English - Student Works

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/60

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‘Ambrosio’ Taylor Coleridge: investigating three issues in banning The Monk
(2024) Lantz, Derek
This paper investigates the banning in 1897 of Matthew Lewis's novel The Monk, taking special interest in the dismissal of the text by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Sources reveal how British decency laws and the French Revolution together create a public repression which the Gothic novel both threatens and relieves in the 1890s. By highlighting journalistic reliance on Gothic terminology, the paper argues that banning art to protect citizenry is often a result of public insecurity rather than immoral content.
On love and death
(2024) Byers, Brooklyn
"On Love and Death" is a short story recounting the brief meetings of a personified Love and Death. The two meet on three occasions, from the beginning to the end of time. Without dialogue or biological classification, the story tells of life beyond the confines of humankind's perspective and implies a destructive evolutionary process by which the two suffer.
Research recast(ed): S3E18 - Student Research Day: student research spotlight - Siera Roth, Navreet Gill, Jennika Kuruliak and Karalyn Mouly
(2024) Leschyshyn, Brooklyn; Smadis, Natalie; Roth, Siera; Gill, Navreet; Kuruliak, Jennika; Mouly, Karalyn
In today’s episode, we are joined by three student researchers here at MacEwan: Siera Roth on the history of the Valentinians, Navreet Gill on vampires and examining the novella Carmilla, and Jennika and Karalyn on presenting at the Unity Conference in Dublin.
Indigenous resurgence and futurism in literature
(2024) Webber, Crystal; Marel, L. Camille van der
In the realm of Canadian literature, the general question emerging asks “Is Indigenous literature considered Canadian literature?” To reframe the question, should Indigenous literature stand as its own category and how do Indigenous stories demonstrate history and culture within the framework of Indigenous resurgence? While Indigenous literature includes various genres and styles, I argue it is separate from Canadian literature as a whole. If Indigenous works remain under the category of Canadian literature, then another colonial constraint is placed on the native voice. Indigenous literature should be thought of as uniquely heterogeneous as there are a multitude of different cultures, languages, and practices which apply to their literary works. However, my focus will be on the regeneration and resurgence of the Indigenous voice through literature. Michi Sagiig Nishnaabeg author Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Metis writer Chelsea Vowel challenge the depiction of narrative and storytelling by bringing indigenous stories to life in their works in a non-traditional way (with regards to Canadian literature). Simpson’s short story “Big Water” and Vowel’s comic “Kitaskinaw 2350” illustrate resurgence in literature demonstrated through the futurism of Indigenous culture alongside settler society.
Same author, same stories, different unity: a close comparative reading of a selection of stories from Raymond Carver’s What we talk about when we talk about love and beginners
(2023) Carter, Kaitlyn; Copland, Sarah
This essay provides a close comparative reading of three stories from Raymond Carver’s short story cycles Beginners and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. A working definition of short story cycles is developed and referenced in the evaluations of these stories—this definition utilizes literary scholar Gerald Lynch’s work on the sub-genre. The close comparative analyses of “Why Don’t You Dance?”, “One More Thing”, and “Gazebo” reveal that both collections meet the criteria of short story cycles, however Beginners has a stronger unity that achieved through its shared themes. This supports the argument that Carver’s editor, Gordon Lish, exchanged Carver’s unity of theme in Beginners for a weaker unity of style in What We Talk About.
Moralism in a mad world: Samuel Johnson’s “Business of the biographer”
(2023) Jutras, Jessica
One of the most prolific authors of the eighteenth century, Samuel Johnson, strives toward intentional moralistic authorship, especially in The Rambler and The Idler periodicals, where he considers such topical studies as biography and conceptions of reality. While exploring Johnson’s publications on moralism, a contradiction between his public statements and personal actions was uncovered. This contradiction begged investigation into the validity and authority of Johnson’s moralism while asking the age-old question of why writers write.
"Man is driven in total by his insecurities": Tony Soprano's Castration
(2022) Martens, Kairo
HBO’s massively successful and influential crime drama series The Sopranos helped to usher in a new wave of complex, boundary-pushing narratives by confronting audiences with a fresh and subversive portrait of crime, family, and the legacy of Freud in American culture at the turn of the 21st century. The series centers around the daily life of mobster Tony Soprano as he navigates the challenges posed to his business by the RICO Act, to his family and marriage by his double life, and to his mental health by his deteriorating sense of power and identity. Previous analyses of the series have recognized that Freudian psychoanalysis is a major theme in the series as Tony visits psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi to find the root causes of his depression and anxiety, but few have produced psychoanalytic readings of the series itself. Through a scene-by-scene analysis of the series pilot through a Freudian lens, this essay examines how the characterization of Tony (and others) engages with the Freudian themes of castration anxiety and the Oedipus complex in a self-conscious manner and comes to the conclusion that Tony’s neurosis is driven by an unconscious resentment of his mother.
Mother, maiden, matron: the origin of Morgan le Fay, as it pertains to Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur
(2022) A., Y.
The origin of the Arthurian mythos has long engrossed scholars and enthusiasts alike for centuries, and, perhaps, no character has bewildered scholars more than Morgan le Fay. Throughout the many iterations of the Arthurian legend, Morgan le Fay has been characterized in incompatible ways; as both an ally and foe to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, this juxtaposed characterization is fully established as he characterizes Morgan le Fay as both King Arthur's chief antagonist as well as the figure who welcomes him into Avalon at the end of the text. This essay serves to exam the origin of Morgan le Fay as a literary character and, by examining and understanding her influences, justify her conflciting and inconsistent portrayls in the Arthurian continuum, specifically within Malory's epic poem.
Tarrying with trauma while improvising gender in Alice Munro’s 1978 collection Who Do You Think You Are?
(2022) Sorensen, Brianna; Robinson, Jack
Alice Munro’s 1978 collection of linked stories, Who Do You Think You Are? enacts what Lorraine York calls Munro’s theory of fiction as “tarrying with difficult emotions and knowledges.” Judith Butler’s seminal 1988 theory of gender performativity postulated that improvising gender incurs obvious and covert social punishments, but that performing gender includes the possibility of innovation. Rose, the protagonist, succumbs to and contests norms imposed on women in the southwestern Ontario township of Huron County during the 1940s to 1970s. This thesis explores Rose surviving punitive social conventions in her cultural context which are contiguous with trauma. For Rose, failure to conform is what Jack Halberstam defines as “queer failure”: it is a triumph of personal authenticity over gender essentialism and an acceptance of human imperfection. In the journey towards self-knowledge, Rose’s surviving trauma and defying gender scripts cause the “sticky affects” of shame and humiliation identified by Amelia DeFalco; the feeling that women are not afforded hope; and, in stressful situations, emotional dissociation and emotional economies, as identified by DeFalco and York. Rose’s marriage fails because of a sadomasochistic power struggle. Rose tarries with disconnection from others and from self; however, she innovates gender and subverts the intergenerational cycle of victimvictimizer by achieving a sense of community and strengthening personal authenticity, which Margaret Atwood says is, for “Munro’s women,” “an essential element, like air.” Presentation notes.
Tarrying with trauma while improvising gender in Alice Munro’s 1978 collection Who Do You Think You Are?
(2022) Sorensen, Brianna; Robinson, Jack
Alice Munro’s 1978 collection of linked stories, Who Do You Think You Are? enacts what Lorraine York calls Munro’s theory of fiction as “tarrying with difficult emotions and knowledges.” Judith Butler’s seminal 1988 theory of gender performativity postulated that improvising gender incurs obvious and covert social punishments, but that performing gender includes the possibility of innovation. Rose, the protagonist, succumbs to and contests norms imposed on women in the southwestern Ontario township of Huron County during the 1940s to 1970s. This thesis explores Rose surviving punitive social conventions in her cultural context which are contiguous with trauma. For Rose, failure to conform is what Jack Halberstam defines as “queer failure”: it is a triumph of personal authenticity over gender essentialism and an acceptance of human imperfection. In the journey towards self-knowledge, Rose’s surviving trauma and defying gender scripts cause the “sticky affects” of shame and humiliation identified by Amelia DeFalco; the feeling that women are not afforded hope; and, in stressful situations, emotional dissociation and emotional economies, as identified by DeFalco and York. Rose’s marriage fails because of a sadomasochistic power struggle. Rose tarries with disconnection from others and from self; however, she innovates gender and subverts the intergenerational cycle of victimvictimizer by achieving a sense of community and strengthening personal authenticity, which Margaret Atwood says is, for “Munro’s women,” “an essential element, like air.”
Textual odalisque: From Roxolana to Hürrem Sultan
(2022) A., Y.; Krys, Svitlana
My thesis examines the trajectory of literary depictions of the enigmatic figure of Hürrem Sultan (otherwise known as Roxolana, circa. 1502-1558), the legal wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the first Haseki Sultan, or Imperial Consort, of the Ottoman Empire. It will first consider Hürrem’s emergence on the European stage as a product of Orientalist discourse, then focus in detail on her more recent Ukrainian and Turkish cultural depictions. To assist my analysis, I will employ the theory of re-Orientalism, which is defined by Lisa Lau as an approach that determines “how cultural producers with eastern affiliations come to terms with an orientalized East, whether by complying with perceived expectations of western readers, by playing with them or by discarding them altogether." I will examine the Ukrainian opera Roksoliana (by Denys Sichynsky, 1911) and two contemporary Turkish productions, the television show Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century, 2011, Tims Productions) and the play Gayri Resmi Hurrem (Unofficial Roxelana, by Ozen Yula, 2003) to show how they question, critique, and dispel Orientalist tropes associated with Roxolana in the western European imagination.
Textual odalisque: from Roxolana to Hürrem Sultan
(2022) A., Y.; Krys, Svitlana
My thesis examines the trajectory of literary depictions of the enigmatic figure of Hürrem Sultan (otherwise known as Roxolana, circa. 1502-1558), the legal wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the first Haseki Sultan, or Imperial Consort, of the Ottoman Empire. It will first consider Hürrem’s emergence on the European stage as a product of Orientalist discourse, then focus in detail on her more recent Ukrainian and Turkish cultural depictions. To assist my analysis, I will employ the theory of re-Orientalism, which is defined by Lisa Lau as an approach that determines “how cultural producers with eastern affiliations come to terms with an orientalized East, whether by complying with perceived expectations of western readers, by playing with them or by discarding them altogether." I will examine the Ukrainian opera Roksoliana (by Denys Sichynsky, 1911) and two contemporary Turkish productions, the television show Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century, 2011, Tims Productions) and the play Gayri Resmi Hurrem (Unofficial Roxelana, by Ozen Yula, 2003) to show how they question, critique, and dispel Orientalist tropes associated with Roxolana in the western European imagination.
Comparative analysis of survivor identity and traumatic memory
(2022) Gagnon, Alexandra; Lipes, Regan
Traumatic memory and survivor identity are intertwined. When traumatic events occur, such as the Holocaust, the experiences which the survivors undergo will permanently change their perception of self and the world around them. This paper will analyze the relationship of traumatic memory and survivor identity in the graphic novel series Maus: A Survivors Tale, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began, and the documentary Hiding and Seeking, and will discuss their similarities.
From science as solution to science as suspect: science fiction and the canonical decline of technoidealism
(2021) Fuhrer, Nathan
Edified in Isaac Asimov's canonical Foundations trilogy, the exemplification of science as a panacea to human quandaries--herein referred to as technoidealism--is a central element of the 1950's science-fiction canon. Faced with a period of upheaval and a wave of new science fictions authors, this article explores the manner in which this assumption is modified, complicated, and popularly rejected. Drawing on the work of authors such as Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Philip K. Dick, Jeff Somers, and Iain Reid, the technoidealist impulse serves to highlight the utopian current undergirding Asimov's work and the genre's complication of the human-science relationship. In drifting from its nascent futurist idealism, the literary endorsement of "science as solution" has veered toward "science as suspect" through a complication and reproval of the technoidealist assumption.
Intersectionality and empathy in Afrofuturist feminist dystopian narratives: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the sower and Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown girl in the ring
(2021) Gartner, Lindsey
This article analyzes dystopian fiction’s representation, critique, and attempted rectification of oppressive social structures related to violence against women, black motherhood, and (dis)ability. The 1990s novels Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson represent what dystopian critics call “patriarchy on steroids.”. Drawing on feminist narrative theory and Afrofuturism theory, this article extends the scholarly discussion of feminist elements in both texts by analyzing representations of physical and sexual violence, which critics have largely overlooked, and the intersectional representation of black motherhood. Although Butler and Hopkinson depict violence against women and black motherhood in different ways and use different narrative techniques, both offer amplified reflections of the real-world intersectional and diverse experiences of women. Butler’s and Hopkinson’s young female protagonists challenge the societal oppressions and inequities they face through empathic reasoning: Butler’s Lauren reframes her embodied hyperempathy (dis)ability as a gift, enabling her to found an equitable community amidst violent social collapse, and Hopkinson’s Ti-Jeanne reframes her temporary zombification as an opportunity to empathize with other characters’ trauma, enabling her to defeat the violent gang leader Rudy. Lauren and Ti-Jeanne thereby imagine new positions for themselves and for women in general.
Contrasting nature, gender, and genre in Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie"
(2021) Martens, Kairo
Anne Finch came to be considered one of the most influential female figures of the Augustan era because of her free, intimate exploration of nature and gender through poetry as well as her ability to seamlessly blend both classical and modern genres. In this article, Finch's unique style, voice, and perspective are examined in the context of "A Nocturnal Reverie," the final poem in her only published collection in 1713. "A Nocturnal Reverie" best showcases Finch's subtle but subversive style as she revisits scenes from John Milton, criticizes the idyllic presentation of mankind's relationship with nature, and makes a proto-feminist argument against woman's confinement to the domestic sphere all while operating under the pretext of nature poetry.
The wolf in the woods: ontological concerns in Empire of Wild
(2021) Lantz, Derek
A close reading of the cause and treatment of lycanthropy in Cherie Dimaline's Empire of Wild is used to discuss differences between Indigenous and Western views on justice, community, monstrosity, and human nature. Utilizing Rupert Ross's Returning to the Teaching: Exploring Aboriginal Justice to provide first-hand understanding of Indigenous justice concepts, Empire of Wild uses myth to provide a moral impetus for community-driven justice models. This paper looks at how myth is integrated into the story, how it differs from other lycanthrope myths, and what the ramifications of that difference means for both the plot and message of Empire of Wild.
Intrusion, immersive or irregular: classifying the fantasy of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell with the intertextual influence of Sir Orfeo
(2020) Kulchisky, Alyssa
Often when we think of fantasy we think of far off places or some magical world completely removed from our own. We think of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia or J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Even J. K. Rowling’s wizards and witches are distinctly divided from and inaccessible to non-magical people. But what happens when this Other Place comes into contact with our world? Susanna Clarke explores this type of contact in her novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Relating the adventures of two magicians in early nineteenth century England, the novel describes what happens when the magic of the Faerie realm interacts with our world or, more specifically, with England. The ultimate effect is one where each place does not exist independently of one another but rather are ontologically connected. Unpacking the particulars of this existential coexistence and identifying the exact nature of Clarke’s fantasy is no easy task. For this it is helpful to turn to Farrah Mendlesohn’s Rhetorics of Fantasy, a book dedicated to the classification of five different types that a fantasy work might fall into: portal-quest, immersive, intrusion, liminal and irregular. Despite the thorough detail that Mendlesohn achieves in outlining and explaining each category, Clarke’s novel remains exceedingly difficult to place. In addition to Mendlesohn’s book then, we must also turn to the outside influence of other primary texts, like the Middle English poem Sir Orfeo, to classify the intricate fantasy that is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
Rewriting history through Midnight's Children
(2020) Seyidova, Leila
In Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, the novel’s protagonist, Saleem Sinai, born at the hour of India’s independence in August of 1947, represents India. Saleem uses major historical events such as Partition, the violent division of the Indian state into Pakistan and India, to move the plot along. Saleem’s telepathic powers allow him to enter other people’s minds just as the novel demonstrates the state penetrating the citizen’s minds to create a nation. Furthermore, Saleem’s construction of history through the pickle jars representing each chapter in his life parallels Rushdie’s construction of history through the novel. In Midnight’s Children, Rushdie explores the problems of heterogeneity in relation to the hegemonic ideology of nationalism. In this essay, I argue that in Midnight’s Children, Rushdie rewrites history. By transgressing the boundaries between history and fiction, Rushdie reveals the ways in which nationalism relies on the discursive construction of history.
Comparing the role of the outsider in Beowulf and Marie de France’s Lanval
(2020) Krentz, Courtney
The character of the outsider can be identified in a diverse range of medieval works, including the Old English heroic epic and the Middle English lai. Indeed, both Beowulf and Marie de France’s Lanval prominently feature characters who are outsiders, although these characters are presented quite differently within each work. In Beowulf, the characters of Grendel and his mother are outsiders with respect to the heroic society of Beowulf and his kingdom, and in Lanval, Marie de France’s titular character begins his lai in a melancholic state as he struggles to understand why his king neglects him and favours the other retainers. While both of these works feature outsiders, though, the reasons why they are outcast from their respective societies are quite different. Grendel and his mother are outcast because they are descendants of Cain, whose bloodline God condemned after Cain killed his brother Abel. As a method of taking vengeance for his exclusion, Grendel attacks the court of King Hrothgar every night for many years, killing as many of Hrothgar’s loyal retainers as he possibly can. Conversely, Marie de France does not suggest that Lanval bears any similar condemnation; instead, she indicates that he is unjustly cut from society because his king forgets him and the other retainers are jealous of him. Despite these differences between Grendel and Lanval, both characters function to comment upon the nature of their respective civilizations; however, where Grendel effectively reaffirms the importance of the hall and the king’s relationship with his retainers, Lanval does the opposite, and instead serves to question whether life in King Arthur’s court actually benefits those who live within it.

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