Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1913. / "Bibliographical note": p. 484-489.

abstract: The comparative study of the poetics of landscape of the Argentinian poet Diana Bellessi in Sur (1998) and the U.S. poet Mary Oliver in What Do We Know (2002) reveal how each writer acknowledges discourse and perception as means to bridge the nature/culture dichotomy and to unsettle the American landscape from cultural and epistemological assumptions that perpetuate the disconnection with matter. While Bellessi re–signifies the historical and cultural landscape drawn by European colonization in order to establish a dialogue with the voices of the past related to a present–day quest to reconnect with nature, Oliver articulates an ontological and phenomenological expression to reformulate prevailing notions of cognizing materiality aiming to overcome the culture/nature divide. I therefore examine the interrelationship between perception, language and nature in Bellessi’s and Oliver’s poetic works by deploying Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theory of perception into material feminist theoretical works by Karen Barad and Susan Hekman. In so doing, I demonstrate how both poets act on language to forge a non–dualistic expression that, in allowing matter as an agentic force that relates with humans in dynamics of mutual impact and intra–activity, entails a phenomenological and onto–epistemological approach to ground language in materiality and produce ethical discursive practices to relate with nature. I argue that Bellessi’s and Oliver’s approach toward nature proves as necessary in the articulation of efforts leading to overcome the nature/culture dichotomy and thus, to address ecological and environmental concerns. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. English 2011

<p> Conflict management style preference and use of mediation within the Black population in the United States (US) is not well understood. The purpose of this study is to find out if there is a significant difference in conflict management style preference and use of mediation by African Americans and Afro-Caribbean (Jamaicans) living in the United States. Based on Hofstede's theory of individualism-collectivism cultural orientation, the US culture emphasizes individualism while Jamaica&rsquo;s culture emphasizes collectivism. Responses were collected from 108 African American and Jamaican respondents anonymously, of which 96 were deemed usable. The Rahim (1983) Organizational Conflict Management Style Inventory was used to collect data on the five styles and was analyzed with the appropriate statistic test. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the text-based data gathered from the two open-ended questions at the end of the survey. The thematic analysis revealed two major themes: personal and workplace relationship conflict situations. It is recommended that future study includes three groups of Blacks instead of two groups. The preferred conflict management style from the combined group result is the compromising style. A significant difference was found in the obliging and compromising conflict management styles between African Americans and Jamaicans. No significant difference was found between the groups&rsquo; conflict management style and willingness to use mediation. The open-ended questions and individual textual description of conflict experience and willingness to use mediation were used to clarify the quantitative results and provide a better understanding of the similarities and differences among people of African descent from different cultural orientations.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation is meant to be the scene of an experiment. It is meant to be a scene of observation and auscultation striving to fathom the work of <i>poiesis</i> as it manifests itself in select pieces of experimental poetry created by artists and writers of the 20^th-century avant-gardes. Our study notably poses the question of how <i>poiesis</i> draws on, and seeks to incorporate the experience of sensible things, examining also how this accentuation of perception in the making of a poem feeds into, viz. falls in line with the accentuation of the poem's sensible thing-ness. We will investigate how the abovementioned artists undertake to "make sense" of their experience of the things of the life-world, namely by grounding the signifying of their poetry in the mattering of <i>poietic</i> matter. We will investigate how their poems come to produce sense qua their mere being sensible, i.e. qua their being sensible as visual and/or aural matter that matters to us by virtue of its very visual and/or aural phenomenality.</p><p> As we will argue, with this emphasis on the production of a sensible presence, these poetic experiments not only establish the primacy of perception, but &ndash; more important &ndash; they also prove to loosen, and oftentimes even cut the close ties that <i>poiesis</i> is commonly considered to have with the semiotic order. Thus, instead of fabricating a communicational language, the experiment called <i>poiesis</i> giving rise to these works is in the first place destined to create the poem as a material thing. We will show that, as such a material thing, the experimental poem interpellates the senses via a language of materiality that, for its part, translates the materiality of the things of the life-world. We will show that, in lieu of straightforwardly abiding by the laws of semioticity, the poietic language of the works we are about to encounter rather emanates from the poems' very physique; i.e., that this "physical" language forged in defiance of the semiotic order thus rather proves to be consubstantial with the mattering of the matter that gives shape to the body of the poem.</p><p> In the course of our study, we will pay particular attention to how the work of <i>poiesis</i> &ndash; as it comes to crystallize and persist in the bodiliness of the respective poem &ndash; is, namely, pregnant with the gestures and the flesh of the body that conceived it. Beginning with the surface analysis of the physiognomy of a work by Man Ray, we will then turn to delving into the depths of the poems' corporeality. Anatomizing pieces from the oeuvres of Henri Chopin and Gerhard R&uuml;hm, we will discover &ndash; step-by-step and layer-by-layer &ndash; how both the scriptural and the oral practices constituting their work are infused with the pulsating of the human body. As we will suggest, the sensing of the scriptural and aural anatomies that build the body of Chopin's and R&uuml;hm's works always involves the sensing of the displaced and disfigured human body. This turn of <i> poiesis</i> to the human senses thus allows for a sensitization of the works themselves &ndash; in the sense that they become sensible bodies whose very bodiliness embraces, re-appropriates, and exudes the materiality of the life-world.</p><p>

<p> I argue in this dissertation that Thornton Wilder is a <i>poeta doctus</i>, a learned playwright and novelist, who consciously places himself within the classical tradition, creating works that assimilate Greek and Latin literature, transforming our understanding of the classics through the intertextual aspects of his writings. Never slavishly following his ancient models, Wilder grapples with classical literature not only through his fiction set in ancient times but also throughout his literary output, integrating classical influences with biblical, medieval, Renaissance, early modern, and modern sources. In particular, Wilder dramatizes the Americanization of these influences, fulfilling what he describes in an early newspaper interview as the mission of the American writer: merging classical works with the American spirit. </p><p> Through close reading; examination of manuscript drafts, journal entries, and correspondence; and philological analysis, I explore Wilder&rsquo;s development of classical motifs, including the female sage, the torch race of literature, the Homeric hero, and the spread of manure. Wilder&rsquo;s first published novel, <i>The Cabala</i>, demonstrates his identification with Vergil as the Latin poet&rsquo;s American successor. Drawing on feminist scholarship, I investigate the role of female sages in Wilder&rsquo;s novels and plays, including the example of Emily Dickinson. <i>The Skin of Our Teeth</i> exemplifies Wilder&rsquo;s metaphor of literature as a &ldquo;Torch Race,&rdquo; based on Lucretius and Plato: literature is a relay race involving the cooperation of numerous peoples and cultures, rather than a purely competitive endeavor. </p><p> Vergil&rsquo;s expression, <i>sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt</i> [Here are the tears of the world, and human matters touch the heart] (Vergil: <i>Aeneid</i> 1.462), haunts much of Wilder&rsquo;s oeuvre. The phrase <i>lacrimae rerum</i> is multivocal, so that the reader must interpret it. Understanding <i>lacrimae rerum</i> as &ldquo;tears for the beauty of the world,&rdquo; Wilder utilizes scenes depicting the wonder of the world and the resulting sorrow when individuals recognize this too late. Saturating his works with the spirit of antiquity, Wilder exhorts us to observe lovingly and to live life fully while on earth. Through characters such as Dolly Levi in <i>The Matchmaker</i> and Emily Webb in <i>Our Town</i>, Wilder transforms Vergil&rsquo;s <i> lacrimae rerum</i> into &ldquo;Our Tears.&rdquo;</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this thesis will be to examine closely James Joyce&rsquo;s <i>Ulysses</i> with respect to Fran&ccedil;ois F&eacute;nelon&rsquo;s <i> The Adventures of Telemachus</i>. Joyce considered <i>The Adventures of Telemachus</i> to be a source of inspiration for Ulysses, but little scholarship considers this. Joyce&rsquo;s fixation on the role of teachers and mentor figures in Stephen&rsquo;s growth and development, serving alternately as cautionary figures, models or adversaries, owes much to F&eacute;nelon&rsquo;s framework for the growth of Telemachus. Close reading of both Joyce&rsquo;s and F&eacute;nelon&rsquo;s work will illuminate the significance of education and mentorship in Joyce&rsquo;s construction of Stephen Dedalus. Leopold Bloom and Stephen&rsquo;s relationship in Joyce&rsquo;s <i>Ulysses</i> closely mirrors that of Mentor and Telemachus as seen in F&eacute;nelon&rsquo;s <i> The Adventures of Telemachus</i>. Through these numerous parallels, we will see that mentorship serves as a better model for Bloom and Stephen&rsquo;s relationship in Ulysses than the more critically prevalent father-son model </p>

This dissertation analyzes the human and computer relationship in the novel. The database for this study consists of thirty-nine novels, selected for their depiction of anthropomorphized computers who engage in intimate and/or intense ties with humans. Two primary organizational schemas are used to categorize the human/computer interactions in these works. Kenneth Burke's rhetorical pentadic model is used as the principal structuring device. Within this framework, the fictional bonds are subdivided into three stages: the initial phase (transformation), the post-introductory phase (transmutation), and the transcendental phase (transfiguration). The findings of this research indicate that in popular-genre novels, personified computers are never regarded simply as tools for enhancing the efficiency of one's work. In these stories, the machines are converted from objects into intelligently conscious entities who are perceived as parents, children, friends, teachers, and/or gods. The communicative messages that are exchanged between fictive people and computers contain powerful potential for character metamorphosis. Ultimately, these works function as cautionary tales, warning that in interactions with computers, humans must be sensitive to the same issues that would arise in attachments to other people.

Elsa Triolet, born Ella Jurievna Kagana in Moscow in 1896, brought into her French works ideas absorbed during her contact with Russian Futurist poets and theoreticians. This study traces these influences in her prose. Chapter I presents the biographical details of Triolet's Futurist acquaintanceship, and her shift from Russian to French as her literary language. Certain basic characteristics that underly all of Triolet's work, such as mobility and daily gesture, are presented to give background to the discussion. Chapter II starts the analysis at the level of the word. Triolet's acceptance of the Futurist principle of the word as something to create gives way to a creative use of cliche. Jakobsonian concepts are brought into play to demonstrate the significance of the repetition of words in Triolean narrative. Lastly, the word as sound and the use of colloquialisms are explained. Chapter III enlarges the sphere of study to specific literary devices. Sklovskij's concept of ostranenie ("making strange"), the representation of something without its cultural landmarks, is illustrated, and Jakobson's analysis of the incongruous stranger in Russian realist fiction is applied to Triolet's works. The importance of svoe mesto ("one's place") and the practice of collage, the appearance of real people or documents in the fictional narrative, are examined. Chapter IV takes on Triolet's narrative structure as a whole. Parallels are drawn between Futurist concepts and modern paradigms in general so as to situate Triolet's prose in contemporary models. The participatory nature of Triolean narrative is discussed, as are her different structural models, including those influenced by the Russian oral epic, similar in many ways to modern structure and a basis for Triolet's Le Cheval blanc. Chapter V is dominated by studies of multiplicity and perspective. Different aspects of character development are discussed, as is the expanding of the incongruous stranger into a structural element. Time, place, and perspective as foregrounded elements are examined. Chapter VI brings Triolet back to Russian. It analyses her thoughts on translation and self-translation, and offers examples of her work in that field.

The literary image of the dangerously powerful woman indicates conflict around women's roles in the cultural milieu that gave rise to the text. This interaction between social reality and literary text is most apparent in a culture's legends. Legends may be briefly defined as narratives describing the unordinary to which the audience and/or the teller ascribe the status of reality or at least, plausibility. Underlying the analysis of society-text interaction are two assumptions: (1) the tales regarded by a community as true must at least overtly support the dominant values of that community, and (2) recurring legends point out central concerns of that community. Drawing from Chinese zhiguai (XXXl) collected in the third to sixth centuries and from Sagen compilations made by nineteenth century German folklorists, I argue for the similar function of these texts in the cultural contexts that produced them. There is no question of mutual influence between these two disparate cultural and historical settings. Instead I argue that, cross-culturally, legends featuring female demons and women with supernatural powers indicate conflict around women's roles in family and society. Furthermore, in a given cultural context, the particular characteristics of the supernatural woman in legend provide a mirror for the specific hardships faced and the compensating strategies exercised by women in that cultural system.

Ethnic women in early twentieth-century America constituted a significant literary and political presence. Their gender politics were varied, according to the specifics of historical and cultural location. My dissertation demonstrates the heterogeneity of gender politics early in this century by detailing how ethnic women's fiction contests the political discourses of ethnic women. I use the multiplicity of issues in Native American, African American, and Jewish American women's texts to illustrate the importance of grounding gender in a particular historical moment. In addition, my study examines the ways in which ethnic women in the United States have used discourse to empower themselves. By reading fiction in relation to political history, I demonstrate how literary strategies of resistance are culturally constructed. An exploratory venture in method, this work develops a historically specific critical practice. Drawing on current feminist criticism as well as poststructuralist theory, I focus initially on the ways in which contemporary critical practices continue to obscure the political agendas in ethnic women's texts. The subsequent four chapters demonstrate how narrative contests rather than reflects history. History, like literature, is dynamic and conflicted; accordingly, I construct pluralistic histories in each chapter, detailing the debates over class, sexual, and ethnic politics within ethnic women's communities. I argue that novels appropriate and rewrite political discourses acting as interpreters, using history to legitimate particular politics. I argue, for instance, that Their Eyes Were Watching God employs the language of the black women's club movement and the "Classic Blues" to refute racist and classist sexual ideologies which position African American women as libidinous, while it simultaneously struggles to advocate sexual subjectivity for women. Drawing upon the writings of Jewish women labor organizers and social workers, as well as Orthodox teachings and the literature of the Haskalah movement, I suggest that Bread Givers challenges notions of femininity which were opposed to manual and wage labor. My final two chapters argue that Mourning Dove's Cogewea employs Native American women's writing from the turn-of-the-century Pan-Indian movement to counter assimilationist ideology and represent gender as a specific means of resisting cultural imperialism.