This thesis traces the connections between Dorothy Livesay and William Blake, especially with respect to the construction and symbolization of the self. Models of influence relevant to Livesay and Blake are examined resulting in a contextual model of influence which considers artists' "anxiety" and the importance of gender issues. Archival documents supplement, and sometimes transform the implications of, Livesay's poetry and other published works in relation to Blake. The discussion moves from tracing the general points of intersection between Livesay and Blake (ancestors, traditions), to focusing on the different levels of influence that can be claimed between the two poets. The presence of Blake in Livesay's writings is examined closely, especially with respect to the imaginative states which each sets up to describe the self. Finally, Livesay's construction of the journey of her own life and her movement towards an ideal of self-completion which culminate in her celebratory late works are compared with Blake's ideal of the self as set forth in his Prophetic Works.

This dissertation presents an analysis of the material practice of hospitality in the Catholic Worker movement during the 1930s. Dorothy Day (1897-1980), a radical Catholic social activist, co-founded the Catholic Worker movement in 1932, and one of the movement’s goals was to provide hospitality to poor and unemployed people. Day’s understanding of hospitality, and consequently the practice of hospitality at Catholic Worker houses, was shaped by Day’s experiences as a radical during the 1910s and 1920s, her conversion to Roman Catholicism, and her notions of gender; each of these factors led Day to understand hospitality as consisting primarily in materially grounded practices that lead to the mutual identification of host and guest. Of particular importance to Catholic Worker hospitality were the materials of space and food, which, in addition to promoting the mutual identification of individual hosts and guests, also shaped the identity of the movement itself, the content of the Catholic Worker newspaper, and Day’s and her followers’ critique of bureaucratic, state-sponsored responses to social injustices. Furthermore, the practice of hospitality also provided members of the movement with an epistemological grounding for their critiques of social injustices by allowing them to encounter real presences—subjective, transcendent realities that members of the movement understood in theological language as encounters with Christ. As Day and her followers practiced hospitality, they had to contend with a number of forces of institutionalization that would place conditions on their hospitality and limit its transformative potential. Finally, this analysis contributes to ongoing discussions about the place of hospitality in the teaching of composition by noting that the teaching of writing is subject to similar forces of institutionalization; the ways that Day and her followers responded to such forces—especially through an emphasis on domesticity and religious faith—are important to consider because they suggest that writing teachers need to consider the spiritual roots of transformative hospitality.

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 214 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-211).

Zugl.: Benediktbeuern, Philos.-Theol. Hochsch., Diss., 2008

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 195-201). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of History, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [7], 53 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-53).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 25, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.