View All Items

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.
Show less
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3340696
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Poetry
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: 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.
Show less
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: Dante's influence on Shelley's Prometheus Unbound.
Creator: Tunis, Alisa, Faraci, Mary, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Although the critic C. S. Lewis observes there is an allusive relationship between the final cantos of Dante‟s Purgatory and the third act of Shelley‟s Prometheus Unbound, no detailed analysis of Dante‟s language in Purgatory XXX and XXXI as a specific influence on Shelley‟s construction of imaginary realms in Acts II and III of the lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound exists. In this study, I will show how Shelley borrows from Dante‟s language in Purgatory XXX and XXXI, especially Dante‟s...
Show moreAlthough the critic C. S. Lewis observes there is an allusive relationship between the final cantos of Dante‟s Purgatory and the third act of Shelley‟s Prometheus Unbound, no detailed analysis of Dante‟s language in Purgatory XXX and XXXI as a specific influence on Shelley‟s construction of imaginary realms in Acts II and III of the lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound exists. In this study, I will show how Shelley borrows from Dante‟s language in Purgatory XXX and XXXI, especially Dante‟s preoccupation with the cold as a form of punishment, to create the feeling of oppression and then liberation, in Acts II and III, respectively, of Prometheus Unbound to aid Shelley in his construction of imaginary realms. Shelley also uses Dantean allusions from Paradise, specifically Dante‟s descriptions of light and music, to help him create a feeling of joy and liberation as he creates a paradise on earth in Act IV of Prometheus Unbound.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004260
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.
Show less
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: Diagnosing modernity: Walker Percy's The Moviegoer as more than a southern Sickness Unto Death.
Creator: Salgado, Bryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The work of physician-turned-writer Walker Percy marks an important development in the history of Southern literature. The author's first novel, The Moviegoer, moves beyond previous consideration of what it meant to be a native of the region by capturing the mindset of modernity rooted in the philosophical movement of existentialism. Embracing the work of S²ren Kierkegaard allows Percy to articulate how his protagonist, Binx Bolling, moves towards a sense of purpose in life. Previously adrift...
Show moreThe work of physician-turned-writer Walker Percy marks an important development in the history of Southern literature. The author's first novel, The Moviegoer, moves beyond previous consideration of what it meant to be a native of the region by capturing the mindset of modernity rooted in the philosophical movement of existentialism. Embracing the work of S²ren Kierkegaard allows Percy to articulate how his protagonist, Binx Bolling, moves towards a sense of purpose in life. Previously adrift due to the contending forces present in the modern mind, the author indicates how an existentially active individual can achieve a sense of direction through the work of not only Kierkegaard, but also Gabriel Marcel. There are certain phenomena present in the text that allow one to temporarily achieve some sense of solace within an inscrutably secularized existence. However, Percy indicates that the modern individual must ultimately find significance through an intersubjective engagement with another.
Show less
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3340697
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Philosophy in literature, Dialectic in literature, Intersubjectivity in literature, Existentialism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Drawing desires performance: dominance and submission in Will Eisner's The Spirit and Alan Moore's Watchmen.
Creator: Furlong, Michael., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis discusses the relationship between classic comic books and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.) Will Eisner's The Spirit is used to discuss sexuality and power in comics, with special attention paid to Eisner's "The Kissing Caper." The Eisner chapter explores the relationship between sadomasochism, film noir, gender dynamics and comics. Using Judith Butler, Fredric Wertham and Theodor Reik, the gender politics of The Spirit are discussed. Women's changing roles in the...
Show moreThis thesis discusses the relationship between classic comic books and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.) Will Eisner's The Spirit is used to discuss sexuality and power in comics, with special attention paid to Eisner's "The Kissing Caper." The Eisner chapter explores the relationship between sadomasochism, film noir, gender dynamics and comics. Using Judith Butler, Fredric Wertham and Theodor Reik, the gender politics of The Spirit are discussed. Women's changing roles in the post-World War II American workplace are linked to Eisner's BDSM themes in The Spirit from the character's origin story to the 1950s. In examining Alan Moore's Watchmen, the paper focuses on transactional power dynamics and how BDSM rituals are enacted in modern American comics. American power relationships in politics are used as a comparison and contrast to BDSM dynamics in Watchmen. Samuel R. Delany, William Moulton Marston and Pat Califia are used as theorists within the discussion of power exchanges in Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore's graphic novel. The consensual fantasy element to this power relationship is demonstrated as the underlying dynamic of the act, and not as actual punishment or nonconsensual sadism.
Show less
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332180
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Comic books, strips, etc, History and criticism, Erotic literature, History and criticism
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.
Show less
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: " 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: From the horse's mouth: speech and speciesism in Cordwainer Smith and Sheri S. Tepper.
Creator: Cox, Jennifer K., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis challenges dualistic human and animal ontologies by interpreting science fiction (sf) literature, and argues that whereas words can equivocate and obscure meaning, bodies do not lie. Linguistics and semiology extend the definition of "language" to include human and nonhuman gestures and movement, and posthumanist theory expands definitions of "human" and "animal" to explore species boundaries. Scrutinizing opposing dualisms ultimately questions Western epistemology and authority,...
Show moreThis thesis challenges dualistic human and animal ontologies by interpreting science fiction (sf) literature, and argues that whereas words can equivocate and obscure meaning, bodies do not lie. Linguistics and semiology extend the definition of "language" to include human and nonhuman gestures and movement, and posthumanist theory expands definitions of "human" and "animal" to explore species boundaries. Scrutinizing opposing dualisms ultimately questions Western epistemology and authority, allowing for an exploration of embodied animal communications within the larger discourse on species and speciesism. This perspective results in a more comprehensive understanding of the interdependence of all species: human, animal, and "other." Although the fictional texts I employ use fantastic elements to posit hypothetical realities, current scientific research reveals that communication with nonhuman animals is indeed possible.
Show less
Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360775
Subject Headings: Criticism and enterpretation, Criticism and enterpretation, Human-animal relationships, Interpersonal communication, Animal communication, Language and emotions, Emotive (Linguistics)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Flotsam.
Creator: Henson, Jacob., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Flotsam is a collection of writing. Flotsam examines divisions of the self. Flotsam is made of fiction, nonfiction, and visual representations of both. Flotsam is made of the truth. Flotsam is made of lies. Flotsam is pretty. Flotsam is a beast.
Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3338856
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Avant-garde (Aesthetics), Symbolism in art, Postmodernism
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.
Show less
Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/177013
Subject Headings: Poetry, Symbolism in literature, Displacement (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

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: Edith Wharton: self-actualization through characterization in The Age of Innocence.
Creator: Feuerberg, Betty., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Edith Wharton uses characterization in the primary three characters in The Age of Innocence to explore the aspects of her life. Early adulthood is represented by May Welland Archer, who was born into New York 400, where society suppressed an individual's emotions, aspirations, and freedoms. The intermediate phase of her life is depicted in Newland Archer, who tests the confining limits of the society to which he belongs and strives to understand the role of emotions in achieving personal...
Show moreEdith Wharton uses characterization in the primary three characters in The Age of Innocence to explore the aspects of her life. Early adulthood is represented by May Welland Archer, who was born into New York 400, where society suppressed an individual's emotions, aspirations, and freedoms. The intermediate phase of her life is depicted in Newland Archer, who tests the confining limits of the society to which he belongs and strives to understand the role of emotions in achieving personal satisfaction. Wharton rejected and craved the ties of the New York 400 in the final phase of her life as portrayed in Ellen Olenska who left the 400, lived in Europe, and returned to New York. By developing these characters, Wharton attempts to retrospectively reconcile the transformations she experienced. Indeed, it will be clear that Wharton's work serves as a personal assessment of her self-actualization.
Show less
Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360784
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women and literature, History, Feminism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Earth, water, and black bodies: elements at work in Toni Morrison's literary landscape.
Creator: Anderson, Pauline P., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project focuses on the natural elements earth and water as presented in the works of African American author Toni Morrison. The primary texts analyzed are Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. In the first two novels, Morrison alludes to the abuse of black bodies by drawing parallels between the destruction of trees and the negative effects of urbanization. I argue that environmental destruction and urbanization parallels the disenfranchisement and killing of black bodies. Water in Beloved...
Show moreThis project focuses on the natural elements earth and water as presented in the works of African American author Toni Morrison. The primary texts analyzed are Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. In the first two novels, Morrison alludes to the abuse of black bodies by drawing parallels between the destruction of trees and the negative effects of urbanization. I argue that environmental destruction and urbanization parallels the disenfranchisement and killing of black bodies. Water in Beloved connotes bondage because of its historical link to the Triangular Trade. However, considering Morrison's frequent mention of water and the fugitives' constant need to drink, I argue that ingesting water symbolizes a need for psychological freedom. All of the novels that I have analyzed emphasize the complex connections between African Americans and nature.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356892
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, African Americans in literature, African American philosophy, Human ecology in literature, Nature in literature, Ecocriticism
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: 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: A long way to go.
Creator: Drouin, Roger Real, Bucak, Ayse Papatya, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: As Samuel and Thomas take up a fight that no one else will to protect the wild lands they love, they are forced further from the quiet lives they have built. These are the two main characters in the novel A Long Way to Go. Samuel photographs the elusive and rare birds that most people never get a chance to see. As he seeks out the most elusive, possibly-extinct Northern Stilted Curlew, he struggles with the memory of his wife, who died a year earlier after a battle with cancer, and the...
Show moreAs Samuel and Thomas take up a fight that no one else will to protect the wild lands they love, they are forced further from the quiet lives they have built. These are the two main characters in the novel A Long Way to Go. Samuel photographs the elusive and rare birds that most people never get a chance to see. As he seeks out the most elusive, possibly-extinct Northern Stilted Curlew, he struggles with the memory of his wife, who died a year earlier after a battle with cancer, and the scarred relationship with his son Ryan, a young artist. Ryan meets the mysterious Karia, and as he gets to know her, he too begins his own kind of search.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004245
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: "Room for you and me": an ethical critique of noncanonical labor literature.
Creator: McDermott, Rachel., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Labor literature is in popular and academic neglect. I argue that labor literature's neglect is unjust, and I provide a way of examining labor literature that can rescue it from neglect. I shall be concerned with labor literature's academic decline due to its apparent lack of value according to traditional standards of literary criticism. I will argue that ethical criticism - criticism of literature that considers the ethics of a work as a part of its literary value - can reveal new...
Show moreLabor literature is in popular and academic neglect. I argue that labor literature's neglect is unjust, and I provide a way of examining labor literature that can rescue it from neglect. I shall be concerned with labor literature's academic decline due to its apparent lack of value according to traditional standards of literary criticism. I will argue that ethical criticism - criticism of literature that considers the ethics of a work as a part of its literary value - can reveal new complexities in labor literature. An ethical critical analysis of the representation of American labor movements and workers in noncanonical texts will show the distinctive ethical value such texts hold. I will argue that labor texts possess ethical value insofar as they help readers develop awareness of complex ethical issues posed by labor and community, and that the ethical value of labor literature provides a new reason to value such works.
Show less
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342209
Subject Headings: Narration (Rhetoric), Authenticity (Philosophy) in literature, Criticism and interpretation, Labor in literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (379)	+ -
FAU College Collections (8)	+ -

Criticism and interpretation (73)	+ -
Symbolism in literature (57)	+ -
Creative writing (43)	+ -
Literature, American (31)	+ -
Literature, English (21)	+ -

Fiction (17)	+ -
Literature, Modern (17)	+ -
Short stories (13)	+ -
Poetry (12)	+ -
Short stories, American (11)	+ -
Essays (8)	+ -
History (8)	+ -
Novels (8)	+ -
Postmodernism (Literature) (8)	+ -
Florida Atlantic University -- History (7)	+ -
Conduct of life (6)	+ -
Feminism in literature (6)	+ -
History and criticism (6)	+ -
Literature and society (6)	+ -
Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University (5)	+ -
Identity (Psychology) (5)	+ -
Influence (5)	+ -
Literature and science (5)	+ -
Literature, Medieval (5)	+ -
Narration (Rhetoric) (5)	+ -
Self in literature (5)	+ -
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) (4)	+ -
Family relationships (4)	+ -
Feminism and literature (4)	+ -
Identity (Psychology) in literature (4)	+ -

United States (16)	+ -
Great Britain (4)	+ -
Caribbean Area (3)	+ -
England (2)	+ -
Florida (2)	+ -

Southern States (2)	+ -
Africa, Southern (1)	+ -
Argentina (1)	+ -
Europe (1)	+ -
Haiti (1)	+ -
Italy (1)	+ -
Jamaica (1)	+ -
Kakawangwa (Fla.) (1)	+ -
Key West (Fla.) (1)	+ -
Latin America (1)	+ -
Prague (Czech Republic) (1)	+ -
St. Lucia (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