Current Search:  Tepper, Sheri S (x)

View All Items

  • CSV Spreadsheet
(1 - 4 of 4)
unguarded gate: Infiltrations of patriarchy in Sheri S. Tepper's "The Gate to Women's Country"
Title
The unguarded gate: Infiltrations of patriarchy in Sheri S. Tepper's "The Gate to Women's Country".
Creator
Zitner-Crawford, Thorun., Florida Atlantic University, McGuirk, Carol
Abstract/Description
Throughout The Gate to Women's Country, Sheri S. Tepper covers the patriarchal structures of her imagined society with a veneer of feminism. The novel contains many hallmarks of a feminist utopia, such as a concern for the environment and a distrust of men and technology; yet all are undercut by the traditional structures that she retains of class, military machismo, sexuality, and motherhood. An attempt to read The Gate to Women's Country as "a fortifying tonic" (Simmons 22) leads one...
Show moreThroughout The Gate to Women's Country, Sheri S. Tepper covers the patriarchal structures of her imagined society with a veneer of feminism. The novel contains many hallmarks of a feminist utopia, such as a concern for the environment and a distrust of men and technology; yet all are undercut by the traditional structures that she retains of class, military machismo, sexuality, and motherhood. An attempt to read The Gate to Women's Country as "a fortifying tonic" (Simmons 22) leads one instead into the "politics of despair" ("Reconsiderations" 44), as one realizes that Tepper is exaggerating, not resolving, the problematic relations that continue to exist between genders. Too perceptive to be overly optimistic about "surmounting humanity's most dangerous flaws" (Miller 15), Tepper's dystopian novel ultimately acknowledges that the genetic solutions of "Women's Country" are nearly futile. She leaves the struggling utopian and dystopian forces of the novel unresolved and men and women in perpetual conflict.
Show less
Date Issued
1999
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15720
Subject Headings
Tepper, Sheri S--Gate to women's country, Tepper, Sheri S--Criticism and interpretation, Patriarchy
Format
Document (PDF)
From the horse's mouth
Title
From the horse's mouth: speech and speciesism in Cordwainer Smith and Sheri S. Tepper.
Creator
Cox, Jennifer K., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
This thesis challenges dualistic human and animal ontologies by interpreting science fiction (sf) literature, and argues that whereas words can equivocate and obscure meaning, bodies do not lie. Linguistics and semiology extend the definition of "language" to include human and nonhuman gestures and movement, and posthumanist theory expands definitions of "human" and "animal" to explore species boundaries. Scrutinizing opposing dualisms ultimately questions Western epistemology and authority,...
Show moreThis thesis challenges dualistic human and animal ontologies by interpreting science fiction (sf) literature, and argues that whereas words can equivocate and obscure meaning, bodies do not lie. Linguistics and semiology extend the definition of "language" to include human and nonhuman gestures and movement, and posthumanist theory expands definitions of "human" and "animal" to explore species boundaries. Scrutinizing opposing dualisms ultimately questions Western epistemology and authority, allowing for an exploration of embodied animal communications within the larger discourse on species and speciesism. This perspective results in a more comprehensive understanding of the interdependence of all species: human, animal, and "other." Although the fictional texts I employ use fantastic elements to posit hypothetical realities, current scientific research reveals that communication with nonhuman animals is indeed possible.
Show less
Date Issued
2013
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360775
Subject Headings
Criticism and enterpretation, Criticism and enterpretation, Human-animal relationships, Interpersonal communication, Animal communication, Language and emotions, Emotive (Linguistics)
Format
Document (PDF)
Mythological backgrounds in Sheri S. Tepper's fiction
Title
Mythological backgrounds in Sheri S. Tepper's fiction.
Creator
Carroll, Lonna Pomeroy., Florida Atlantic University, Collins, Robert A.
Abstract/Description
Sheri S. Tepper, using postmodern literary techniques, utilizes ancient story forms to examine our contemporary world in three science fiction novels. Classical Greek mythology in the form of a parodic drama, "Iphigenia at Ilium" is intricately woven into The Gate to Women's Country. European fairy tale characters become metaphors for a postmodern world threatened by overpopulation and the loss of magic in Beauty. An American Indian fable, featuring Coyote, provides the mythic paradigm for A...
Show moreSheri S. Tepper, using postmodern literary techniques, utilizes ancient story forms to examine our contemporary world in three science fiction novels. Classical Greek mythology in the form of a parodic drama, "Iphigenia at Ilium" is intricately woven into The Gate to Women's Country. European fairy tale characters become metaphors for a postmodern world threatened by overpopulation and the loss of magic in Beauty. An American Indian fable, featuring Coyote, provides the mythic paradigm for A Plague of Angels. Each ancient story form is re-worked into Tepper's postmodernist fiction giving a new slant to familiar stories that highlight Tepper's feminist, ecological themes: of the folly of war, the threat of overpopulation, and mankind's interconnectedness to all living creatures.
Show less
Date Issued
1996
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15317
Subject Headings
Tepper, Sheri S--Criticism and interpretation, Mythology in literature, Science fiction--History and criticism, Fantastic literature--History and criticism
Format
Document (PDF)
Transmission of matrilineal/matriarchal society in ethnic American and in fantasy literature
Title
Transmission of matrilineal/matriarchal society in ethnic American and in fantasy literature.
Creator
Watterson, Dama Scott., Florida Atlantic University, Collins, Robert A.
Abstract/Description
Maya Angelou uses an autobiographical form in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to portray her childhood. The lessons she acquires as a child are depicted in positive scenes between her and her grandmother and other female figures in her life. Likewise, Maxine Hong Kingston portrays, in an arguably autobiographical form, her life lessons in Woman Warrior. She aligns herself matrilineally with her female ancestors and heritage. Struggles between her American self and the Chinese heritage her...
Show moreMaya Angelou uses an autobiographical form in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to portray her childhood. The lessons she acquires as a child are depicted in positive scenes between her and her grandmother and other female figures in her life. Likewise, Maxine Hong Kingston portrays, in an arguably autobiographical form, her life lessons in Woman Warrior. She aligns herself matrilineally with her female ancestors and heritage. Struggles between her American self and the Chinese heritage her mother speaks of become her means for finding self-definition. In contrast, Sheri S. Tepper's fantasy novel A Plague of Angels, portrays a female utopian society against a backdrop of male dominated ruin. She aligns the female protagonist with nature and ecological concerns. The turn away from society that is patriarchal and destructive is made toward a society defined in ecofeminist terms of Earth Mothers, animal rights, and the health of the environment.
Show less
Date Issued
1999
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15679
Subject Headings
Angelou, Maya--I know why the caged bird sings, Kingston, Maxine Hong--Woman warrior, Tepper, Sheri S--Plague of angels, Women in literature
Format
Document (PDF)