Organ Music is a comic novel of approximately 100,000 words about a playwright, Rosalind Lawson, and here attempt to escape from a fundamentalist-ridden north Florida town. When her husband, Henry, a folklorist, remarks that he would be willing to leave Ohumpka if Roz beat his salary, she accepts a job as a dialoguist for a new Atlanta-based soap. As her new job progresses, Roz finds her own life slowly turning to soap until she realizes that a person with a comic worldview cannot find happiness writing for a humorless medium any more than she can find happiness living in a humorless town. / The novel celebrates the Comic Spirit but also satirizes four dismal phenomena in our society: workaholism, soap opera, fundamentalism, and pornography. After four months on the soap, Roz is caught in a terrible tangle of the four, which have more in common, she discovers, than most people realize or would care to admit. Yet, it is this very tangle that enables her to escape from Ohumpka. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-10, Section: A, page: 3227. / Major Professors: Janet Burroway; Jerome Stern. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989. / Organ Music is a comic novel of approximately 100,000 words about a playwright, Rosalind Lawson, and here attempt to escape from a fundamentalist-ridden north Florida town. When her husband, Henry, a folklorist, remarks that he would be willing to leave Ohumpka if Roz beat his salary, she accepts a job as a dialoguist for a new Atlanta-based soap. As her new job progresses, Roz finds her own life slowly turning to soap until she realizes that a person with a comic worldview cannot find happiness writing for a humorless medium any more than she can find happiness living in a humorless town. / The novel celebrates the Comic Spirit but also satirizes four dismal phenomena in our society: workaholism, soap opera, fundamentalism, and pornography. After four months on the soap, Roz is caught in a terrible tangle of the four, which have more in common, she discovers, than most people realize or would care to admit. Yet, it is this very tangle that enables her to escape from Ohumpka.

Tricks of the Heart is a contemporary Southern Gothic novel set in rural North Florida, in fictional Torreya County, focusing on the lives of two extended families, one white, one black. The story, which covers the events of a single winter night, is sparked by a death which could have been murder, and by the disappearance of an autistic child. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: A, page: 1232. / Major Professor: Jerome Stern. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990. / Tricks of the Heart is a contemporary Southern Gothic novel set in rural North Florida, in fictional Torreya County, focusing on the lives of two extended families, one white, one black. The story, which covers the events of a single winter night, is sparked by a death which could have been murder, and by the disappearance of an autistic child.

A collection of short stories, Proud Flesh explores what meanings lie at the ecstatic heart of women's experience, particularly in terms of women's multi-layered and multiple relationships. As in l'ecriture feminine, the author attempts to "write the body," drawing on the premise that women experience life and relationships primarily from within the locus of their bodies and that these libidinal experiences mirror and create their emotional and intellectual wisdom to form a whole response. / Characters deal constantly in a world of relationships with husbands, lovers, parents or friends. For each one, the character usually finds her meaning, another face of her self-knowledge, in the places where the relationship has shredded itself to the point of disintegration. The protagonists are women who encounter and finally confront their emotional wounds in a physical way. By embracing illuminations of their particular truth, they begin to recognize the potential for healing and for integration. How each character heals herself relies on her openness and vulnerability to another and ultimately to herself. / The characters in these stories deal with religious dilemmas, within a religious context, or with their notion of goodness in the world. These characters are primarily concerned with what it means to love freely and loyally. They come to understand the healing that such recognition can bring and they usually see that what their bodies tell them is the closest thing they have to what God says. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4119. / Major Professor: Sheila Ortiz Taylor. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990. / A collection of short stories, Proud Flesh explores what meanings lie at the ecstatic heart of women's experience, particularly in terms of women's multi-layered and multiple relationships. As in l'ecriture feminine, the author attempts to "write the body," drawing on the premise that women experience life and relationships primarily from within the locus of their bodies and that these libidinal experiences mirror and create their emotional and intellectual wisdom to form a whole response. / Characters deal constantly in a world of relationships with husbands, lovers, parents or friends. For each one, the character usually finds her meaning, another face of her self-knowledge, in the places where the relationship has shredded itself to the point of disintegration. The protagonists are women who encounter and finally confront their emotional wounds in a physical way. By embracing illuminations of their particular truth, they begin to recognize the potential for healing and for integration. How each character heals herself relies on her openness and vulnerability to another and ultimately to herself. / The characters in these stories deal with religious dilemmas, within a religious context, or with their notion of goodness in the world. These characters are primarily concerned with what it means to love freely and loyally. They come to understand the healing that such recognition can bring and they usually see that what their bodies tell them is the closest thing they have to what God says.

Playing against the low genres of soap opera and pornography, this postmodern farce takes place in a generic corporate office with two tiers of characters: executive and clerical staff. The executives are generally seeking more power and perks in the company (a room with a view), while the clerical workers are more involved in daily survival and personal rites of passage. / The novel is told in the third person from multiple points of view which are subverted on occasion by an obtrusive narrative perspective. World views clash in a dialogic heteroglossia as characters fight for space, voice and hegemony. The major players are Olga, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Finance (Mr. D), Diane from Documentation, the first female "executive hire," and Larry LaRue, the Vice President of Marketing. These are the characters dangled in front of the reader as potential vehicles for identification, while those presented as other through flat caricature are often recuperated with a flip toward empathy-generating personalities. / A plot that seeks to connect the diverse characters concerns Mr. D's plan to implement Interactive Distributed Processing in order to regain power and control over the clerical staff. Another plot evolves around Enormous Norma's feminist agenda. Executive secretary to the Chairman of the Board, Norma harbors a vast hatred of mankind and gradually organizes the women into a self-help group under the auspices of the Goddess. / Olga is the one character who does not participate in the company shenanigans, executive or clerical. Her values, desires and agendas do not coincide with those of the other players. At first mostly isolated, Olga gradually begins to interact with others, primarily through her accentuated sense of touch. Her mission is revealed in a carnivalesque final chapter. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: A, page: 3913. / Co-Directors: Janet G. Burroway; Ralph M. Berry. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992. / Playing against the low genres of soap opera and pornography, this postmodern farce takes place in a generic corporate office with two tiers of characters: executive and clerical staff. The executives are generally seeking more power and perks in the company (a room with a view), while the clerical workers are more involved in daily survival and personal rites of passage. / The novel is told in the third person from multiple points of view which are subverted on occasion by an obtrusive narrative perspective. World views clash in a dialogic heteroglossia as characters fight for space, voice and hegemony. The major players are Olga, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Finance (Mr. D), Diane from Documentation, the first female "executive hire," and Larry LaRue, the Vice President of Marketing. These are the characters dangled in front of the reader as potential vehicles for identification, while those presented as other through flat caricature are often recuperated with a flip toward empathy-generating personalities. / A plot that seeks to connect the diverse characters concerns Mr. D's plan to implement Interactive Distributed Processing in order to regain power and control over the clerical staff. Another plot evolves around Enormous Norma's feminist agenda. Executive secretary to the Chairman of the Board, Norma harbors a vast hatred of mankind and gradually organizes the women into a self-help group under the auspices of the Goddess. / Olga is the one character who does not participate in the company shenanigans, executive or clerical. Her values, desires and agendas do not coincide with those of the other players. At first mostly isolated, Olga gradually begins to interact with others, primarily through her accentuated sense of touch. Her mission is revealed in a carnivalesque final chapter.

This poetry collection has evolved from the poet's experiences, both personal and academic. The style of these poems is free verse, with generally straightforward diction and syntax. The dissertation is organized into six sections reflecting the topics of the poems, as follows: / I. Modern woman. Without ever consciously intending to take any certain topic, gender, angle or soapbox as the center of my poetry, nonetheless many of these poems reflect the issues and concerns of being a woman in the second half of the twentieth century. The selections deal with this theme in ways ranging from the humorously ironic "1994: Snow White Meets Barbie" to the more serious women's health issue in "One Woman in Seven." / II. Roots. This section focuses on members of the poet's family and on growing up as an "Army brat" in the 1950s. / III. Guises. In these poems the perspective ranges from fictional characters whose story the poet has retold in her own terms ("Cassandra Speaks of Sexual Harassment") to other personalities, male and female, invented and real. / IV. Lessons. As a career teacher, the poet records memorable students ("Sarah Starving") and lessons both imparted and learned ("Do I Need to Know That?"). / V. Journeys. In Part V, the poet undertakes several journeys, ranging from flirtations in Italy ("Heat in Pompeii") to explorations at the bottom of the sea ("Barracuda"). In each case, for both speaker and reader, the journey is more than one in physical space. / VI. Couplings. These poems deal with the weaving and unraveling of relationships, the problem of how to connect one's individual and idiosyncratic consciousness with another's, for however brief a time. The section includes "Chunnel" and "Devolution of Domesticity." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-01, Section: A, page: 0221. / Major Professor: Van K. Brock. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995. / This poetry collection has evolved from the poet's experiences, both personal and academic. The style of these poems is free verse, with generally straightforward diction and syntax. The dissertation is organized into six sections reflecting the topics of the poems, as follows: / I. Modern woman. Without ever consciously intending to take any certain topic, gender, angle or soapbox as the center of my poetry, nonetheless many of these poems reflect the issues and concerns of being a woman in the second half of the twentieth century. The selections deal with this theme in ways ranging from the humorously ironic "1994: Snow White Meets Barbie" to the more serious women's health issue in "One Woman in Seven." / II. Roots. This section focuses on members of the poet's family and on growing up as an "Army brat" in the 1950s. / III. Guises. In these poems the perspective ranges from fictional characters whose story the poet has retold in her own terms ("Cassandra Speaks of Sexual Harassment") to other personalities, male and female, invented and real. / IV. Lessons. As a career teacher, the poet records memorable students ("Sarah Starving") and lessons both imparted and learned ("Do I Need to Know That?"). / V. Journeys. In Part V, the poet undertakes several journeys, ranging from flirtations in Italy ("Heat in Pompeii") to explorations at the bottom of the sea ("Barracuda"). In each case, for both speaker and reader, the journey is more than one in physical space. / VI. Couplings. These poems deal with the weaving and unraveling of relationships, the problem of how to connect one's individual and idiosyncratic consciousness with another's, for however brief a time. The section includes "Chunnel" and "Devolution of Domesticity."

This short story collection dissertation primarily examines living and growing up in South Florida. Each story's energy moves toward capturing a sense of place, a sense of Florida's extraordinary coastlines and wet lands. Yet at the same time, each piece shows how the area's natural wonders become overwhelmed by the onslaught of the expanding concrete and asphalt megalopolis. This onslaught is also a critical facet of the sense of menace that pervades each work. This dark undercurrent brings an overriding tension to each story, a tension that is crucial to successful short story writing. / The shapes of the stories in the collection range from a traditional, minimalist form to a more post-modern fragmented structure that combines poetic and narrative technique. These mixed-genre stories intertwine the language-centered energy of poetry with the tension and character development of fiction. / These short stories also work to capture the lifestyle and characteristics of surfers living along the east coast of Florida. The habits and attitudes of these characters are brought to light through a vivid portrayal of their actions while hanging-out at the beach and surfing the waves at 40th Street Beach in Boca Raton, South Delray Beach in Delray, and other locations up and down Florida's coastline. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1360. / Major Professor: Jerome Stern. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995. / This short story collection dissertation primarily examines living and growing up in South Florida. Each story's energy moves toward capturing a sense of place, a sense of Florida's extraordinary coastlines and wet lands. Yet at the same time, each piece shows how the area's natural wonders become overwhelmed by the onslaught of the expanding concrete and asphalt megalopolis. This onslaught is also a critical facet of the sense of menace that pervades each work. This dark undercurrent brings an overriding tension to each story, a tension that is crucial to successful short story writing. / The shapes of the stories in the collection range from a traditional, minimalist form to a more post-modern fragmented structure that combines poetic and narrative technique. These mixed-genre stories intertwine the language-centered energy of poetry with the tension and character development of fiction. / These short stories also work to capture the lifestyle and characteristics of surfers living along the east coast of Florida. The habits and attitudes of these characters are brought to light through a vivid portrayal of their actions while hanging-out at the beach and surfing the waves at 40th Street Beach in Boca Raton, South Delray Beach in Delray, and other locations up and down Florida's coastline.

This study analyzed the nature of pluralism in the context of literary hermeneutics. One text, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick was interpreted from the vantage point of three distinct, yet representative disciplines: Aristotelean Criticism, Deconstruction, and Reader Response Criticism. First, I briefly traced the growth of pluralism in the context of philosophy, science, and literature from the time of Rene Descartes. Second, I presented a survey of various hermeneutic approaches in the history of Moby-Dick criticism: (1) biographical and historical, (2) religious and mythic, (3) sociological, political, and anthropological, (4) symbolic and allegorical, (5) psychological, (6) structural and formal, (7) character, and (8) contemporary. Third, I outlined the theoretical foundation for each of the above three disciplines which were respectively followed by a practical application to the text of Moby-Dick. In conclusion, I argue that a school of literary thought does not control the interpretive activity as much as does literary tradition, one dominated by Aristotelean thinking and writing. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2694. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

A novel about the friendship between two women, Sheila Simmons, the main character, a middle school science teacher, and Debbie Parks, her roommate, a dancer. The novel examines their relationship and how it affects the maturity and self-concept of the main character. Their friendship is intimate and important to them, but breaks down in the face of two main conflicts. The first is sexual. The two friends are attracted to each other, but find they can not cross the sexual barrier they have been brought up with. The second conflict involves a man, Sheila's karate instructor and short term lover, who falls in love with Debbie. When Debbie finally returns his love, the friendship between the two women is destroyed. / Sheila, the main character, has private conflicts that she is forced to face as her former lover and her closest friend betray her. She has been afraid of living alone, and now must choose between self-effacement or facing her fear. Through the karate class Sheila had been taking she learns about protecting herself from the outside world, psychologically as well as physically. She must also confront an emptiness in her life, a life dependent on other people to give it fullness and shape. From Debbie she learns the importance of valuing herself, of maintaining a core, her sacred self. / The novel is narrated from Sheila's point of view, in third person limited and develops chronologically, through a year. The setting is a university town, though most of the descriptions center on the country, the natural surroundings. The imagery also comes from nature, budding wildflowers, trees, water and the ocean. Sheila feels an affinity for these aspects of nature, and they reveal a paradox, that beauty and danger exist together. / In the final chapter Sheila finds that Debbie is trapped in her relationship with Sheila's former lover, and it is Sheila who has changed, who has learned, and who is free to meet her future. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-12, Section: A, page: 3720. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

Many contemporary critics consider Brion Gysin (1916-1986) to be a modern-day Renaissance man. Esteemed as a novelist, poet, inventor, painter and songwriter, Gysin is perhaps best known for his influence on William Burroughs' development, but he was in the forefront of experimentation in the art and literary worlds for almost fifty years. / Gysin delves into some of the fundamental questions of twentieth century art and literature which include an exploration of the nature of reality, and whether there is a validity in differing visions of reality. / Although Gysin experiments with various media, his work retains a cohesive structure. Gysin's primary theme is that reality is inextricably linked with the process of change. / This study is organized into six sections, augmented by a series of personal and taped interviews with Gysin. The first section sets Gysin's work in the historical perspective of Dadaism and Surrealism which influenced him to a certain extent. The second section gives a detailed look at Gysin's literary inventions, the cut-up and the permutation, showing how they illustrate Gysin's basic themes. The cut-up's influence on William Burroughs is also discussed. Thirdly, a study is made of two of Gysin's unpublished screenplays of Naked Lunch, comparing and contrasting them with Burroughs' novel upon which they are based. Gysin's interpretations reflect his preoccupation with the nature of reality. In the fourth section, Gysin's ideas of reality are shown through magic, a concept which is specifically developed in The Process, a quasi-autobiographical novel set in the Sahara desert. The fifth section discusses the idea of reality and its relationship to death in Gysin's final novel, The Last Museum, which was published posthumously. Finally, the theme of the changing nature of reality is seen through Gysin's painting and his invention, the DreamMachine, designed to be the drugless "turn-on" of the sixties. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1767. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

This study argues that death and humor is a major movement in contemporary American literature, and analyzes American literary works of the fifties in the context of the era in which they were published. Representative samples selected for this study are: John Barth's The Floating Opera, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away, J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Player Piano. / The first chapter attempts to define the death and humor movement. The second chapter explores the concept of death as a primary fear of our fifties protagonists and shows how this fear works as a primary structural device of the selected novels. The third chapter suggests that death anxiety often results in the effacement of the individual. The fourth chapter argues that institutions, such as the law, are inadequate supports for the individual whose identity is fading in the face of death. The fifth chapter looks at where the idea of death and humor has been moving since the fifties. / Within American literary works of the fifties, death is often expressed as a fear so overpowering that it reduces the individual to nonexistence; moreover, institutions such as the law cannot be relied upon by the individual for the support he needs. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1770. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.