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Title: Revisiting Christopher Fry: Sacred temporality on a modern stage.
Creator: Harriman, Lucas H., Florida Atlantic University, Martin, Thomas L.
Abstract/Description: Christopher Fry was instrumental in the early twentieth-century resurgence of plays dealing with religious themes. This movement can at first be seen as anomalous within the era of modernism, when many writers and theorists considered religious sentiment to be a barrier to the more crucial aspects of living authentically within a modern society haunted by history. Nevertheless, Fry's particular appropriation of a sacred conceptualization of time on the modern stage reveals a degree of...
Show moreChristopher Fry was instrumental in the early twentieth-century resurgence of plays dealing with religious themes. This movement can at first be seen as anomalous within the era of modernism, when many writers and theorists considered religious sentiment to be a barrier to the more crucial aspects of living authentically within a modern society haunted by history. Nevertheless, Fry's particular appropriation of a sacred conceptualization of time on the modern stage reveals a degree of congruity between him and his contemporaries in their varied attempts to represent transcendent value on the stage without simultaneously removing the audience from their own historical present. In The Boy with a Cart, Fry's superimposition of the life of a tenth-century saint onto modern experience infuses the temporality of the play with transcendent value. Fry shifts his focus to the question of authentic action in A Sleep of Prisoners, and uses a series of biblical dreams to stress the need for a conceptualization of eternity in the passing moment in order for one to act authentically within history.
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13153
Subject Headings: Fry, Christopher,--1907---Criticism and interpretation, Religious drama--Criticism and interpretation, Time in literature, Theater--Philosophy, Verse drama, English--Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EL SENO ESCONDIDO: NODRIZAS Y NANAS COMO AGENTES MARAVILLOSOS EN LA NOVELA LATINOAMERICANA DE LA SEGUNDA MITAD DEL SIGLO VEINTE.
Creator: Casanova, Betsaida L., Gosser Esquilín, Mary Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: In Latin America, wet nurses and nannies have played a relevant role in the transmission of legends, myths, medicinal knowledge, popular beliefs, and the religious practices of marginalized groups. This historical reality also ties them closely to the vitality of the marvelous real in Latin American culture and history as theorized by Alejo Carpentier. This dissertation focuses on examining the characters of wet nurses and nannies, especially in connection with the expression of the marvelous...
Show moreIn Latin America, wet nurses and nannies have played a relevant role in the transmission of legends, myths, medicinal knowledge, popular beliefs, and the religious practices of marginalized groups. This historical reality also ties them closely to the vitality of the marvelous real in Latin American culture and history as theorized by Alejo Carpentier. This dissertation focuses on examining the characters of wet nurses and nannies, especially in connection with the expression of the marvelous real in Latin American novels published in the second half of the twentieth century. Employing primarily Alex Woloch’s theory of characterization, this dissertation explores the character space and position within the character system of la Vieja in El acoso (1956) by Alejo Carpentier, Peta Ponce in El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970) by José Donoso, and Petra Avilés in La casa de la laguna (1996) by Rosario Ferré. They serve as marvelous agents introducing elements of the marvelous real in the narrative. These characters are at the center of an extensive network of cultural codes that signify different sources of the marvelous real in Latin American culture. The marvelous network they establish functions as a vindicating mechanism that leads to the penalization of the families that hire their services, who represent a decadent and oppressive social system, whereas the wet nurses or nannies embody the oppressed groups in society. This is a literary strategy to impart, at a symbolic level, the justice that traditionally has been denied, both textually and socially, to these women.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013361
Subject Headings: Wet nurses in literature, Carpentier, Alejo, 1904-1980 Acoso, Donoso, José, 1924-1996 Obsceno pájaro de la noche English, Ferré, Rosario Casa de la laguna, Characters and characteristics in literature, Nannies--Fiction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Rereading Gender and the Gothic in Frankenstein and "The Yellow Wallpaper".
Creator: Krol, Jenet Maree, Faraci, Mary, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: Frankenstein and "The Yellow Wallpaper," popular stories of the nineteenth century and included on most college reading lists, have been installed into limited chnons that take away from the art ofthe literature. Written when strict social guidelines ddined and separated the gender spheres, these works show the changing attitudes and resulting social problems for women, between the early nineteenth century (Fmnkenstein) and the late nineteenth century ("The Yellow Wallpaper"). The Gothic...
Show moreFrankenstein and "The Yellow Wallpaper," popular stories of the nineteenth century and included on most college reading lists, have been installed into limited chnons that take away from the art ofthe literature. Written when strict social guidelines ddined and separated the gender spheres, these works show the changing attitudes and resulting social problems for women, between the early nineteenth century (Fmnkenstein) and the late nineteenth century ("The Yellow Wallpaper"). The Gothic genre claims Frankenstein, and since its revival in the 1970s, "The Yell ow Wallpaper" has been firmly seated in the academy under feminist criticism. Each work belongs to both categories, with elements of each attracting more and more readers. Readers can discover that Mary Shelley creates a tale about the horrors of pregnancy and motherhood, while Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates stunning Gothic effects in her short story embraced by feminist criticism.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000931
Subject Headings: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft,--1797-1851--Frankenstein, Gilman, Charlotte Perkins,--1860-1935--The yellow wallpaper, Gender identity in literature, Feminist fiction, English--History and criticism, Modernism (Literature)--Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Silence, Expression, Manifestation: Developing Female Desire and Gender Balance in Early Modern Italian, English, and Spanish Drama.
Creator: Baccinelli, Mitchel, Conrod, Frédéric, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Lingustics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Renaissance and Baroque drama offers a view into gender dynamics of the time. What is seen is a development in the allowed expression and manifestation of desire by females, beginning from a point of near silence, and arriving at points of verbal statement and even physical violence. Specifically, in La Mandragola by Niccolò Machiavelli, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega, there appears a chronological progression, whereby using desire and its...
Show moreRenaissance and Baroque drama offers a view into gender dynamics of the time. What is seen is a development in the allowed expression and manifestation of desire by females, beginning from a point of near silence, and arriving at points of verbal statement and even physical violence. Specifically, in La Mandragola by Niccolò Machiavelli, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega, there appears a chronological progression, whereby using desire and its expression as a metric in conjunction with modern concepts of gender and sexuality to measure a shift in relation to what is and is not allowed to be expressed by women.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004717, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004717
Subject Headings: Baroque literature -- Criticism and interpretation, Desire in literature, English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Criticism and interpretation, Italian literature -- 17th century -- Criticism and interpretation, Machiavelli, Niccolò -- 1469-1527 -- Mandragola -- Criticism and interpretation, Shakespeare, William -- 1564-1616 -- Romeo and Juliet -- Criticism and interpretation, Spanish literature -- Classical period, 1500-1700 -- Criticism and interpretation, Vega, Lope de -- 1562-1635 -- Fuente Ovejuna -- Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: James Joyce and Derek Walcott: colonial island voices.
Creator: Terneus, Sebastian., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: When analyzing literatures that expose the effects of colonialism one can identify similarities between the lives of the oppressed. Although colonization occurs in different times and locations the consequences upon the subjugated become comparable throughout history. One prominent pairing of mirrored colonial episodes can be identified in the literature of Irish author James Joyce and St. Lucian poet Derek Walcott. Both authors endured British colonialism and produced literatures which...
Show moreWhen analyzing literatures that expose the effects of colonialism one can identify similarities between the lives of the oppressed. Although colonization occurs in different times and locations the consequences upon the subjugated become comparable throughout history. One prominent pairing of mirrored colonial episodes can be identified in the literature of Irish author James Joyce and St. Lucian poet Derek Walcott. Both authors endured British colonialism and produced literatures which revealed similar themes and narratives. Yet simply because both authors lived through colonization does not equate their experiences as parallel. This thesis argues that Joyce and Walcott created comparable literatures because they experienced subjugation on islands. A comparison of Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Walcott's Omeros (1990) reveals the similar colonial experiences which were produced by island landscapes. Overall, this thesis will argue that the colonial turmoil which Joyce highlighted in Ulysses becomes mirrored in the postcolonial plot of Omeros.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322514
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Imperialism in literature, English literature, Irish authors, Criticism and interpretation, Colonies in literature, Colonies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Spenser's spiritual vision: the Faerie Queene as a teleological romance.
Creator: Groves, Laura Hendricks., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: A recent trend in Spenser studies that relies heavily on materialist thinking either undervalues or misses altogether The Faerie Queene's inherent spiritual quality along with the irreducible interaction and ultimate reciprocity of earth and heaven. This thesis argues that Edmund Spenser's spiritual vision in The Faerie Queene expresses itself in a teleological romance that assumes a condition of mutability over stasis in the temporal earthly realm, as its first three heroes ascend a ladder...
Show moreA recent trend in Spenser studies that relies heavily on materialist thinking either undervalues or misses altogether The Faerie Queene's inherent spiritual quality along with the irreducible interaction and ultimate reciprocity of earth and heaven. This thesis argues that Edmund Spenser's spiritual vision in The Faerie Queene expresses itself in a teleological romance that assumes a condition of mutability over stasis in the temporal earthly realm, as its first three heroes ascend a ladder of perfection that evokes the heavenly and eternal, while at the same time heavenly glory reaches down into the story "romancing" the characters and exerting its own influence on the action.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210523
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Spirituality in literature, English literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A gift from mistress to slave with an Empire's tag: Language of the law in the post-colonial matrices of Derek Walcott's "Omeros".
Creator: Kramer, Jennifer J., Florida Atlantic University, Sheehan, Thomas
Abstract/Description: The text focuses on the language of the law in Omeros , which is defined as "the representation and expression of social order, principles, morality, conscience, and conduct of a community or nation." The language of the law is inherent in the dynamics of the Caribbean's hybrid, cultural community and is revealed through Walcott's characters. Walcott attempts to resolve how the colonial cultural system has maintained cultural and socio-economic authority in a politically independent West...
Show moreThe text focuses on the language of the law in Omeros , which is defined as "the representation and expression of social order, principles, morality, conscience, and conduct of a community or nation." The language of the law is inherent in the dynamics of the Caribbean's hybrid, cultural community and is revealed through Walcott's characters. Walcott attempts to resolve how the colonial cultural system has maintained cultural and socio-economic authority in a politically independent West Indies. Walcott's characters view the language of the law and each other according to their cultural matrices. Helen is Walcott's key. Helen is the West Indian people, her yellow dress the language of the law, and the Empire's tag is the colonial cultural system. How Helen, in her yellow dress, is perceived by each character gives insight into that character's cultural system. The sum of these cultural matrices is Helen and defines "Caribbeanness."
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13145
Subject Headings: Walcott, Derek.--Omeros., West Indian poetry, English.--Criticism and interpretation., Postcolonialism--Commonwealth countries., West Indies--Languages., Politics and literature--Caribbean Area--History--20th century.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Emotion, language, and heroism in C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy.
Creator: Leger, Heather Marie., Florida Atlantic University, Martin, Thomas L.
Abstract/Description: C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy presents a hero in the person of philologist Dr. Elwin Ransom. Lewis's presentation exhibits a purposeful and precise use of language that describes experience and characterizes emotional authenticity. This use of language becomes particularly interesting when examined in light of the theories of Owen Barfield, who along with Lewis recognizes that myth is significant as an expression of language and its relation to the human condition, and Joseph Campbell, who...
Show moreC. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy presents a hero in the person of philologist Dr. Elwin Ransom. Lewis's presentation exhibits a purposeful and precise use of language that describes experience and characterizes emotional authenticity. This use of language becomes particularly interesting when examined in light of the theories of Owen Barfield, who along with Lewis recognizes that myth is significant as an expression of language and its relation to the human condition, and Joseph Campbell, who discusses the journey of the hero. In his own writings Lewis contends that there has been a process of working against the "mythical imagination," moving the hero away from the concrete and toward the abstract. Lewis works to reverse this process by presenting a modern hero who demonstrates an awareness of "old" conventions of language, emotion, and expression in which archaic and mythic concepts are available, where understanding need not be abstract to be acceptable.
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13180
Subject Headings: Lewis, CS--(Clive Staples),--1898-1963, Ransom, Elwin (Fictitious character), Lewis, CS--(Clive Staples),--1898-1963--Fictional works, Mythology in literature, English language--Rhetoric
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The amorous doctor: the French seventeenth-century text in modern translation.
Creator: Cantor, Elsa., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: The anonymous French seventeenth-century play le Docteur Amoureux (1691) was written for theThéâtre Italien, the Italian troupe acting in Paris. It incorporated the techniques of both Old French farce and the commedia dell'arte into mainstream comic modes, in the manner of Moliáere but with some amusing twists. Le Docteur Amoureux remains a significant part of the French comic canon and the historical corpus of drama, yet it has never been translated into English. With prefatory commentary on...
Show moreThe anonymous French seventeenth-century play le Docteur Amoureux (1691) was written for theThéâtre Italien, the Italian troupe acting in Paris. It incorporated the techniques of both Old French farce and the commedia dell'arte into mainstream comic modes, in the manner of Moliáere but with some amusing twists. Le Docteur Amoureux remains a significant part of the French comic canon and the historical corpus of drama, yet it has never been translated into English. With prefatory commentary on the text and the period, the genres of stage performance, and the challenges involved in translating historical texts, this first translation of le Docteur Amoureux is intended to serve contemporary theater research into this rich and prolific period in the history of the French theater under Louis XIV.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/187207
Subject Headings: Translation into English, French literature, Criticism and interpretation, French drama, Translations into English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: "It is our duty to sing": a defense of the mythic method in David Jones's In parenthesis.
Creator: Snyder, Matthew J., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Great War veteran David Jones's poem about the war, In Parenthesis, has been attacked by literary critics Paul Fussell and Evelyn Cobley on the grounds that the poem, usually read as an instance of "literature of protest" against the war, indicates Jones's ideological complicity with the war through its extensive allusions to heroic Celtic myth, British literature, and Catholic liturgy. This thesis argues that Jones's intricate allusive network represents a mythopoetic method of endurance, a...
Show moreGreat War veteran David Jones's poem about the war, In Parenthesis, has been attacked by literary critics Paul Fussell and Evelyn Cobley on the grounds that the poem, usually read as an instance of "literature of protest" against the war, indicates Jones's ideological complicity with the war through its extensive allusions to heroic Celtic myth, British literature, and Catholic liturgy. This thesis argues that Jones's intricate allusive network represents a mythopoetic method of endurance, a way of making order amidst the chaos of the Western Front. Jones's mythopoetic method, which I call allusive "seeing," serves as both a psychological defense mechanism against the war's strangeness and horror and a protest against the perception that because of the industrial, unheroic nature of the Great War, the soldiers who fought and died in it cannot be considered heroes.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11580
Subject Headings: Jones, David, 1895-1974, Views on war, World War, 1914-1918, Literature and the war, War poetry, English, History and criticism, War and literature, History and criticism
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: 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: Tolkien's The Silmarillion: a reexamination of providence.
Creator: Powell, David C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Christian providence in the primary (real) world operates as the model for the spiritual movement of Eru/Illuvatar in Tolkien's secondary (imaginative) world. Paralleling the Christian God, Illuvatar maintains a relationship with his creation through a three-fold activity: preservation, concurrence, and government. Preservation affirms Eru's sovereignty as Creator, and concurrence guarantees creaturely freedom, while paradoxically, government controls, guides, and determines those wills in...
Show moreChristian providence in the primary (real) world operates as the model for the spiritual movement of Eru/Illuvatar in Tolkien's secondary (imaginative) world. Paralleling the Christian God, Illuvatar maintains a relationship with his creation through a three-fold activity: preservation, concurrence, and government. Preservation affirms Eru's sovereignty as Creator, and concurrence guarantees creaturely freedom, while paradoxically, government controls, guides, and determines those wills in Time. The union of these three activities comprises the providential relationship of Illuvatar in Tolkien's imaginary world. The following thesis endeavors to carry the argument for providence into The Silmarillion with a declarative and analytical detail that distinguishes Illuvatar's providence from other temporal manifestations. Finally, the analysis reveals not only the author's authentic orthodox perspective, but Illuvatar's role in the imaginative world emerges as a reflection of Tolkien's authorial role in the real world.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/228766
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Middle Earth (Imaginary place), Fantasy literature, English, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Magic words: illuminating the role of language in Lord Dunsany's fictional prose.
Creator: Cervone, Skye T., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: It is a great deficit to Fantasy scholarship that Lord Dunsany has remained largely ignored. Despite the lack of critical attention Lord Dunsany's work has received at the hands of critics, his fiction has been immensely important to other Fantasy authors. Dunsany's prose is highly stylized and is an intricate aspect of his world building. While many critics agree that Dunsany's prose style is unique and masterful, no detailed analysis of it exists. This study focuses primarily on Dunsany's...
Show moreIt is a great deficit to Fantasy scholarship that Lord Dunsany has remained largely ignored. Despite the lack of critical attention Lord Dunsany's work has received at the hands of critics, his fiction has been immensely important to other Fantasy authors. Dunsany's prose is highly stylized and is an intricate aspect of his world building. While many critics agree that Dunsany's prose style is unique and masterful, no detailed analysis of it exists. This study focuses primarily on Dunsany's prose style in The King of Elfland's Daughter, widely agreed to be Dunsany's finest novel, and certainly characteristic of his early fiction writing. I then discuss Dunsany's profound influence on J.R.R. Tolkien's critical and fictional work. Both authors embrace Dryden's "fairy way of writing" within their respective works, embracing the old and romantic, as well as nature's creations, as precious treasures in our realm and in the imaginative realm of Faery.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3174505
Subject Headings: Aesthetics in literature, Fantasy fiction, English, Criticism and interpretation, Realism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Olive Schreiner on "times and seasons".
Creator: Carr, Mellissa M., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Olive Schreine'rs novel, The Story of an African Farm, and nonfiction work, Woman and Labor, have compelled critics to apply the term New Woman to her main character, Lyndall, who speaks out for change against the established gender roles. The thesis proposes that by placing Lyndall in a colonial context, Schreiner creates a plot where place and language embody the possibilities for change. Considering that Schreiner's life consisted of a life in the colonies, first as a governess, later as a...
Show moreOlive Schreine'rs novel, The Story of an African Farm, and nonfiction work, Woman and Labor, have compelled critics to apply the term New Woman to her main character, Lyndall, who speaks out for change against the established gender roles. The thesis proposes that by placing Lyndall in a colonial context, Schreiner creates a plot where place and language embody the possibilities for change. Considering that Schreiner's life consisted of a life in the colonies, first as a governess, later as a wife, one sees Schreiner's personal interest in change. Analyzing Schreiner's style of representing Lyndall's relationship with nature and other characters, one discovers the way Schreiner balances a feminist (and hence radical) shadow discourse of masochism with the discourses of nature and evolution. Schreiner registers an interest in change in her language by turning the linguistic-mental neighborhoods of Jane Austen inside out in favor of a more extrinsic language, the dialect of real South African neighborhoods. In her personal details, furthermore, Schreiner brings to life the language and landscape of her beloved country, creating the conceptual groundwork for political change. Read in this way, Olive Schreiner's work can be seen as creating space for more literature about social change like the award-winning work of the South African writer, Nadine Gordimer.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332188
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Feminism in literature, Imperialism in literature, Political fiction, English, History and criticism, In literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A literary history of sugarcane discourse in the works of James Grainger and Junot Dâiaz.
Creator: Linder, Michael., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study examines the recurrence of the image of sugarcane in Caribbean literature and traces a timeline of oppressive discourse. The image of the cane field represents a tension between silencing voice and identity independent of European nation-building ideologies. There is a history of silencing associated with sugarcane, even as Caribbean authors seek a potential to use this history to create a voice. While the authors examined employ the image of the cane field to create a voice...
Show moreThis study examines the recurrence of the image of sugarcane in Caribbean literature and traces a timeline of oppressive discourse. The image of the cane field represents a tension between silencing voice and identity independent of European nation-building ideologies. There is a history of silencing associated with sugarcane, even as Caribbean authors seek a potential to use this history to create a voice. While the authors examined employ the image of the cane field to create a voice outside of the dominant discourse, the voice of the Caribbean is nonetheless restricted. Postcolonial theory will be used to examine the history of oppression through the image of sugarcane as a negative past that authors try to get beyond, while dealing with the issue that it also helped to form their voice. My thesis investigates these issues using The Sugar-Cane: A Poem. In Four Books. With Notes, a poem by James Grainger, to set up the colonial history of sugar in the Caribbean and Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as a reaction to that colonial discourse.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342201
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Sugar in literature, Imperialism in literature, Caribbean literature (English), Criticism and interpretation, In literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The compass of human will in realism and fantasy: a reading of Sister Carrie and The King of Elfand's Daugher.
Creator: Stone, Tracy., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: As realist and naturalist writers at the turn of the twentieth century adopted a scientific spirit of objectivity, they reflected the emphasis many contemporary scientific studies laid on the forces of the natural world in shaping the character, behavior, and ultimate destiny of man. In this literary mood of "pessimistic determinism," fantasy literature began to experience a resurgence, providing a marked contrast to naturalism's portrayal of the impotence of man to effect change in his...
Show moreAs realist and naturalist writers at the turn of the twentieth century adopted a scientific spirit of objectivity, they reflected the emphasis many contemporary scientific studies laid on the forces of the natural world in shaping the character, behavior, and ultimate destiny of man. In this literary mood of "pessimistic determinism," fantasy literature began to experience a resurgence, providing a marked contrast to naturalism's portrayal of the impotence of man to effect change in his circumstances. I examine fantasy's restoration of efficacy to the human will through a study of two representative works of the opposing genres: Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie and Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter. As I demonstrate, the former naturalistic novel emphasizes the impotence of its characters in the face of powerful natural world, while the latter contemporary fantasy novel uniquely showcases man's ability to effect change in his world and his destiny.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/221950
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Realism in literature, Naturalism in literature, Literature and science, Life change events in literature, Fantasy fiction, English, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: "You are the one fixed point in a changing age": the immortality of Sherlock Holmes in Japan.
Creator: Chick, Amanda., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Sherlock Holmes has been popular in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), but no critic has yet connected Holmes and the protagonist of the recent graphic novel Death Note (2003-2006). While American detective fiction has defined itself somewhat in opposition to Arthur Conan Doyle, Japan embraced Sherlock Holmes and created a series of detectives modeled on the English icon. These characters live and work in Japan, but they are never more than Japanese versions of an English original...
Show moreSherlock Holmes has been popular in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), but no critic has yet connected Holmes and the protagonist of the recent graphic novel Death Note (2003-2006). While American detective fiction has defined itself somewhat in opposition to Arthur Conan Doyle, Japan embraced Sherlock Holmes and created a series of detectives modeled on the English icon. These characters live and work in Japan, but they are never more than Japanese versions of an English original. Although Japan has a long history of adaptations and translations of Doyle's writings, no Japanese character has exemplified Holmes as fully as L, the protagonist of Death Note. While L is clearly similar to Holmes, he also blends English and Japanese characteristics in a way that no Japanese detective figure before him managed to do, and thus becomes the first quintessentially Japanese Sherlock Holmes.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334249
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Immortality in literature, Detective and mystery stories, Japanese, Criticism and interpretation, Detective and mystery stories, English, Appreciation, Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character), Appreciation
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: 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)

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