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Title: The use of the bastard identity: from Victorian subverters to superheroes in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Creator: Dessler, Ryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of...
Show moreThis project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of illegitimacy being used as a literary device in novels by Victorian authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In the second chapter, I examine the role illegitimacy plays in the origin stories of canonical comic book superheroes Batman and Superman. Lastly, in the third chapter, I scrutinize the role illegitimacy plays in defining the human condition within science fiction as human culture continues to advance technologically towards a post human world.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355567
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Literature and society, History, Comic books, strips, etc, Criticism and interpretation, Illegitimacy in literature, Sex role in literature, Sensationalism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The search for order in the face of impermanence: movement and meaning in Woolf.
Creator: Hall, Maria., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: The two main characters of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse interpret and find meaning in the world around them in two different ways. Mrs. Ramsey seeks a form of meaning that exists independent of her in the world. Lily, on the other hand, won't rely on meaning that is predetermined or inherent in the world outside of her own perception of it. Both of these positions are problematic because neither one of them actually allows the characters to establish a way in which to understand their...
Show moreThe two main characters of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse interpret and find meaning in the world around them in two different ways. Mrs. Ramsey seeks a form of meaning that exists independent of her in the world. Lily, on the other hand, won't rely on meaning that is predetermined or inherent in the world outside of her own perception of it. Both of these positions are problematic because neither one of them actually allows the characters to establish a way in which to understand their world. It is only when Lily gains insight from Mrs. Ramsey's position that she is finally able to form a new, third strategy, represented in the act of painting, which allows her to create a kind of meaning that succeeds where her and Mrs. Ramsey's original strategies had failed. In the completion of her work of art she has both represented her vision and established her own way of relating to and understanding her world.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/41005
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Impressionism in literature, Modernism (Literature)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Racial violence: examining causation in the United States, France, Great Britain, and Germany.
Creator: Sylvain, Christine Lynn., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines recent explanations of racial violence in the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, the Oldham Riots of 2001, the French Riots of 2005, and the racial violence of 1992 in Germany. In each case I outline traditional theories claiming that racial violence is caused by competition between ethnic groups for housing, jobs, and cultural identity. These theories may benefit from consideration of the historical elements that have institutionalized racial discrimination in the systematic...
Show moreThis thesis examines recent explanations of racial violence in the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, the Oldham Riots of 2001, the French Riots of 2005, and the racial violence of 1992 in Germany. In each case I outline traditional theories claiming that racial violence is caused by competition between ethnic groups for housing, jobs, and cultural identity. These theories may benefit from consideration of the historical elements that have institutionalized racial discrimination in the systematic processes of integration. In conclusion, I argue that the governmental mechanisms of integration; including citizenship models, context of state formation, immigration policy, and nationalist ideology, suggest that the framework of racial prejudice and ethnocentrism may predispose a society to racial conflict.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11577
Subject Headings: Racism, Racism, Racism, Ethnocentrism
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)

Title: Neville Chamberlain, Oswald Mosley, and the historiography of appeasement revisited.
Creator: Ortiz, Michael., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This thesis analyzes the historiography of Neville Chamberlain and appeasement through the lens of Oswald Mosley and British Fascism, arguing that an acute and unexpected convergence emerges between the ardent radicalism of Mosley and the utter rationality of Chamberlain, illustrating the uncanny degree to which appeasement as a policy dovetailed with fascism as an ideology. Beginning at the Spanish Civil War and ending in March 1939, politicians in the vein of Chamberlain - subsequently...
Show moreThis thesis analyzes the historiography of Neville Chamberlain and appeasement through the lens of Oswald Mosley and British Fascism, arguing that an acute and unexpected convergence emerges between the ardent radicalism of Mosley and the utter rationality of Chamberlain, illustrating the uncanny degree to which appeasement as a policy dovetailed with fascism as an ideology. Beginning at the Spanish Civil War and ending in March 1939, politicians in the vein of Chamberlain - subsequently dubbed 'appeasers' - pursued appeasement as a means to placate German aggression. The British Union of Fascists, with Mosley at the helm, enthusiastically supported this movement and urged the British Government to intensify the appeasement campaign. Ultimately, the convergence of appeasement and fascism illustrates the severe lack of alternatives available to Chamberlain, and underscores the degree to which his pragmatic politics supported fascism abroad.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2978948
Subject Headings: Views on Germany, World War, 1939-1945, Diplomatic history, Fascism, World politics, Politics and government, Foreign relations, Foreign relations, Foreign relations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Marie Corelli: Britain's most popular forgotten author.
Creator: Moss, Doris., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: 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: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172426
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Women and literature, History, Literature and society, History, English fiction, 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: An aristocratic revolution?: the British reaction to the Decembrist Revolt of 1825.
Creator: Posner, Kenneth., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This thesis argues that in the wake of the Decembrist Revolt in Russia in 1825, the British Foreign Office was forced to address the tension between two conceptions of stability-one domestic and one international. It contends that the aristocratic ethos of the British diplomatic corps both magnified the fragile social condition of the Russian Empire and organized the political response which subordinated this concern to the international equilibrium of Europe. Ambassadors such as Lord...
Show moreThis thesis argues that in the wake of the Decembrist Revolt in Russia in 1825, the British Foreign Office was forced to address the tension between two conceptions of stability-one domestic and one international. It contends that the aristocratic ethos of the British diplomatic corps both magnified the fragile social condition of the Russian Empire and organized the political response which subordinated this concern to the international equilibrium of Europe. Ambassadors such as Lord Strangford and Edward Cromwell Disbrowe helped interpret the events of the Decembrist conspiracy while stationed in St. Petersburg and reported back to their Foreign Secretary, George Canning, who used the revolt as an attempt to realign British interests with Russia. In the end, elite Britons chose to protect the international balance of power in post-Napoleonic Europe instead of the traditional social hierarchies believed to be under siege in Russia.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2705079
Subject Headings: Secret societies, Decembrists, Aristocracy (Social class), History, History, Influence, Politics and government, Politics and government
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Across the Empire: British women's travel writings and women's place in the British imperial project during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Creator: Wernecke, Katie., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: Women in Britain in the nineteenth century were expected to fulfill the traditional roles of wife and mother as determined by British society. Over the course of the nineteenth century, these ideals evolved, but the core functions of wife and mother remained at the center. Woman's participation outside the household was limited. British women travelers during the nineteenth century found themselves in many different environments. By examining samples of women's travel narratives from various...
Show moreWomen in Britain in the nineteenth century were expected to fulfill the traditional roles of wife and mother as determined by British society. Over the course of the nineteenth century, these ideals evolved, but the core functions of wife and mother remained at the center. Woman's participation outside the household was limited. British women travelers during the nineteenth century found themselves in many different environments. By examining samples of women's travel narratives from various locations in the Empire, this study analyzes the daily lives of British women in the Empire and determines that, while maintaining their roles within the private sphere as wives and mothers, women's activities in the colonies were less restricted than they would have been in Britain.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3361255
Subject Headings: Women authors, Feminism, History, Imperialism, History, Man-woman relationships, Colonies, History, Colonies, Administration, Colonies, Social conditions
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: "A spirit of benevolence": Manchester and the origins of modern public health, 1790-1834.
Creator: Boxen, Jennifer L., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This thesis argues that the British Public Health movement did not begin in 1842 with Edwin Chadwick's publication, Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain (1842), or in 1848, with the subsequent passage of the Public Health Act. The beginning of the public health movement was instead the product of local initiatives such as the Manchester Board of Health, administered not by central government, but by members of the local community supported by...
Show moreThis thesis argues that the British Public Health movement did not begin in 1842 with Edwin Chadwick's publication, Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain (1842), or in 1848, with the subsequent passage of the Public Health Act. The beginning of the public health movement was instead the product of local initiatives such as the Manchester Board of Health, administered not by central government, but by members of the local community supported by predominantly philanthropic funding. The Manchester movement predated Chadwick's efforts by at least half a century and bore a greater resemblance to the modern idea of an organized public health system than that advanced by Chadwick and his contemporaries. This is because the Manchester movement emphasized not only those sanitary ideas ascribed to Chadwick but also included a broader spectrum of public health measures, including but not limited to ; preventative medicine, occupational health, and the reduction of contagious diseases.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360766
Subject Headings: Public health, History, History, Social conditions
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (8)	+ -
Honors Student Theses (3)	+ -

Criticism and interpretation (5)	+ -
History (5)	+ -
Literature and society (3)	+ -
Colonies (2)	+ -
English fiction (2)	+ -

Politics and government (2)	+ -
Sex role in literature (2)	+ -
Social conditions (2)	+ -
Administration (1)	+ -
Aristocracy (Social class) (1)	+ -
Colonies in literature (1)	+ -
Comic books, strips, etc (1)	+ -
Decembrists (1)	+ -
Diplomatic history (1)	+ -
English literature (1)	+ -
Ethnocentrism (1)	+ -
Fascism (1)	+ -
Feminism (1)	+ -
Foreign relations (1)	+ -
History and criticism (1)	+ -
Illegitimacy in literature (1)	+ -
Imperialism (1)	+ -
Imperialism in literature (1)	+ -
Impressionism in literature (1)	+ -
Influence (1)	+ -
Irish authors (1)	+ -
Jones, David, 1895-1974 (1)	+ -
Literature and the war (1)	+ -
Man-woman relationships (1)	+ -
Modernism (Literature) (1)	+ -

Germany (2)	+ -
United States (2)	+ -
Caribbean Area (1)	+ -
Manchester (England) (1)	+ -
Russia (1)	+ -

Soviet Union (1)	+ -
St. Lucia (1)	+ -

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