to develop a high degree of reverence and respect for Jews, whom they saw as their spiritual kinfolk.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332718
Subject Headings: Jews, Identity, Philosemitism, Protestants, Relations with Jews, Jews, Relations with Protestants, Evangelicalism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The voice of nationalism in Moniuszko's opera.
Creator: Niewczas, Marlena., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Music
Abstract/Description: Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872) is the father of the Polish national opera, and yet he is little known outside Poland. His two masterpieces, Halka and The Haunted Manor, are operatic works that contributed to the development of national music. Moniuszko composed during the middle of the nineteenth century when Poland was under control of the three Powers: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. A study of Polish history reveals the understanding of Moniuszko's position as an artist and the role of his...
Show moreStanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872) is the father of the Polish national opera, and yet he is little known outside Poland. His two masterpieces, Halka and The Haunted Manor, are operatic works that contributed to the development of national music. Moniuszko composed during the middle of the nineteenth century when Poland was under control of the three Powers: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. A study of Polish history reveals the understanding of Moniuszko's position as an artist and the role of his operas. The national elements portrayed in his compositions include Polish dances, such as the polonaise, mazurka, and krakowiak, as well as folk tunes, and most importantly, the libretto with social and patriotic stances. This thesis intends to enlighten English speakers about the development of Polish national opera, its innovator, and his techniques.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1930489
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Nationalism in literature, Music, History and criticism, Nationalism, History, Politics and government
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Beethoven: his nine symphonies and their influence on the development of the orchestra.
Creator: Padua, Daniel., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Music
Abstract/Description: Beethoven is widely considered to be one of the most influential composers of all time. His compositions denote a crucial turning point in the history of western music, and his influence can be discussed in numerous ways - musically, technically, theoretically and even philosophically. This treatise discusses one of the primary aspects of Beethoven's influence on later generations: the way that his symphonies contributed to the expansion of the genre and, consequently, to the development of...
Show moreBeethoven is widely considered to be one of the most influential composers of all time. His compositions denote a crucial turning point in the history of western music, and his influence can be discussed in numerous ways - musically, technically, theoretically and even philosophically. This treatise discusses one of the primary aspects of Beethoven's influence on later generations: the way that his symphonies contributed to the expansion of the genre and, consequently, to the development of the orchestra. Included is a detailed analysis of his nine symphonies, an overview of his personal life, and an exploration of the historical, social, and political time in which he lived. This thesis collects and examines relevant documents in order to inquire about and better understand the changes and innovations that transformed the standard orchestra of the eighteenth century, opening the doors to the symphonic music of the Romantic Era.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2978945
Subject Headings: Influence, Criticism and interpretation, Performance practice (Music), History, Music, Philosophy and aesthetics, Instrumentation and orchestration, History, Arrangement (Music), History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A humdrum aha!: John Clare's mundane sublime.
Creator: Pell, Dana Odwazny., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Following the work of Sara Houghton-Walker and Edward Strickland, this thesis theorizes the "mundane sublime" as encountered in romanticist John Clare's poetry. Instead of being oriented upward, as with Longinus's elevatory sublime, Clare's mundane sublime brings the subject downward to earth. While the sublime of the Burkean tradition begins with terror, I claim that the mundane sublime emerges out of love for that which is commonplace. Still revelatory, it may be further characterized by an...
Show moreFollowing the work of Sara Houghton-Walker and Edward Strickland, this thesis theorizes the "mundane sublime" as encountered in romanticist John Clare's poetry. Instead of being oriented upward, as with Longinus's elevatory sublime, Clare's mundane sublime brings the subject downward to earth. While the sublime of the Burkean tradition begins with terror, I claim that the mundane sublime emerges out of love for that which is commonplace. Still revelatory, it may be further characterized by an engagement with ecosystems, eternity, divinity, and nature as a whole. Clare's style scaffolds images resulting in a profusion of detail that arrests the mind and allows it to reflect on its own position in nature. As Clare's mundane sublime takes up simple natural objects and posits an ecological interconnectedness, it implies a more environmentally responsible relationship to one's surroundings, making it increasingly relevant for green studies.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355875
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in nature, Poets, English, Criticism and interpretation, Sublime, The, Criticism and interpretation, Sublime, The, in literature, Criticism and interpretation
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.
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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)

Title: Inviting but frustrating over-simplification: (re)reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
Creator: Smith, Kathryn M., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Many critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin,...
Show moreMany critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin, Whore, Mother, etc. Through my reading, we gain a greater understanding of the novel as a whole, instead of as a fractured, deterministic, and plot-driven tragedy. I begin my argument by examining Hardy's subtitle, "A Pure Woman," asserting that our focus should be on the word "Woman" and Tess's subjectivity, not reductive concepts of "purity" or chastity. In Chapter Two, I examine two significant scenes that occur in Alec's carriage, showing how many critics' readings underestimate Tess as helpless, and arguing that she fights against her oppressor in covert ways. My third chapter continues this defense of Tess by critiquing the critical debate surrounding the sexual encounter in "The Chase". I posit that the entire debate is flawed and that Tess should be defined based upon her actions and not simply her sexuality. Lastly, in my conclusion I present a broader defense of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, in which I assert that the ambiguous plot scenes in Tess are conscious attempts by Hardy to subvert traditional assumptions about what is important in a novel. My goal in this thesis is to critique popular but simplistic interpretations of Tess of the d'Urbervilles which diminish Tess's role; instead, I emphasize the way her character, in the words of critic Kathleen Blake, "invites but frustrates oversimplification."
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11601
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Social change in literature, Literature and society
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Power politics: gender and power in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name.
Creator: Smith, Rebecca Ann., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: While literary critics acknowledge Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name as sensation novels that were considered popular literature during the 1860s, many critics often fail to recognize the social and political implications embedded within these texts. In No Name, for instance, Collins's use of a heroine that is disinherited and deemed illegitimate by the law emphasizes the overpowering force of patriarchy. In response to patriarchal law, therefore, the...
Show moreWhile literary critics acknowledge Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name as sensation novels that were considered popular literature during the 1860s, many critics often fail to recognize the social and political implications embedded within these texts. In No Name, for instance, Collins's use of a heroine that is disinherited and deemed illegitimate by the law emphasizes the overpowering force of patriarchy. In response to patriarchal law, therefore, the heroines of Lady Audley's Secret and No Name attempt to improve their social positions in a society that is economically dependent upon men. Braddon's Lady Audley and Collins's Magdalen Vanstone are fictional representations of women who internalize the inequality of patriarchy and strive to contest male domination. By centering their novels on heroines who endeavor to defy Victorian social norms, Braddon and Collins highlight the problem of the female in a male-dominated society.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210519
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, Sex role in literature, Patriarchy in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (13)	+ -
Honors Student Theses (3)	+ -

Criticism and interpretation (11)	+ -
History (8)	+ -
Literature and society (4)	+ -
English fiction (3)	+ -
History and criticism (3)	+ -

Politics and government (3)	+ -
Aesthetics (2)	+ -
Influence (2)	+ -
Music (2)	+ -
Sex role in literature (2)	+ -
Symbolism in literature (2)	+ -
American poetry (1)	+ -
Argentine literature (1)	+ -
Arrangement (Music) (1)	+ -
Beauty, Personal, in literature (1)	+ -
Class consciousness in literature (1)	+ -
Comic books, strips, etc (1)	+ -
Criticism and literature (1)	+ -
Ecofeminism and literature (1)	+ -
Emancipation (1)	+ -
Environmentalism (1)	+ -
Epic poetry (1)	+ -
Evangelicalism (1)	+ -
Feminism (1)	+ -
Frontier and pioneer life (1)	+ -
Gothic revival (Literature) (1)	+ -
Identity (1)	+ -
Illegitimacy in literature (1)	+ -
Instrumentation and orchestration (1)	+ -
Jews (1)	+ -

United States (6)	+ -
England (2)	+ -
Florida (2)	+ -
Great Britain (2)	+ -
Southern States (2)	+ -

Argentina (1)	+ -
Maryland (1)	+ -
Poland (1)	+ -

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