This thesis considers The House of Fame as an allegory in which the dreamer's quest to write love poetry masks a pilgrimage towards Truth: through Neo-Platonic and Christian views of Fall, Redemption, and Judgment. The analysis treats these concepts as sublime themes that Chaucer's audience would have interpreted in light of the iconography of this enigmatic dream vision. The Introduction expands the argument stated above, and locates the terms of the thesis in their fourteenth century context. This section refers to texts that are generally acknowledged as philosophical sources for Chaucer and his contemporaries, and which inform this study. They include Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, and Macrobius's Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. Sublimity is also defined here in light of the rhetoric described by Longinus's On the Sublime, and it is argued that Chaucer was familiar with the concept from classical and Neo-Platonic literature, if not from the first century A. D. Greek treatise. The ensuing chapters offer close readings of each book of the poem. Each reading i) identifies the imagery and describes how its significance conflates philosophical, sacred, and secular allusions; ii) analyzes the function of this sublime iconography and rhetoric; and iii) traces the tropological and anagogical progress of the dreamer. The final chapter interprets the ending of the poem in light of the foregoing analyses, and supports the view that Chaucer anticipated that contemporary and future audiences would participate in continuing the narrative through interpretation and performance. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2002. / September 24, 2002. / Chaucer, House of Fame / Includes bibliographical references. / David F. Johnson, Professor Directing Thesis; Bruce Boehrer, Committee Member; Eugene J. Crook, Committee Member.

This creative thesis is a collection of poems that tells the story of three queer women in the late-nineteenth century American Midwest and the various ways they withstood their dangerous position on the margins of society. The book is divided into three sections, one for each woman, Gertrude, Susanna, and Mary. Each section is organized chronologically, so that, through the course of the book, readers see three narrative strains, three distinct versions of the same story, as seen through different eyes. Gertrude and Susanna, who lived as a married couple, with Susanna passing as a man, have the most overlap in their stories. Mary offers a glimpse of what might have been, for those who were not as successful at self-preservation. She ends up imprisoned in an insane asylum, ruled by the voice of a figment, "Johnny," her half-god, half-captor and troubled by her obsession with smashing windows. These poems capture glimpses of what lesbian life might have been like before there was a public queer subculture with which to identify; when "homosexual" was just a label for deviant behavior, a diagnosis, not an identity. Each woman describes how she managed to live, attempt to find love and build a relationship, and documents the inevitable failures in an oppressive and hostile environment. In this way, a subtle parallel arises between this old world and contemporary queer culture, with its discourses on marriage equality; how much has changed since the nineteenth century; how very little. Using a balance of lyric and narrative poetry to capture the fluid, impressionistic, even confused nature of this relationship and experience, these poems examine questions of identity, gender, sexuality and marriage dynamics; what we choose to record for posterity, what gets ignored. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts. / Spring Semester, 2009. / February 26, 2009. / Poetry, Midwest, Women, Lesbian / Includes bibliographical references. / Erin Belieu, Professor Directing Thesis; David Kirby, Committee Member; Andrew Epstein, Committee Member.

This study examines publications of students' writing in first-year composition programs. Based on a survey of such publications in 1999, I review how program anthologies and classbooks are produced and used and analyze selected examples of the writing they contain. In addition I trace the development of the publications as the field of composition studies evolved. Research for the study indicates that, although composition instructors have recognized these publications as valuable tools in teaching writing since the mid-twentieth century, relatively few schools have them. The research shows considerable variety in the approaches that writing programs take to publishing students' writing. Moreover, it reveals a strong connection between the publications and the pedagogical orientation of the writing programs that produce them. To illustrate the relationship, I use data from questionnaires and personal interviews to sketch the evolution of approaches to publishing at five schools: two of them aligned with subjective rhetoric, two of them with epistemic rhetoric, and one bridging these rhetorical views. In chapter six of the study, I analyze eight selected students' texts from the publications. The results show surprisingly little difference in the quality of the compositions they contain. Nevertheless, the subjects the students choose and the structure of their papers suggests that the students' folk culture has a significant influence on their writing. Perhaps more important, the analysis suggests that student experiment with form and style more in their writing when they take responsibility for editing their published texts than when teachers assume that responsibility. The conclusion of the study calls for writing programs to increase their awareness of the range of possibilities for publishing students' papers in first-year composition and incorporate the publications in their curricula. Texts in program anthologies and classbooks constitute a significant resource for understanding how students write. The compositionists have not yet realized the full potential these publications have for helping students learn to write. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2006. / April 05, 2006. / Classbooks, Program Anthologies, First-Year Writing, Rhetoric and Composition, Composition, Zines, Students' Folklore / Includes bibliographical references. / John Fenstermaker, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Simmons, Outside Committee Member; Bruce Bickley, Committee Member; Jerrilyn McGregory, Committee Member.

Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. writes that "fact and fiction have always exerted a reciprocal effect on each other" ("Authenticity" 29). Authors of neo slave narratives – postmodern renderings of the slave experience – illustrate this reciprocation as they engage in the (re)telling of historical events from the privileged vantage of the present. This study will explore the techniques neo-slave narrative authors use to merge history with imagination in the creation of a fictionalized history. Although critics have already noted the existing relationship between history and fiction in these narratives, how authors finesse the line between history and imagination remains under explored. The primary texts in this study are Toni Morrison's Beloved, Sherley Anne Williams' Dessa Rose, and David Bradley's The Chaneysville Incident. By examining the dynamics of the commingling of history and imagination, this study will contribute to an understanding of the role of rememory and/or embellishment in the neo slave narrative (sub)genre. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2002. / August 30, 2002. / Dessa Rose, Incident, Chaneysville, Exuhuming, Beloved / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine L. Montgomery, Professor Directing Thesis; Bonnie Braendlin, Committee Member; Darryl Dickson-Carr, Committee Member.

Anonymity is a novel divided into three parts—"Halloween," "Anonymity," and "Revenge"—of four chapters each, a total of twelve chapters, each approximately thirty pages long. The four chapters of "Halloween" take place on the afternoon and evening of Halloween of 2005, almost two years after the disappearance of an eleven-year-old child, Grace Mays, in Auburn, Alabama. Warren and Margaret Mays, two years after the disappearance of their daughter, have decided to separate. Warren, who teaches American history at Auburn University, has moved out of the house and spends much of his time compulsively walking the streets of Auburn, haunted by his missing daughter. He's begun, through a misunderstanding with a colleague, a recovering alcoholic named Red Hall, to attend AA meetings. In "Anonymity," Warren learns, through the web of relationships in AA, the identity of the man responsible for the death of his daughter. In "Revenge," Warren struggles with his discovery and eventually confronts the man who killed his daughter and the police detective whose job it has been, for the last two years, to find her. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2008. / March 28, 2008. / Fiction, Anonymity / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark Winegardner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Debra Fadool, Outside Committee Member; Andrew Epstein, Committee Member; R. M. Berry, Committee Member.

Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. observes that "fact and fiction have always exerted a reciprocal effect on each other" ("Authenticity" 29). Authors of neo-slave narratives – postmodern renderings of the slave experience – illustrate this reciprocation as they engage in the inventive (re)telling of historical events from the privileged vantage of the present. This study examines the role imagination plays in reconstructing a marginalized, forgotten past. Additionally, this study discerns the neo-testimonial patterns – the narrative techniques inspired by the languages, experiences, and memories of the African diaspora – that the neo-slave narrative authors employ as they merge history with imagination in the creation of a fictionalized history. Although critics have already noted the existing relationship between history and fiction in these narratives, how authors finesse the line between history and imagination deserves closer examination. This study looks carefully primarily at Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada, Sherley Anne Williams' Dessa Rose, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Octavia Butler's Kindred, and David Bradley's The Chaneysville Incident. By examining the dynamics of the commingling of history and imagination in these narratives, this study contributes to an understanding of the role of rememory and/or embellishment in the neo-slave narrative (sub)genre. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2007. / July 2, 2007. / Ishmael Reed, Sherley Anne Williams, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, David Bradley, Neo-Testimony, Slavery, Neo-Slave Narratives / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine L. Montgomery, Professor Directing Dissertation; Maxine D. Jones, Outside Committee Member; Dennis Moore, Committee Member; Darryl Dickson-Carr, Committee Member.

"In My Own Hands" is a novel that follows the life of Abbie, a young woman with an overbearing, needy mother and absentee father. As a young child Abbie witnesses the abuse of her mother at the hands of her biological father. While seh doesn't quite understand it them, as she gets older she gradually comes to terms with her parents' relationship and its effect on her. Later, Abbie befriends an older boy and begins to confide in him. But when he gets involved with Abbie's mother, Abbie is left to deal with yet another betrayal on her own. Throughout the novel Abbie struggles--with her mother, with her father, with her mother's boyfriend, with her guilt about being the only one her father never hurt, with her feelings towards men and sex, and with the pressure to support and mother her own mother. This is a coming-of-age story, a story about the struggle to find oneself in a complex world. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2004. / August 20, 2004. / Creative Writing, Fiction, Novel / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Olen Butler, Professor Directing Thesis; Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Committee Member; Ned Stuckey-French, Committee Member.

Committee Chair - James O'Rourke Outside Committee Member - Raymond Fleming Committee Member - Barry Faulk Committee Member - Eric Walker / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2007. / March 16, 2007. / Church History, Conscience, Decadence, French Revolution, Papal Infallibility, Thomism, Victorian Era, Aestheticism, Casuistry / Includes bibliographical references. / James O'Rourke, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ray Fleming, Outside Committee Member; Barry Faulk, Committee Member; Eric Walker, Committee Member.

It seems as though I always hearken back to the same themes, in whatever I write. This mix of genres I have pieced together hinges off the idea of how there is what is, and how we perceive it to be. I feel that the non-fiction piece is how my life was in high school and it places emphasis on events that shaped my life. The fiction portion is perhaps, how I viewed things in high school, how I would have liked it to be. This collection also focuses on ideas of gender, friendship and what it means to look at the past to understand the future. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2006. / March 25, 2006. / novella, non fiction / Includes bibliographical references. / Virgil Suarez, Professor Directing Thesis; Ned Stuckey-French, Committee Member; Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Committee Member.

This thesis analyzes C.S. Lewis's concepts of imagination and truth, focusing mainly on his ideas as expressed in The Abolition of Man (1944) and That Hideous Strength (1945). I argue that these works demonstrate an essential connection between imagination and truth and that this connection reveals the fundamentally sacramental nature of Lewis's imagination. Ultimately, I claim that this sacramental quality exhibits a unique fusion of romanticism and Christianity. Romanticism is relevant because of the importance of imagination to the movement of British romanticism in general and, in particular, to Coleridge's work. Examining convergences and divergences between Lewis's concept of imagination and Coleridge's serves to elucidate the point I make about Lewis's sacramental imagination and its ability to bring together the romantic primacy of imagination and the Christian veneration of truth. I begin to address these topics by tracing the development of Lewis's concept of imagination and paralleling it with his conversion to Christianity as he describes it in Surprised by Joy (1955). I then compare these developing concepts with Coleridge's theory of imagination. Moving on to incorporate the idea of truth, I enter into analysis of The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, explaining Lewis's concept of truth and his argument that a proper education should include forming the imagination in a way that will enable it to illuminate this truth. Finally, I enter into specific discussion of the sacramental nature of Lewis's imagination and show how it fuses Christianity with romanticism. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2008. / March 26, 2008. / Spiritual and Material Realities, Objective Truth, British Christian Literature, Fantasy Literature, Reason and Romanticism, The Inklings / Includes bibliographical references. / Eric Walker, Professor Directing Thesis; John Fenstermaker, Committee Member; Kristie Fleckenstein, Committee Member.