- Practical Astronomy
- This dissertation is a collection of poems preceded by a critical preface. The preface considers Anthony’s Hecht’s long poem, “The Venetian Vespers,” and the ways in which the temporally unsettled situation of the poem’s speaker parallels a problem facing narrative-meditative poets. The preface is divided into two main sections that explore divisions of this larger conflict. The first discusses the origins and effects of the speaker’s uprootedness in time, and the ways in which he tries to both combat and embrace this dislocation by temporarily losing himself in the immediacy of observing visual art. In this section I connect the dilemma of the speaker, who wishes to escape his memory by focusing outwards, to the dilemma of a representational poet who, despite his position towards the past, must necessarily confront or recollect memories and emotions in order to create authentic descriptions or characters. The second section focuses on the production and appreciation of artistic works (both visual and literary) and how the meaning, production and appreciation of beauty are inseparable from its existence within the physical limits of time. Here I discuss the significance of Hecht’s character who is surrounded with beauty yet describes himself as a person who only observes and does not create anything. Through this character, I argue that Hecht reveals a fundamental conflict that exists between artistic creation and chronological time, and that his poem embodies a particular and paradoxical view of beauty that resonates deeply with the motivations and struggles of writing poems. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149687/
- Set for Life: a Novel
- This collection of six chapters is an excerpt from a novel based on the book of Job, as told through the viewpoint of a contemporary woman from Texas. A preface exploring the act of starting over, fictionally and creatively, precedes the chapters. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149574/
- Antigravity
- This dissertation contains two parts: Part I, which discusses the elegy of possessive intent, a subgenre of the contemporary American elegy; and Part II, Antigravity, a collection of poems. English elegies have been closely rooted to a specific grief, making the poems closer to occasional poems. The poet—or at least the poet’s speaker—seeks some kind of public consolation for (often) a private loss. The Americanized form does stray from the traditional elegy yet retains some of its characteristics. Some American elegies memorialize failed romantic relationships rather than the dead. In their memorials, these speakers seek a completion for the lack the broken relationship has created in the speakers’ lives. What they can’t replace, they substitute with something personal. As the contemporary poem becomes further removed from tradition, it’s no surprise that the elegy has evolved as well. Discussions of elegies have never ventured into the type of elegy that concerns itself with the sort of unacknowledged loss found in some contemporary American poems of unrequited love. These poems all have speakers who willfully refuse to acknowledge the loss of their love-objects and strive to maintain control/ownership of their beloveds even in the face of rejection. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149563/
- Irony, Humor, and Ontological Relationality in Literature
- The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate ontological relationality in literary theory and criticism by critically reflecting on modern theories of literature and by practically examining the literary texts of Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and Oscar Wilde. Traditional studies of literary texts have been oriented toward interpretative or hermeneutic methodologies, focusing on an independent and individual subject in literature. Instead, I explore how relational ontology uncovers the interactive structures interposed between the author, the text, and the audience by examining the system of how the author's creative positioning provokes the reader's reaction through the text. In Chapter I, I critically inquire into modern literary theories of "irony" in Romanticism, New Criticism, and Deconstructionism to show how they tend to disregard the dynamic dimension of interactive relationships between different literary subjects. Chapter II scrutinizes Wilde's humor in An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) in order to reveal the ontological relationships triggered by a creative positioning. In chapter III, I examine Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400) and the laughter in "The Miller's Tale" in particular, to examine the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of its interactive relationships. In Chapter IV, I explore Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99), Othello (1603-4), and The Winter's Tale (1609-11) so as to show how artistic positioning creatively constructs a relational system of dynamic interactions to circulate social ideals and values. In so doing, this dissertation is aimed at revealing the aesthetic values of literature and the objective scope of literary discourse rather than providing yet another analytical paradigm dependent primarily on a single literary subject. Thus, the ontological study is proposed as an alternative, yet primary, dimension of literary criticism and theoretical practice. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149621/
- The Hostess
- The following is a critical preface and portion of a novel-in-progress produced during my master's program in creative writing at the University of North Texas. The preface analyzes the way time and point of view work together to create or determine structure in fiction, as well as provide added meaning. In order to explore these topics I focus on two novels, Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, and speak to how these elements have influenced my own writing style in The Hostess. The Hostess is a story about a group of twenty-something’s working together in a restaurant located in a Mid-West, college town, told from multiple character perspectives, as they struggle to choose between pursuing their passions and creating stability in their lives. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149674/
- Epic Qualities in Moby-Dick
- Many critics not satisfied with explaining Moby-Dick in terms of the novel, have sough analogies in other literary genres. Most often parallels have been drawn from epic and dramatic literature. Critics have called Moby-Dick either an epic or a tragedy. After examining the evidence presented by both schools of thought, after establishing a workable definition of the epic and listing the most common epic devices, and after examining Moby-Dick in terms of this definition and discovering many of the epic devices in it, I propose the thesis that Melville has written an epic, not unlike the great epics of the past. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130299/
- A Study of Mechanics: Prescription and Use
- This thesis studies historical punctuation its uses and standards developed. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130281/
- Religion as a Factor in the Literary Career of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The purpose of this study is to evaluate various religious elements in Nathainel Hawthorne's life in relation to his career as a literary artist. The moral seriousness of this author at once strikes us as being something closely akin to religious sentiment, but he refused to endorse any specific dogma or to subscribe to any one organized faith. We know from his work that he had a religion, but his silence leaves ample room for conjecture if we wish to "label" him, or decide which of those religions that he contemplated was most congenial to his nature. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130289/
- Senecan and Other Influences on Six Elizabethan Revenge Plays
- This thesis traces the revival of Senecan tragedy from 1570 to the end of the sixteenth century through some of the earlier translations, adaptations, and imitations, and to evaluate the significance of the final evolution of such works into the Elizabethan tragedy of revenge. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130328/
- Some Lexical Variants of Pioneer Ellis County
- The purpose of this study is to give the common words, together with a collection of old expressions or terms, of the oldest residents of Ellis County and to trace their usage to the states in the Old South. The importance of recording these old words and terms is to preserve the oldest forms of the community for those who are interested in the growth and development of local speech and, also, to trace the history of these words. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130242/
- Autobiographical Elements in the Works of Charles Dickens
- This thesis endeavors to show how Charles Dickens revealed himself and his life in his works. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130244/
- Cosmetic Names : Their Formations and Semantic Implications
- In order to discover the semantic implications involved in advertising in general, the present study is confined to an investigation of the names of perfumes and lipsticks, taken as representative of the broader field. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130301/
- Ability Grouping in Secondary English
- This thesis discusses the pros and cons of grouping by ability in secondary English. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130279/
- Chaucer's Devices for Securing Verisimilitude in the Canterbury Tales
- This thesis explores Chaucer's devices for securing verisimilitude by various methods in the Canterbury Tales. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130273/
- A Structural Analysis of The Brothers Karamazov
- The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the structural unity of The Brothers Karamazov through the isolation and analyzation of the various techniques used by Dostoyevsky to unify the novel. In order to retain more than a few impressions and remembrances of outstanding events, in order to retain the novel itself, the reader needs to be aware of the structure of the work. If the fullest realization of the novel depends upon the reader's perception of its structure, the structure becomes the important critical element. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130451/
- Literary and Realistic Influences upon the Women of the Spectator
- This study will outline the two great literary genres of character-writing and satire, upon the tradition and practice of which Joseph Addison and Richard Steele based their characters of women in the Spectator. The three-fold purpose of this study is to determine how the Spectator was influenced by, and what it in turn contributed to, the two literary genres, the "Character" of women and satire on women; and to present the social status of the female audience as it existed and as the Spectator sought to improve it. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130294/
- The Salome Legend in the Arts
- This study of the Salome legend in the arts covers the historical background of the Salome legend, Salome in the early Christian era and in the Middle Ages, Salome in the Renaissance, and Salome in modern times. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130308/
- The Development of the Unheroic Hero in the Modern Novel
- This thesis explores the development of the unheroic hero in the modern novel. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130337/
- Music in the Fiction of Willa Cather
- This thesis explores the use of music in the literary works of author Willa Cather. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130334/
- The Contribution of Scholarship Toward an Understanding and Appreciation of Chaucer
- In the more than five hundred years since the death of Geoffrey Chaucer, scholars have labored steadfastly to bring to light early criticisms of the poet's works, comments on his life and the customs of his time, and any recorded facts that would contribute in any way toward a better understanding and appreciation of the Canterbury Tales, the poet's life, and the practices of his age. It is the purpose of this study to show this contribution of scholarship; and the writer has relied heavily upon the publications made by T. R. Lounsbury, Caroline Spurgeon, and F. N. Robinson, each of whom has brought together the results of scholarship up to his own time and without whose works this writer's task would have been impossible. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130365/
- The Epic Element in Hiawatha
- By tracing the development of the epic, oral and written, as in Chapter III, the qualities that are characteristic of the epic and the devices associated with the epic through continued usage were found to be the constant factors upon which the definition of the epic is formulated. The application to Hiawatha of the epic definition in terms of form, theme, subject matter, characters, tone, the use of the supernatural, and the use of characteristic devices, strengthens the thesis that Longfellow has written an epic. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130317/
- Mark Twain's Representation of the American West
- The purpose of this paper is to picture the West as Mark Twain saw it. Many books have been written which describe Twain's Western years, but few have given much consideration to the accuracy of his account of the West in the 1860's. This paper attempts to portray Twain not only as a social and political satirist, but also as a possible historical satirist. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130316/
- Mark Twain as a Literary Critic
- The purpose of this thesis is to present essays and letters in which Mark Twain discussed the art of writing or assumed the role of a literary critic. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130335/
- The Influence of Milton on Wordsworth's Poetry
- This thesis discusses the influence of Milton on the poetry of Wordsworth. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130234/
- The Gothic Element in the Novels of Charles Brockden Brown
- This thesis examines the Gothic element in the novels of Charles Brockden Brown and his influence on future writers. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130235/
- A Study of the Stressed Back Vowels in the Speech of Gregg County, Texas
- The purpose of this paper is to contribute some knowledge of the vowel sounds in the speech of one part of East Texas, Gregg County. Although these sounds do not vary greatly from those heard in other parts of the South, the variations which do occur are of interest to the student of speech sounds, and for that reason the sounds studied are carefully recorded in this paper. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130228/
- William Dean Howells: Dramatist
- The primary purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of Howells as the leader of the movement toward realism in American drama, both by revealing in a critical analysis of his plays the presence of the same familiar realistic elements so evident in his novels, and also by showing the extent of his influence upon later dramatists. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130399/
- Mark Twain as a Political Satirist
- This thesis discusses Mark Twain as a political satirist in Nevada and during the Gilded Age. There are also chapters covering Politics and Slavery, Democracy and Monarchy, as well as Imperialism and War. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130330/
- The Divine Comedy as a Source for the Poetry of T. S. Eliot
- In spite of the large amount of criticism written about T. S. Eliot, no attempt has been made to point out the great debt that Eliot owes to Dante Alighieri, and the pervasive influence of The Divine Comedy on Eliot's poetical works. This thesis endeavors to illustrate the extent of that debt and influence. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130396/
- Characterization of the Nonconformist in the Novels of Sinclair Lewis
- A cursory glance into the background of Sinclair Lewis reveals that he was an ardent nonconformist. In this study, however, it is pertinent to view more closely the conditions that caused his rebellious attitudes, not only those concerning social reform but also those concerning his personal quest for individuality. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130376/
- Dominant Themes in the Novels of Ernest Hemingway
- This thesis proposes to show that Hemingway's novels reveal a change of attitude which culminates in an increased faith in the ultimate goodness and dignity of man. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130454/
- The Social Hierarchy of the South in the Works of William Faulkner
- The Myth of the Old South, like all myths, contains some elements of truth, but like all myths, it contains some things that are not true. Faulkner has used those parts of the Myth that are true, but he has repudiated and in many cases destroyed those parts of the Myth which he has found to be the product of imagination rather than history. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130374/
- Trade Names : Their Histories, Formations, and Semantic Implications
- This thesis discusses trade names including their histories, formations, and semantic implications. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130333/
- Characterization of the Schoolteacher in Nineteenth Century American Fiction
- This study is limited largely to teachers in the public or common schools, although a few academy and female seminary teachers and at least one governess are included. It is not a definitive study, but a sufficient number of writings have been examined to make a fair sampling of the range of the nineteenth century American fiction. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130378/
- The Messenger in Shakespeare
- The messenger genus is a broad one. It contains several species and sub-species, some of which will hardly seem to belong to the group until they are examined from a functional or structural standpoint. An attempt will be made to break this great group into three species. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130421/
- Don Juan in Hell: a Key to Reading Shaw
- Since George Bernard Shaw claims that the third act of Man and Superman is a complete commentary on his philosophy, this thesis is a revealing of the philosophy demonstrated in the Dream Scene, and it is an intensive study of the third act based upon a reading of the play. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130466/
- Browning's The Ring and the Book in Twentieth-century Criticism
- Proceeding from the general judgment that The Ring and the Book is, indeed, Browning's greatest achievement, and that it, more than any other of his works, was responsible for establishing him in an extraordinary position of public acceptance and esteem, I propose, in this study, to examine the four features of The Ring and the Book which have most frequently attracted critical attention and to which the greater portion of analysis and review of The Ring and the Book have been devoted. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130412/
- A Decade of Grammatical Liberalism
- Against the background of conservatism, liberalism, and counter-reaction among linguists, this study will survey the degrees of liberality shown by the writers of a group of present-day handbooks and grammars toward six disputable issues. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130414/
- Paul Green's South : A Land of Contrasts
- This study deals almost exclusively with Green's folk plays, and identifies three major contrasts in his portrayal of the South: (1) wealth versus poverty, (2) culture versus barbarism, and (3) white versus black. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130427/
- Maria Edgeworth as a Precursor of Realism
- The purpose of this thesis is to study the novels of Maria Edgeworth in an attempt to discover whether or not her novels have merit beyond their representation of the manners and morals of her historical period. This involves first an examination of her novels in the light of such criticism as has given rise to the question of their importance. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130445/
- Fire on Abel's Altar
- This thesis is a work of fiction in the form of a novel. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130419/
- The Devil in Legend and Literature
- The purpose of this paper is to trace some of the accepted characteristics of the devil to their origins through a study of folklore and ancient religions. The characteristics include the principal form taken by each devil and trace its beginnings through folklore; the animals connected with these devils; powers allotted to these devils; and purposes served by these devils. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130483/
- Characterization of the American Abroad in the Fiction of Ernest Hemingway
- With the exception of To Have and Have Not, the novels of Ernest Hemingway are set outside the United States; all, however, contain American characters. These Americans might be divided into three categories: American tourists; Americans who live abroad, but either do not like it or are not completely adjusted to it; the Hemingway heroes, characteristically American expatriates who are completely adjusted to and accepted in their alien environments. Toward the tourists, he maintains an attitude of contempt; toward the middle group, his attitude varies from disgust to sympathy; the heroes are, in various guises, Hemingway the expatriate, himself. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130467/
- The Eccentrics of Tobias Smollett's Novels
- Tobias Smollet's purpose in writing was twofold: to entertain the reader and to satirize man and his society. To accomplish his aim, the author created eccentric personalities in the old Elizabethan humour convention. This thesis looks at Smollet's characterizations, especially of the eccentrics, in his novels. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130479/
- Themes in the Edwardian Political Novel
- The purpose of this study is to record the political attitudes of the major Edwardian novelists as they surveyed their contemporary world, diagnosed its maladies, offered suggestions for reform, and attempted to predict the course political life would take in the future. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130496/
- Browning's Literary Reputation: 1833-1870
- The purpose of this thesis is to present English opinion of Robert Browning, contemporary with him, from the anonymous publication in 1833 of his first poem, Pauline, through the appearance in 1868-69 of what is agreed to be his masterpiece, The Ring and the Book. This study will consider the acceptance of each of Browning's publications, in chronological order of their appearance. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130478/
- Lord Byron's Attitude Toward Napoleon
- This thesis is significant for the knowledge it offers concerning the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte's personality and career upon the character and the work of Lord Byron. It is significant because of the light it throws on both Napoleon and the culture of Europe during his era. This study is significant in the insight it indirectly gives into the psychological phenomenon of hero-worship, to which it gives a more universal application through the medium of Byron's attitude toward Napoleon. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130488/
- Current Trends in the Interpretation of Othello
- This thesis will be mostly concerned with the twentieth-century criticism of Othello; some attention will be given to earlier criticism to determine to what extent twentieth-century criticism fits into patterns of thinking before the twentieth century. Some consideration will be given to the background of Othello before taking up the various aspects and periods of criticism. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130495/
- The Development of Don Juan as a Dramatic Character Before 1800
- This thesis examines the myth and legend of Don Juan and the development of the dramatic character prior to 1800. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130336/
- A New Literary Realism: Artistic Renderings of Ethnicity, Identity, and Sexuality in the Narratives of Philip Roth
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This dissertation explores Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories (1959), the Ghost Writer (1979), the Counterlife (1986), the Facts (1988), Operation Shylock (1993), Sabbath's Theater (1995),and the Human Stain (2000), arguing that Roth relishes the telling of the story and the search for self within that telling. with attention to narrative technique and its relation to issues surrounding reality and identity, Roth's narratives stress unreliability, causing Roth to create characters searching for a more complex interpretation of self. Chapter I examines Roth’s negotiation of dual identities as Neil Klugman in Goodbye, Columbus feels alienated and displaced from Christianized America. the search for identity and the merging of American Christianity and Judaism remain a focus in Chapter II, which explores the implications of how, in the Ghost Writer, a young Nathan Zuckerman visits his mentor E.I. Lonoff to find him living in what he believes to be a non-Jewish environment—the American wilderness. Chapter II also examines the difficulties of cultural assimilation in "Eli, the Fanatic," in which Eli must shed outward appearances of Judaism to fit into the mostly Protestant community of Woodenton. Relative to the negotiation of multiple identities, Chapter III considers Sabbath’s attempt, in Sabbath’s Theater, to reconcile his spiritual and physical self when seeking to avoid his inevitable death. Exploring a further dimension of the search for self, Chapter IV traces the legacy of stereotyped notions of identity, considering ways in which Roth subverts stereotypes in the Human Stain. the search for identity and its particular truths remains a focus of Chapter V, which explores Roth's creation of an unstable reality through the Counterlife, the Facts, Operation Shylock, and the Human Stain, suggesting that the literary imagination matters more than truth in fiction. in its attention to Roth's focus on identity, race, and narrative technique, this dissertation contributes to the evolution of criticism addressing the social significance of the major works of Philip Roth. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115092/