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Pages
- Title
- Simulation, creation and reproduction in Dystopian science fiction.
- Creator
- Burns-Davies, Erin, Comparative Studies Program, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Date Issued
- 2008-10-24
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FADT165363p
- Subject Headings
- Utopias in literature, Science fiction, American, Place (Philosophy) in literature
- Format
- Set of related objects
- Title
- The hand as creator in Wallace Stevens: Perception, sensation, and the phenomenal self.
- Creator
- Johnson, Jamie, Florida Atlantic University, Pearce, Howard D.
- Abstract/Description
-
Wallace Stevens's poems alluding to hands yield one of his most profound topics of interest: reality (the external, natural world) versus the imagination (the internal mind). The human hand offers a unique perspective of the complex, often problematic worlds in which the artist exists. In terms of the external world, the hands are the most common means of sense experience. For many artists, the hands act as a medium through which expression of art is delivered. During inspiration, an artist...
Show moreWallace Stevens's poems alluding to hands yield one of his most profound topics of interest: reality (the external, natural world) versus the imagination (the internal mind). The human hand offers a unique perspective of the complex, often problematic worlds in which the artist exists. In terms of the external world, the hands are the most common means of sense experience. For many artists, the hands act as a medium through which expression of art is delivered. During inspiration, an artist therefore takes an experience of the world, filters it through the imagination, and then creates art by combining mind and sense experience. It is the complications involved in this process of creation that the forthcoming analysis explores. The philosophical insight of Merleau-Ponty, Emmanuel Husserl, and William James offers ways of interpreting the intricate creative process apparent in Stevens's poems. By visualizing the necessary altered state of perception through Stevens's language, one can then better understand the acquisition of the ideal state, or "phenomenal body."
Show less - Date Issued
- 2002
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12916
- Subject Headings
- Stevens, Wallace,--1879-1955--Criticism and interpretation, Perception (Philosophy) in literature, Self (Philosophy) in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- I’d rather be a sage than a cyborg: re-theorizing posthumanism through religious wisdom literature.
- Creator
- Shaw, Amy, Mason, Julia, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
The topics of identity and subjectivity are well-trodden paths in posthuman thought, and the trend has been to reduce the self to its material, social, and technoscientific components. Yet the posthuman model of subjectivity—influenced by the tenets of postmodernism—tends to be disabling because it does not focus on the subject’s agency or the possibility of liberation from social tyranny. In this thesis, I use a sampling of what I call “religious wisdom literature”—specifically, the wisdom...
Show moreThe topics of identity and subjectivity are well-trodden paths in posthuman thought, and the trend has been to reduce the self to its material, social, and technoscientific components. Yet the posthuman model of subjectivity—influenced by the tenets of postmodernism—tends to be disabling because it does not focus on the subject’s agency or the possibility of liberation from social tyranny. In this thesis, I use a sampling of what I call “religious wisdom literature”—specifically, the wisdom books of the Old Testament and contemporary Buddhist writings—to challenge the assumption that the self is indistinguishable from the ideologies that produce it. I provide models from religious texts that instead, emphasize critical agency, flexibility, and resistive power. I also suggest that focusing on these qualities may ultimately be useful in the composition classroom, where we can use “self-centered” expressivist techniques (reflective assignments, emotional awareness) to meet the social-epistemic goal of ideological critique. Ultimately, posthumanism, with its emphasis on the construction of subjectivity, is better suited to question strict materialism and inquire into the inspiring possibilities of ancient wisdom.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004060
- Subject Headings
- Complexity (Philosophy), Order (Philosophy) in literature, Self in literature, Spiritual life (Buddhism), Spiritual life (Judaism), Wisdom literature -- Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A philosophy of magic.
- Creator
- Gobeo, Mark J., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
- Abstract/Description
-
Throughout history magic has been an art that has instilled awe and wonder in its spectators. The magician used to be held in high esteem, as teacher, as scientist, as priest and even as philosopher. This being the case, throughout the history of philosophy, philosophers have deemed magic to be deception, to be a mode of misleading people into believing what is not true. Through the modern philosophical era, philosophers have been seeking a purely scientific method for questioning reality. It...
Show moreThroughout history magic has been an art that has instilled awe and wonder in its spectators. The magician used to be held in high esteem, as teacher, as scientist, as priest and even as philosopher. This being the case, throughout the history of philosophy, philosophers have deemed magic to be deception, to be a mode of misleading people into believing what is not true. Through the modern philosophical era, philosophers have been seeking a purely scientific method for questioning reality. It seems that, today, even the magician views his or her art as mere entertainment. The purpose of my thesis is to dispel the belief that magic is purely a hobby with no artistic value and that, like other artworks, magic too can cause one to question existence.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/108068
- Subject Headings
- Rationalism, Philosophy and aesthetics, Popular culture, Magic in literature
- 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)
- Title
- Let them run wild: childhood, the nineteenth-century storyteller, and the ascent of the moon.
- Creator
- Czerny, Val., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
Drawing from literary criticism, ecological philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the wisdom of the female principle - or what Paula Gunn Allen perceives as "Her presence," the "power to make and relate"- this interdisciplinary study challenges dominant assumptions that habitually prevail in western cultural thinking. Let Them Run Wild investigates alternative, "buried" articulations which emerge in nineteenth-and early twentieth-century narratives that especially engage an audience of both...
Show moreDrawing from literary criticism, ecological philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the wisdom of the female principle - or what Paula Gunn Allen perceives as "Her presence," the "power to make and relate"- this interdisciplinary study challenges dominant assumptions that habitually prevail in western cultural thinking. Let Them Run Wild investigates alternative, "buried" articulations which emerge in nineteenth-and early twentieth-century narratives that especially engage an audience of both children and adult readers. Recognizing the fictions inherent in linear-driven thought, these articulations celebrate narrative moments where reason is complicated and reconjectured, where absence is affirmed as presence, and where tale-tellers disappear behind the messages they relate. By spotlighting legendary characters, Chapter One, "The Jowls of Legend," explains how "wild consciousness" resists legendary status. Chapters Two and Three discuss the interweaving journey of the wild arabesque in the Arabian Nights and untamed desire within Anne's transformative language in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Chapter Four, examining the death drive in Frank Norris's The Octopus, describes how it is reconceived in E. Nesbit's The Railway Children. Lastly, the Epilogue explores Juliana Ewing's "Lob Lie-By-the-Fire," tracing the manifestation of the female principle through its most wild activity - not hindered by gender - of service rendered through mystery and adventure. Wild consciousness advances through the collective identity of what Frederic Jameson has called the "political unconscious"and commissions older, better approximations of ideology through willing, spontaneous service., It acknowledges Homi K. Bhabha's articulation of "cultural hybridity," while, simultaneously, it directs such hybrid constructions of history, space, and negotiation outward toward a wild feminist critic Elaine Showalter has characterized as the "wild zone," customarily understood as a borderland space, is further reinterpreted as a borderless, expressive, timeless calling forth of receptive minds to engage in wildly compassionate, nonsensical acts and cunning, non-heroic feats in order to transform the inert, polemic systems that define our western collective mind. In short, this study refigures what Vandana Shiva identifies as cultural "patents on life," where "civilization" becomes small - a mere idea in a forest's deep heart.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209982
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature, Ecofeminism and literature, Philosophy of nature in literature, Narrative (Rhetoric), Criticism and literature, Storytelling in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- An ecocritical and metaphorical analysis of "Cereus Blooms at Night".
- Creator
- Kaleel, Rhonda A., Florida Atlantic University, Furman, Andrew
- Abstract/Description
-
Nature is an important symbol in Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo. The metaphorical comparisons are interlaced within the colonial usurpation which fuels the novel into becoming an ecocritical statement, because without the health of the environment, both human and non-human species alike decay and die because of colonial encroachment. Shani Mootoo illustrates the ecological clash between the wetlands and the tropics through an intricate narrative involving people who are dominated by...
Show moreNature is an important symbol in Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo. The metaphorical comparisons are interlaced within the colonial usurpation which fuels the novel into becoming an ecocritical statement, because without the health of the environment, both human and non-human species alike decay and die because of colonial encroachment. Shani Mootoo illustrates the ecological clash between the wetlands and the tropics through an intricate narrative involving people who are dominated by their environments and cultures, or lack thereof, which create great chasms to overcome. Through critical nature symbols such as the town of Paradise versus the wetlands, the cereus plant, the bugs, the birds, and the cat, important ecocritical connections can be made as to the survival of the characters and the island.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13205
- Subject Headings
- Mootoo, Shani,--1957---Cereus blooms at night, Nature in literature, Philosophy of nature in literature, Ecocriticism, Ecology in literature, Literature and science--Caribbean Area
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Reclaiming Wonder.
- Creator
- Barreneche, Ingrid M., Broderick, Amy S., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
- Abstract/Description
-
I believe art can offer an antidote to our numbness and rekindle a sense of childlike wonder. Reclaiming Wonder is an installation in which I aim to explore the possibility of evoking the curiosity of childhood in the viewer’s mind and transporting him or her into a dreamlike atmosphere to wander about in wonder through the use of the senses of sight, touch, and hearing.
- Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004863, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004863
- Subject Headings
- Semiotics and literature., Wonder in children., Philosophy of nature., Nature study., Discourse analysis., Symbolism in literature., Spiritual life.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The amtal rule: testing to define in Frank Herbert's Dune.
- Creator
- Irizarry, Adella., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
In this project, I focus on the function of the "amtal" or test of definition or destruction, in Frank Herbert's Dune. It is my argument that these tests "to destruction" determine not only the limits or defects of the person being tested, but also - and more crucially - the very limits and defects of the definition of humanity in three specific cultural spheres within the novel: the Bene Gesserit, the Fremen, and the Faufreluches. The definitions of "amtal" as well as "humanity," like all...
Show moreIn this project, I focus on the function of the "amtal" or test of definition or destruction, in Frank Herbert's Dune. It is my argument that these tests "to destruction" determine not only the limits or defects of the person being tested, but also - and more crucially - the very limits and defects of the definition of humanity in three specific cultural spheres within the novel: the Bene Gesserit, the Fremen, and the Faufreluches. The definitions of "amtal" as well as "humanity," like all definitions, are somewhat fluid, changing depending on usage, cultural context, and the political and social needs of the society which uses them. Accordingly, Dune remains an instructive text for thinking through contemporary and controversial notions about the limits of humanism and, consequently, of animalism and posthumanism.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362377
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Dune (Imaginary place), Philosophy, Philosophy in literature, Humanism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Among Figures in Multiple Worlds.
- Creator
- Cervetti, Talia, Broderick, Amy S., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
- Abstract/Description
-
My thesis exhibition will manifest a visual language I developed to express things I sense but cannot explain. I will create a sacred space, people by paper silhouettes, to communicate what it feels like to be alive while acknowledging different realities. Each silhouette figure I make has its own character and expresses specific things, including care, confusion, excitement, play, and wonder. These are all facets of my own experiences in life. The white silhouettes are anchored to a physical...
Show moreMy thesis exhibition will manifest a visual language I developed to express things I sense but cannot explain. I will create a sacred space, people by paper silhouettes, to communicate what it feels like to be alive while acknowledging different realities. Each silhouette figure I make has its own character and expresses specific things, including care, confusion, excitement, play, and wonder. These are all facets of my own experiences in life. The white silhouettes are anchored to a physical reality. The chromatic silhouettes are complicated by color. They are more difficult to make out – they are more vulnerable and ambiguous. I am peopling the installation with many silhouettes. This expresses the range of experiences I have had with people, as well as the many possibilities that exist for human interaction. I will create a translucent cylindrical environment that is specifically lit, with two layers of fabric. I will embed over two thousand hand-cut paper figures within this environment. One plane will represent the physical world that we all access and experience via our five senses. The other plane will express another realm – one that references spiritual or otherwise non-physical realities. In addition, I will exhibit a series of framed collages and a compilation of video clips that have informed the development and process of my work.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004576, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004576
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature., Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.), Conduct of life., Semiotics--Philosophy.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Can I call you brother?.
- Creator
- Norberg, Elizabeth Andrea., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
The following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and...
Show moreThe following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and searches for a model of what butch is and is not but she continues to feel emotionally and physically cut off from the people she cares about. Ultimately, Sarah realizes she can move fluidly between many genders. When she stops trying to be a stereotype, she is finally able to connect with the people she cares about.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186332
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature, Lesbians, Attitudes, Homosexuality, Philosophy, Stereotype (Psychology)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Firing back!.
- Creator
- Gehrmann, Judith., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
- Abstract/Description
-
This work is comprised of altered, found familiar objects. They are stacked and are covered with Egyptian paste, then fired in a burn-out kiln. Through transformation by fire the objects become post-apocalyptic relics. Raised in an Irish Catholic alcoholic home by a raging perfectionist mother, the kitchen was a battlefield - the home, a place of great drama. After dish throwing and frying pan swinging, dinner was precisely laid out on a clean white tablecloth - order covering disorder. The...
Show moreThis work is comprised of altered, found familiar objects. They are stacked and are covered with Egyptian paste, then fired in a burn-out kiln. Through transformation by fire the objects become post-apocalyptic relics. Raised in an Irish Catholic alcoholic home by a raging perfectionist mother, the kitchen was a battlefield - the home, a place of great drama. After dish throwing and frying pan swinging, dinner was precisely laid out on a clean white tablecloth - order covering disorder. The failed domestic environment of my childhood informs this body of work and is inflected by recovering psychological states. Empowered through feminist critique and filtered through my study of Jungian psychology, these objects enact a precarious balance between the known and the estranged. Through the process of transmutation, a cathartic space is generated, giving space for viewers to potentially confront their memories of home.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3170954
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature, Conduct of life, Popular culture, Philosophy, Parenting, Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Only the Body Remembers.
- Creator
- Geraci, Jeanette, Bucak, Ayse Papatya, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
Only The Body Remembers is a collection of poems, lyric essays, and short stories that explore several subjects, including love (both romantic and familial), loss, grief, sexuality, identity, and obsession. The primary thematic thread that binds this collection together is somatic memory -- the way the body records experiences, and the strong emotional charge these recorded experiences carry.
- Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004838
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature., Identity (Philosophical concept), Identity (Psychology), Self (Philosophy), Mind and body.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Only sound remains.
- Creator
- Filsoofi, Raheleh T., McConnell, Brian E., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
- Abstract/Description
-
We each experience the world through the prism of our upbringing, our traditions and the familiar sights and sounds embedded deep within our soul. Only Sound Remains is an installation in which I explore and share those experiences through objects, sounds and video. Ceramic vessels inspired by the traditions of my ancestors hide and shape sounds that narrate simple and complex experiences, which are the stories of my life. The sounds relate to the world that I came from and that still can be...
Show moreWe each experience the world through the prism of our upbringing, our traditions and the familiar sights and sounds embedded deep within our soul. Only Sound Remains is an installation in which I explore and share those experiences through objects, sounds and video. Ceramic vessels inspired by the traditions of my ancestors hide and shape sounds that narrate simple and complex experiences, which are the stories of my life. The sounds relate to the world that I came from and that still can be heard now. The sounds are not clear until one gets close to the vessels and lifts the lid-- a bazaar, praying, marching, an explosion, a woman telling a story, traditional Iranian music. The installation is a metaphor for the way in which we experience the world. The vessels represent a selection of personal and cultural experiences through sounds that may or may not be fully understood.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004108, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004108
- Subject Headings
- Iran -- Social life and customs, Memory -- Social aspects, Music -- Philosophy and aesthetics, Symbolism in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Homoerotic encounters in the fictions of Edgar Allan Poe.
- Creator
- Connolly, Judy Ann., Florida Atlantic University, Blakemore, Steven
- Abstract/Description
-
Using "The Fall of the House of Usher" as the principal, framework tale, this study illuminates Edgar Allan Poe's fictions from a perspective that focuses on homoerotic encounters. Since few prior studies have been directed at Poe's homosexual content, this thesis gives special attention to the benchmark criticism by D. H. Lawrence, which has long influenced readers' interpretations of sexual relationships in Poe's stories. This inquiry includes gender studies, especially the work of Leland S...
Show moreUsing "The Fall of the House of Usher" as the principal, framework tale, this study illuminates Edgar Allan Poe's fictions from a perspective that focuses on homoerotic encounters. Since few prior studies have been directed at Poe's homosexual content, this thesis gives special attention to the benchmark criticism by D. H. Lawrence, which has long influenced readers' interpretations of sexual relationships in Poe's stories. This inquiry includes gender studies, especially the work of Leland S. Person, as well as queer theorist commentary on Poe and his contemporaries. It also deliberates on the definition of the queer aesthete provided by Alexander Doty and discusses how Poe's characters actually pre-date some assumptions about early appearances of the homosexual male in literature. Additionally, this thesis considers how writers who have been influenced by Poe tend to write texts that routinely provide fertile ground for the queer theorist.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2003
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13069
- Subject Headings
- Poe, Edgar Allan,--1809-1849--Criticism and interpretation, Homosexuality in literature, Homosexuality--Philosophy
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The philosophy of the animal in 20th century literature.
- Creator
- Johnson, Jamie, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
The following dissertation examines the philosophy of the animal as it appears in twentieth-century British and American literature. I argue that evolutionary theory, along with the Romantic emphasis on sympathy, creates an historical shift in our perception of humans and nonhumans. Beginning with Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby-Dick, the whale represents what I call a transitional animal figure in that the whale not only shows the traditionally symbolic literary animal but also the...
Show moreThe following dissertation examines the philosophy of the animal as it appears in twentieth-century British and American literature. I argue that evolutionary theory, along with the Romantic emphasis on sympathy, creates an historical shift in our perception of humans and nonhumans. Beginning with Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby-Dick, the whale represents what I call a transitional animal figure in that the whale not only shows the traditionally symbolic literary animal but also the beginnings of the twentieth century shift toward the literal animal-as-subject. My proposed comparative analysis consists of a return to classic existential and phenomenological philosophers with animal studies in mind. A handful of critical essays in recent years have conducted just such an analysis. My contribution extends these philosophical endeavors on the animal and applies them to major literary authors who demonstrate a notable interest in the philosophy of animals. The first chapter of the dissertation begins with D.H. Lawrence, whose writings in selected essays, St. Mawr, and "The Fox" continue considerations made by Melville concerning animal being. Because Lawrence often focuses on gender, sexuality, and intuition, I discuss how a Heideggerian reading of animals in Lawrence adds value to interpretations of his fiction which remain unavailable in analyses of human subjects. In Chapter Two, I move on to William Faulkner's classic hunting tale of "The Bear" and other significant animal sightings in his fiction and nonfiction. For Faulkner, the animal subject exists in the author's particular historical climate of American environmentalism, modernism's literary emphasis on visuality, and race theory., This combination calls for a natural progression from a Heideggerian existential phenomenology: a contemporary Sartrean reading of animal being. Finally, the last chapter examines J.M. Coetzee, an author whose texts show the accumulated existential and phenomenological progression in the philosophy of the animal with a combined interest in current political and social issues surrounding animal life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/192984
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature, Animals (Philosophy), Human-animal relationships in literature, Animals in literature, American prose literature, Criticism and interpretation, English prose literature, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The "mental crisis" of John Stuart Mill: The destruction of a mechanical consciousness.
- Creator
- Dhuwalia, Raj Kumar., Florida Atlantic University, Buckton, Oliver
- Abstract/Description
-
In Chapter Five of his Autobiography, John Stuart Mill discusses a "mental crisis" which struck in 1826 and lingered for some time. Mill addresses one causative element of this crisis, a perception of himself at twenty as a "mechanical man." Yet these much-quoted words understate a greater point. I shall argue that Mill's crisis was the destruction of an almost purely mechanical consciousness, or at least a strike at his foundations of a breadth and severity that has not been fully addressed...
Show moreIn Chapter Five of his Autobiography, John Stuart Mill discusses a "mental crisis" which struck in 1826 and lingered for some time. Mill addresses one causative element of this crisis, a perception of himself at twenty as a "mechanical man." Yet these much-quoted words understate a greater point. I shall argue that Mill's crisis was the destruction of an almost purely mechanical consciousness, or at least a strike at his foundations of a breadth and severity that has not been fully addressed by Mill scholarship. I shall consider various aspects of Mill's life and thought before and after the crisis as a means of identifying the nature of this fundamental change in Mill. These aspects of Mill's thought include philosophy, economics, epistemology, poetry, and politics, and these aspects of Mill's life include education, his relationship with his father and Bentham, his early activism, his influences, and his perceptions of man and society.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1996
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15319
- Subject Headings
- Mill, John Stuart,--1806-1873--Autobiography, Consciousness in literature, Philosophy in literature, Authors, English--19th century--Biography--History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Mind the Gap: Overcoming Dualities in Motor City, USA.
- Creator
- Houser, Tai Lynden, Blakemore, Steven, Florida Atlantic University
- Abstract/Description
-
Contemporary thinking, bound as it is to a dualistic paradigm, inherently privileges one side of the duality over the other. Feminists - most notably in this dissertation, Val Plumwood - argue that we must overcome these privileged dualities and reconstruct a way of knowing that recognizes difference while not granting privilege to one side or the other. Dualities result from the modernist and postmodernist desire to name and control. One of the reasons that we cannot transcend this desire is...
Show moreContemporary thinking, bound as it is to a dualistic paradigm, inherently privileges one side of the duality over the other. Feminists - most notably in this dissertation, Val Plumwood - argue that we must overcome these privileged dualities and reconstruct a way of knowing that recognizes difference while not granting privilege to one side or the other. Dualities result from the modernist and postmodernist desire to name and control. One of the reasons that we cannot transcend this desire is because we have lost our connection to our environment. Examining novels and films set in Detroit, Michigan, as well as coming to terms with that city's history, will allow us to find places where clairvoyant messengers can commune with the environment and offer us an insight into ways of overcoming the radical "othering" ofduality. This project begins by examining the literary history of urban fiction in the United States and pointing to the tradition of duality and some of its surface problems. Then, the project begins to construct a history of Detroit that exposes the complex layers of duality that have informed the city's growth and ultimately led to the 1967 riots. Next, the argument suggests the importance of fiction and film in understanding modern dualities. The first fictive example, Maureen, from Joyce Carol Oates's novel them is an example of a potential clairvoyant. However, bound as she is to a postmodern existence, Maureen experiences her "other'' but fails to provide a didactic example of non-dualistic thinking. Ultimately, postmodernism and postmodern/post riot Detroit only mystify and compound the problems associated with modern dualities. Likewise, Jeffrey Eugenides transgendered hero/ine Calliope (Middlesex) experiences her natural "other" and allows us to call into question the traditional binaries we use to create our understandings of gender. Both characters retell their experience and re-present their bodies in an attempt to bridge dualities and overcome their "otherness." Finally, the dissertation finds a representation of contemporary Detroit, Eminem's 8 Mile, and argues that violence and shame are at the root of dualities and ultimately distract us from overcoming both fictional and real examples of the oppressive "othering" which results from a culture steeped in dualistic thinking.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000984
- Subject Headings
- Detroit (Mich)--In literature, Detroit (Mich)--History--21st century--Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Postmodernism--Psychological aspects, Philosophy of nature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The sui generis in Charles G. Finney’s The Circus Of Dr. Lao.
- Creator
- White, Adam J., Martin, Thomas L., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
Charles G. Finney’s 1936 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao was published to enthusiastic reviews, but fell into relative obscurity shortly thereafter. Since its publication, it has been the subject of one peer-reviewed critical essay, a number of reviews, one non-peer-reviewed essay, and a master’s thesis. It was published in a world where the fantastic and unique found only barren desert soil, with no scholarly tradition for the fantastic, nor a widely receptive lay audience for something truly...
Show moreCharles G. Finney’s 1936 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao was published to enthusiastic reviews, but fell into relative obscurity shortly thereafter. Since its publication, it has been the subject of one peer-reviewed critical essay, a number of reviews, one non-peer-reviewed essay, and a master’s thesis. It was published in a world where the fantastic and unique found only barren desert soil, with no scholarly tradition for the fantastic, nor a widely receptive lay audience for something truly unique, or sui generis. The concept of the sui generis, meaning “of its own kind,” provides a useful lens for examining the novel, as Finney develops not only creatures, but people, which are truly of their own kind, borrowing from existing mythologies, traits of humanity, and aspects of nature, recombining them in a singular way which resists classification.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004073
- Subject Headings
- Fantasy fiction, American -- Criticism and interpretation, Finney, Charles G. -- (Charles Grandison) -- 1905-1984 -- Circus of Dr. Lao -- Criticism and interpretation, Individualism (Philosophy), Knowledge, Theory of, in literature, Meaning (Philosophy), Symbolism in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Le moi et l'autre dans Robinson Crusoe de Daniel Defoe et Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique de Michel Tournier.
- Creator
- Peric, Milica., Florida Atlantic University, Munson, Marcella L.
- Abstract/Description
-
Daniel Defoe's seminal novel Robinson Crusoe reflects major philosophical currents of the Enlightenment and brings them to bear on diverse issues: scientific advances, new economic models, British colonialization, the relation of the Other to the self. But if Robinson Crusoe presents Friday as Other who fulfills a crucial role by helping Robinson as narrating subject successfully complete the journey of self-knowledge, Michel Tournier's postmodern revision, Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique...
Show moreDaniel Defoe's seminal novel Robinson Crusoe reflects major philosophical currents of the Enlightenment and brings them to bear on diverse issues: scientific advances, new economic models, British colonialization, the relation of the Other to the self. But if Robinson Crusoe presents Friday as Other who fulfills a crucial role by helping Robinson as narrating subject successfully complete the journey of self-knowledge, Michel Tournier's postmodern revision, Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique , has a quite different teleological aim. Through constantly shifting narrative and theoretical perspectives Vendredi undertakes a forceful critique of key aspects of the Western tradition which Robinson Crusoe confidently hailed: Lockean and Cartesian reasoning, traditional framing dichotomies central to the Western tradition (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel), modern conceptions of the thinking subject. Vendredi ultimately suggests the inability of the postmodern subject to know itself while simultaneously critiquing those Western traditions whose perspectives are founded on hegemonic globalization.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2003
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13097
- Subject Headings
- Defoe, Daniel,--1661?-1731--Robinson Crusoe, Tournier, Michel--Vendredi, ou, Les limbes du Pacifique, Self (Philosophy) in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
