Current Search: Women (x)
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Title
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The myth of the criminal and animal subjecthood in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace.
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Creator
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Harrington, Ashley B., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
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Abstract/Description
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J. M. Coetzee's brutal novel Disgrace questions popular understandings of criminality and victimhood by establishing parallels between its various characters and their actions. Through close reading of Coetzee's descriptions of protagonist David Lurie's behaviors and attitudes towards women, non-human animals, and people of color compared with descriptions of the mysterious trio of men who rape Lurie's daughter and coldly kill the dogs in her kennels, I argue that the line Disgrace draws...
Show moreJ. M. Coetzee's brutal novel Disgrace questions popular understandings of criminality and victimhood by establishing parallels between its various characters and their actions. Through close reading of Coetzee's descriptions of protagonist David Lurie's behaviors and attitudes towards women, non-human animals, and people of color compared with descriptions of the mysterious trio of men who rape Lurie's daughter and coldly kill the dogs in her kennels, I argue that the line Disgrace draws between Lurie and these men is deliberately flimsy, ultimately all but disappearing if we look closely enough at their behaviors and descriptions rather than their justifications. I also argue that the novel's perpetrators rely upon archetypical "rapist" and "criminal" constructs, resulting in an inability for them to ever accurately address their own crimes, despite Coetzee's descriptive parallels. Ultimately, I read Disgrace as suggesting that there can be no resolution for violence so long as these mythical archetypes persist.
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Date Issued
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2013
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360783
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Subject Headings
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Criticism and interpretation, Rape, Psychological aspects, Animal welfare, Psychological aspects, Violent crimes, Psychological aspects, Women, Violence against
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Sentimental spirits: saving the soul while seizing the heart and swaying the mind.
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Creator
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Rovere, Michelle, Bradford, Adam C., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
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Abstract/Description
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During the nineteenth century, African American women like Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote wrote narratives of their spiritual conversions. Through their efforts and the efforts of others like them, spiritual autobiographies became not only evangelical tools but also a means of shaping African American culture and American society in general. While some black women were working to claim power for their gender and race by writing spiritual narratives, other women, both black and white...
Show moreDuring the nineteenth century, African American women like Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote wrote narratives of their spiritual conversions. Through their efforts and the efforts of others like them, spiritual autobiographies became not only evangelical tools but also a means of shaping African American culture and American society in general. While some black women were working to claim power for their gender and race by writing spiritual narratives, other women, both black and white, were working with sentimental literature to achieve similar goals.
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Date Issued
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2015
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004463, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004463
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Subject Headings
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African American aesthetics, African American women authors -- 19th century -- Criticism and interpretation, American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism, American literature -- African American authors, Antislavery movements in literature, Elaw, Zilpha -- approximately 1790- -- Criticism and interpretation, Emotions in literature, Foote, Julia A.J. -- 1823-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation, Lee, Jarena -- 1783- -- Criticism and interpretation, Spirituality in literature
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Hegemonic "realness"?: an intersectional analysis of RuPaul's Drag Race.
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Creator
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Jenkins, Sarah Tucker, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
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Abstract/Description
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RuPaul's Drag Race is one of the few realilty television shows focusing on QLGBT (queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) identified individuals that has made it into mainstream consciousness. Drag Race provides a unique perspective on the ways that gender identity, sexuality, size, class, race, and ethnicity intersect and interact in people's lives.The television show augments many of these intersedtions and the challenges related to these identities while still reflecting the daily...
Show moreRuPaul's Drag Race is one of the few realilty television shows focusing on QLGBT (queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) identified individuals that has made it into mainstream consciousness. Drag Race provides a unique perspective on the ways that gender identity, sexuality, size, class, race, and ethnicity intersect and interact in people's lives.The television show augments many of these intersedtions and the challenges related to these identities while still reflecting the daily struggles that people experience.The show works to promote messages of self-love and acceptance ; however, it also promotes many problematic and damaging stereotypes. This thesis conducts a feminist analysis in order to answer the question: How does RuPaul's Drag Race relate to hegemonic and oppressive stereotypes and roles associated with gender identity, sexual orientation, size, class, race and ethnicity? Does it challenge or reinforce such hegemonies? In order to answer these questions, this thesis examines visual imagery, narrative, and dialogue in the show, utilizes theories from cultural and women's studies, English and communications. It concludes that although Drag Race does engage in some subversive behavior, it ultimately reinforces harmful hegemonic stereotypes.
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Date Issued
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2013
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360799
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Subject Headings
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Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Reality television programs, Social aspects, Mass media and culture, Mass media and women, Feminist theory, Television program genres, Stereotypes (Social psychology)
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Smoothing out the rough edges: postcolonial spaces and postcolonial subjectivities in Le petit prince de Belleville and The celestial jukebox.
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Creator
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Anderson, Karyn H., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
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Abstract/Description
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Both Calixthe Beyala's Le petit prince de Belleville, published in France in 1992, and Cynthia Shearer's The Celestial Jukebox, published in the United States in 2005, explore similar questions regarding the place of immigrants in increasingly multicultural societies. Gilles Deleuze and Fâelix Guattari's concept of - smoothness and - striation illuminates the settings of these two texts, helping demonstrate that the Parisian neighborhood of Belleville presents a striated space dominated by...
Show moreBoth Calixthe Beyala's Le petit prince de Belleville, published in France in 1992, and Cynthia Shearer's The Celestial Jukebox, published in the United States in 2005, explore similar questions regarding the place of immigrants in increasingly multicultural societies. Gilles Deleuze and Fâelix Guattari's concept of - smoothness and - striation illuminates the settings of these two texts, helping demonstrate that the Parisian neighborhood of Belleville presents a striated space dominated by State constraints, from which the residents yearn to break free, and the fictional town of Madagascar, Mississippi consists of relatively smooth space that allows for local improvisation and engenders insecurity. The stories of Loukoum and Boubacar illustrate how these two characters negotiate their respective spaces, with Loukoum creating a position thoroughly between striated majority French culture and the smoothness of his diasporic sphere and Boubacar functioning as a rhizomatic nomad, embarking on an autonomous journey of discovery.
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Date Issued
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2009
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186325
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Subject Headings
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Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Multiculturalism, Philosophy, Emigration and immigration, Political and social aspects, Place (Philosophy) in literature, Women authors, Black, Criticism and interpretation
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Feminism and revolution: Ideological coalescence in Gioconda Belli's "La mujer habitada".
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Creator
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Tepper, Sandra., Florida Atlantic University, Erro-Peralta, Nora
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Abstract/Description
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The feminist ideology Gioconda Belli develops in La mujer habitada is a critique of the dictatorial and/or patriarchal restrictions which oppress her women characters. In the novel, the protagonists, Itza a mythological woman warrior from the time of the Spanish Conquest, and Lavinia, a Sandinista guerillera during the Somoza regime, are revolutionary characters who transgress the limitations inherent in the traditional societal roles of "passive" females. Itza challenges the pre-Colonial and...
Show moreThe feminist ideology Gioconda Belli develops in La mujer habitada is a critique of the dictatorial and/or patriarchal restrictions which oppress her women characters. In the novel, the protagonists, Itza a mythological woman warrior from the time of the Spanish Conquest, and Lavinia, a Sandinista guerillera during the Somoza regime, are revolutionary characters who transgress the limitations inherent in the traditional societal roles of "passive" females. Itza challenges the pre-Colonial and Colonial patriarchal ideology, while Lavinia seeks to undermine at once the official state discourse of the Somoza dictatorship, and the phallocentric revolutionary ideology of some of the Sandinistas. In the process, these female characters constitute themselves as subjects and challenge the male-centered canon that so often objectifies women and devalues their creativity.
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Date Issued
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1996
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15265
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Subject Headings
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Belli, Gioconda,--1948---Criticism and interpretation, Belli, Gioconda,--1948---Mujer habitada, Central American literature, Women in literature, Feminism and literature--Central America--History and criticism, Revolutionary literature, Latin American--History and criticism, Literature and revolutions, Feminist literary criticism, Politics and literature--Central America
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Heeding the Antiheroine's Call: the Rise of the Antiheroine in Literature and Popular Culture.
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Creator
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Lyles-Scott, Cynthia C., Childrey, John, Florida Atlantic University
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Abstract/Description
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In my thesis, I argue three assertions: 1) that the 21 st Century antiheroine who has figured so prominently in literature and film is an evolution of the heroine archetype that combines both the action-oriented traditional male hero archetype and the tragically flawed, antagonistic anti-heroine archetype, 2) that the foundation for this newly modified pop culture antiheroine can be traced back to Margaret Mitchell's iconic character, Scarlett O'Hara, and finally 3) that this new modem...
Show moreIn my thesis, I argue three assertions: 1) that the 21 st Century antiheroine who has figured so prominently in literature and film is an evolution of the heroine archetype that combines both the action-oriented traditional male hero archetype and the tragically flawed, antagonistic anti-heroine archetype, 2) that the foundation for this newly modified pop culture antiheroine can be traced back to Margaret Mitchell's iconic character, Scarlett O'Hara, and finally 3) that this new modem heroine archetype, the antiheroine, has become an integral part of popular culture, both in literature and film as well as other popular media. As my primary texts I used Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, the David O. Selznick film ofthe same title, Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as well as several other primary and secondary sources, including the published volume of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind related letters.
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Date Issued
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2007
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000935
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Subject Headings
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Mitchell, Margaret,--1900-1949--Gone with the wind--Criticism and interpretation, Campbell, Joseph,--1904-1987--Hero with a thousand faces--Criticism and interpretation, Women in literature, Heroines in literature, Popular culture--United States--20th century
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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The ties that bind: Harriet Jacobs's portrayal of her grandmother in Jacobs's "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself".
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Creator
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Metzcher-Smith, Marilyn K., Florida Atlantic University, Kurjiaka, Susan K. H.
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Abstract/Description
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Although the relationship between Harriet Jacobs and her grandmother in Jacobs's slave narrative seems at first a simple case of maternal and filial love, closer examination reveals a complex and carefully crafted interaction between author, persona, and character. Jacobs's manumitted grandmother attempts to gain autonomy by emulating white models for behavior in a dominant white culture that nevertheless continues to exclude her. Although strongly influenced by her grandmother, Jacobs's...
Show moreAlthough the relationship between Harriet Jacobs and her grandmother in Jacobs's slave narrative seems at first a simple case of maternal and filial love, closer examination reveals a complex and carefully crafted interaction between author, persona, and character. Jacobs's manumitted grandmother attempts to gain autonomy by emulating white models for behavior in a dominant white culture that nevertheless continues to exclude her. Although strongly influenced by her grandmother, Jacobs's persona, Linda Brent, learns to negotiate the power struggles of slavery by defining herself. The price Jacobs/Brent pays for gaining a voice is the disintegration of her and her grandmother's supportive relationship. Jacobs controls the narrative development of this relationship in order to represent her northern middle-class white women readers in her text. She represents her readers so as to both accommodate and criticize the social differences between women of different races and social standings.
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Date Issued
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1995
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15189
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Subject Headings
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Jacobs, Harriet A--(Harriet Ann),--1813-1897--Criticism and interpretation, Jacobs, Harriet A--(Harriet Ann),--1813-1897--Incidents in the life of a slave girl, Slavery--United States--Biography, Women slaves--United States--Biography
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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The Subaltern Female Struggle for Power in Courtly Love France and Medieval Spain.
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Creator
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Macbeth, Verna Michelle, Gamboa, Yolanda, Florida Atlantic University
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Abstract/Description
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In medieval France, much of the written literature was dominated by the system of courtly love, in which the married noble woman held the position of authority over her lover or knight. Yet this courtly system was entirely literary and did not change women's subjugated position in feudal society, and even propagated misogynistic ideals. In John Beverly's theory of Subalternity, the struggle for power within different systems is shown as having two main groups, the elite and the subaltern; the...
Show moreIn medieval France, much of the written literature was dominated by the system of courtly love, in which the married noble woman held the position of authority over her lover or knight. Yet this courtly system was entirely literary and did not change women's subjugated position in feudal society, and even propagated misogynistic ideals. In John Beverly's theory of Subalternity, the struggle for power within different systems is shown as having two main groups, the elite and the subaltern; the former having control over the representation of the latter, and therefore control over how the subaltern shapes its selfimage. In medieval, courtly love France, those who manufacture the literary representations of women are male, and those texts that aided in the re-affirming of feudal society; though some women, like Christine de Pizan, resisted those representations. Conversely, in medieval Spain, courtly love does not take hold as a literary phenomenon due to the different cultural and social environment of Spanish noble women.
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Date Issued
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2008
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000936
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Subject Headings
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Marginality, Social--France--To 1500, Marginality, Social--Spain--To 1500, Feminism and literature--Europe--History--Middle Ages, 500-1500, Women--Europe--History--Middle Ages, 500-1500, Man-woman relationships in literature, Literature, Medieval--Criticism and interpretation
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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The Trojan horse: Monique Wittig's war on gender.
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Creator
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Olson, Catherine L., Florida Atlantic University, Shaktini, Namascar
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Abstract/Description
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Language, and more specifically gender within language, is the central component in French feminist writer Monique Wittig's war on gender. In her works Les Guerilleres and Le Corps lesbien, Wittig uses a deconstructionist methodology to wage war on the binary gender construct that privileges the masculine and reduces the feminine to the position of inferior and "Other." In order to accomplish her project of subverting the existing phallogocentric ideology and displacing the gender system that...
Show moreLanguage, and more specifically gender within language, is the central component in French feminist writer Monique Wittig's war on gender. In her works Les Guerilleres and Le Corps lesbien, Wittig uses a deconstructionist methodology to wage war on the binary gender construct that privileges the masculine and reduces the feminine to the position of inferior and "Other." In order to accomplish her project of subverting the existing phallogocentric ideology and displacing the gender system that denies women any claim to the universal, Wittig experiments with pronouns, expands the notion of the theory of universalism, creates neologisms, revisions myths, epics, and fairy tales, and interweaves secondary narratives within her texts. With these literary strategies, Wittig succeeds in creating a Trojan horse capable of destroying old oppressive forms and generating new revolutionary discourse which expands the semantic space for females.
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Date Issued
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1996
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15245
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Subject Headings
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Wittig, Monique--Criticism and interpretation, French language--Gender, French language--Sex differences, French literature--20th century--History and criticism--Theory, etc, Women and literature--France--History--20th century, Feminism and literature--France--History--20th century, Fiction--Authorship--Sex differences
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Fight for education, fight for freedom: from object to subject in freedom narratives.
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Creator
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Messinger, Samantha., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
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Abstract/Description
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The three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative...
Show moreThe three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative tradition. These novels borrow from the tradition, not only in terms of structure, but also in terms of plot, point of view, theme, and resolution. Additionally, through the novels, one can see how the trauma of slavery in America permeates contemporary American homes, both White and Black. This thesis focuses on PUSH by Sapphire, The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips, and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison to illustrate the significance and the impact of the traditional slave narrative and the trauma of slavery on contemporary novels and American people.
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Date Issued
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2012
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342241
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Subject Headings
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Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Slavery in literature, Symbolism in literature, African American women novelists, Criticism and interpretation
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Studied girlhoods: consciousness, context, and negotiation of identity in the memoirs of Dorothy Allison, Mary Karr, and Barbara Robinette Moss.
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Creator
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Dilgen, Regina., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
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Abstract/Description
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Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her....
Show moreDorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her. An application of the foundational work on girlhood in developmental psychology provides for an analysis of each memoirist's depiction of girlhood as a time of authentic insight and developing agency. Referencing feminist literary criticism allows for an interpretation of how the girls at the center of these works develop agency through growing awareness of the circumstances of their marginalization. And a semiotic literary interpretation adds to the analysis of these works as creative autobiogra phical writing in affording a close reading of how the memoirists portray younger selves learning to read the signs and texts of a culture and becoming aware of their status as girls in working-class families. Each memoirist uses a dual vocal presentation as both the adult memoirist and a younger self give shape to the narrative. Each memoirist represents a distinct southern space intersecting with specifics of the era to form a cultural moment. Social Construction Theory makes available a basis for considering how the memoirists narrate their increasing understanding of race and gender within these specific contexts as well as their resistive voicing of these insights., Through a Cultural Studies focus this dissertation examines how each memoirist represents a younger self's negotiations with cultural products of the era that work to construct girlhood. Adding to this unpacking of how the memoirists study their own girlhoods, the tools of Postco for an analysis of how the memoirists theorize their own girlhoods in ways that parallel these approaches. This dissertation adds to the evolving field of Girls' Studies in using contemporary theoretical frameworks to interpret how girlhood is constructed, represented, and negotiated with in these memoirs.
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Date Issued
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2011
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332175
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Subject Headings
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Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Self in literature, Popular culture, Working class women
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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The gentle gender?: Shakespeare's Tamora and Lady Macbeth as models of revenge.
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Creator
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Fitzgerald, Jenna., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
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Abstract/Description
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Twelve years separate the plays Titus Andronicus and Macbeth and yet the similarities between Tamora and Lady Macbeth seem to indicate that the former served as a model for the latter female revenge character. Despite the many characteristics that connect the two powerful women, Shakespeare not only intensifies Tamora but questions her maternal traits, exaggerates her competition with the male characters, and replaces her motives for madness in order to create Lady Macbeth. While it is often...
Show moreTwelve years separate the plays Titus Andronicus and Macbeth and yet the similarities between Tamora and Lady Macbeth seem to indicate that the former served as a model for the latter female revenge character. Despite the many characteristics that connect the two powerful women, Shakespeare not only intensifies Tamora but questions her maternal traits, exaggerates her competition with the male characters, and replaces her motives for madness in order to create Lady Macbeth. While it is often assumed that a female's identity is defined through her male counterpart, the opposite is true of the male characters in Titus Andronicus and Macbeth who are defined through the strength and personality of Tamora and Lady Macbeth, respectively. Analyzing the characteristics of these two women offers a new perspective on the characters, challenging the traditional observation that they are cruel and evil. Rather than viewing them as supernatural, controlling beings, my analysis allows the characters to simply be considered as driven, yet flawed women equal to the tragic heroes they encounter in the plays.
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Date Issued
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2008
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77665
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Subject Headings
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Characters, Tragedies, Literary style, Women in literature
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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Marie Corelli: Britain's most popular forgotten author.
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Creator
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Moss, Doris., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
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Abstract/Description
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Marie Corelli was arguably the most popular British novelist of the early 1900s, yet few today even know her name. Though she is not the only author to lose popularity, her enormous influence during her lifetime deserves consideration. What people liked about Marie Corelli can shed light on why the rise of modernism is seen as such a break from the popular in literature. This paper examines two of her bestsellers, A Romance of Two Worlds and The Sorrows of Satan, in light of the fin de...
Show moreMarie Corelli was arguably the most popular British novelist of the early 1900s, yet few today even know her name. Though she is not the only author to lose popularity, her enormous influence during her lifetime deserves consideration. What people liked about Marie Corelli can shed light on why the rise of modernism is seen as such a break from the popular in literature. This paper examines two of her bestsellers, A Romance of Two Worlds and The Sorrows of Satan, in light of the fin de siáecle, as well as the critical response to her work from both modernist and postmodern perspectives. Corelli is of interest today because her popular female characters are women who affirm traditional femininity yet also pursue and wield great power. The question I raise is whether Corelli's work is best seen as illustrative of theories about popular literature or as contradictory to them.
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Date Issued
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2011
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172426
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Subject Headings
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Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Women and literature, History, Literature and society, History, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation
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Format
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Document (PDF)
Pages