Frequently called the first American classic, and the only American classic never to be out of print, The Scarlet Letter has been indelibly marked on the American consciousness since Nathaniel Hawthorne published it in 1850. Generations have grown up with its characters and their profound struggle against each other, their community, and themselves. Since the earliest days of film, The Scarlet Letter has been re-presented to each of those generations in a series of diverse cinematic adaptations, providing audiences with an opportunity to re-evaluate those characters, their struggle, and the lessons implicit in them. This dissertation surveys those films in order to produce a production history—one that extends beyond the production details and critical reception to consider how the lessons of The Scarlet Letter have been made to contribute to the cultural conversations of the American twentieth century. Following Chapter One's presentation of the method and intent of the study, in Chapter Two I consider the most enduring film in this novel's cinematic tradition, Victor Sjostrom's 1926 production starring Lillian Gish. In Chapter Three I examine Robert Vignola's 1934 ' B ' movie version in the context of Depression-era sexual politics. In Chapter Four, I unearth two live television plays that come to terms very differently with the Red Scare and the social retrenchment of Eisenhower's America. Chapter Five also presents a comparison of two very different but contemporaneous Scarlet Letters, one an eccentric feature from Wim Wenders (1972) , and the other a prestigious PBS miniseries (1979 ) . Finally, in Chapter Six I examine the 1995 Demi Moore vehicle in the context of the Family Values debates. By identifying the specific re-presentation strategies as rhetorically motivated, and linking them with the most salient social debates of their times, I argue for the ideological flexibility of the novel as a key to its endurance. I also demonstrate the effectiveness of film study, and specifically of a film adaptation production history focusing on one novel, as a tool for understanding emerging cultural attitudes and values. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by Sandra M. Gustafson for the Department of English. "June 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-186).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Baptist Bible Graduate School of Theology, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-57).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 306-321). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1968. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [192]-197). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

No description available.

This thesis is a study of the use of the ars dictaminis (the art of letter-writing) in fourteenth and early fifteenth century England. It has three aims: firstly to examine the extent to which the ars was an integral and important part of professional administration, ecclesiastical and secular; secondly to describe the nature of eloquent epistolary composition and compare this to the traditional requirements of the ars; and thirdly to investigate in the context of the preceding discussion the relationship between medieval rhetoric, middle English literature and renaissance humanism. The well documented career of Gilbert Stone, an episcopal chancellor, is used to initiate a wider investigation into those of his secretarial contemporaries. There is no evidence in later medieval England of a highly self conscious secretarial profession nor of a cult of eloquence. Letter collections point however to the importance of form and style, and an examination of their contents suggests that the rules of the ars. and particularly of the cursus, were used, adapted and developed, sometimes in quite routine documents, but more especially in 'eloquent' letters of persuasion. The ars, it is argued, was more vibrant, flexible and appropriate to its context than later critics have imagined. The ars, notably through Thomas Hoccleve, exercised an influence on poetic form and style; and even in a case such as that of Chaucer where there was not such a strong direct influence, it is possible that the ars may be seen as part of a complex conditioning literary environment. Finally the professional-literary structure underlying the use of the ars provided a motive and a means for the introduction of humanism into England.

This study divides itself into three parts the opening chapter sets out the textual position. Most of the material here is well known, but additions to it can still be made. Since text, as a selection from a group of variants, and interpretation, as a justification and understanding of that selection, are always associated both in method and in exegesis, (^1) the first chapter also presents an attempt to trace the history of the interpretation of Romans 12.11c, particularly in its earlier, less well-known stages and particularly where is read. The second chapter, the backbone of the thesis, presents in detail the lexical materials, which show how often appears in other writers in company with one or other of the words found in the Pauline context (especially in vv. 11-13) or with their cognates. My conclusion can be put in this interrogatory form: If this word occurs elsewhere in Greek literature (and with necessary changes in Latin literature) in similar company, should we not reconsider the possibility of it's originality in Romans 12.11c? Chapter three assumes this originality and suggests an exegesis of Romans 12 which gives its proper weight within its context, especially within chapters 11-15.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.