In my thesis, I compare the short story sequences of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and John Cheever's The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories. Within these texts, I examine the ways in which authors depict the pervasive sense of homelessness and isolation within American communities during the 20th century.

This thesis examines three images associated with the manuscripts and early printed editions of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde which I have dubbed “Prostrate Troilus,” “Pandarus as Messenger,” and “Criseyde in the Garden.” These images are artifacts of contemporary textual interpretation that “read” Chaucer’s text and the tale of Troilus. They each illustrate the way in which Troilus, Pandarus, and Criseyde “read” images, gestures, symbols, and speeches within the narrative, and they show how these characters are constrained and influenced by their individual primary modes of perception. Troilus reads but does not analyze. Pandarus actively reads his own meanings into messages. Criseyde’s reading is reflective. Ultimately, the different interpretive strategies that Chaucer explores in Troilus mirror those of Chaucer’s readers.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Vita. Advisor : Nancy Armstrong. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210- 228).

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This dissertation is about representations of celebrity in poetry written in English by Canadian authors from around 1955 to 1980. These years span what I call the era of celebrity in Canadian poetry. During that era, four poets who experienced celebrity also wrote about it in their poetry: Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, and Gwendolyn MacEwen. Although the degree of celebrity differed for each poet, they all wrote seriously about its consequences. For Layton, celebrity threatened his freedoms of expression and self-definition. Cohen was also concerned about freedom but implied that celebrity was slavery to which masochists submitted themselves. Ondaatje's interest was in both celebrities and legendary figures who tried to resist the public's judgement of their sexuality and race. MacEwen extended this criticism of celebrity by commenting implicitly on the general exclusion of women from celebrity in Canadian poetry. / In addition to analysis of poetry and historical argument, this dissertation claims that celebrity is literary, because the invasion of privacy that celebrities often experience is the enactment of a metaphor: the private is public. Celebrity depends on a system of media and various aspects of culture, but it also often involves variations on this metaphor, as in the identity formation of celebrities who create personas to help manage their publicity. Through these personas, they sometimes engage in performances of masculinity and religiosity that help to establish the exclusivity of celebrity. This exclusivity is an aspect of the category of "the literary," but celebrity is not only literary in that sense; it also involves metaphor, and writers are therefore some of its best critics. / Cette thèse se préoccupe des représentations de la célébrité dans la poésie canadienne anglaise d'environ 1955 à 1980—ce que j'appelle l'ère de la célébrité dans la poésie canadienne. Au cours de cette ère, quatre poètes ont également vécu et écrit à propos de la célébrité dans leurs poèmes: Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, et Gwendolyn MacEwen. Bien que le degré de célébrité soit différent pour chaque poète, ils ont tous écrit à propos des conséquences sérieuses de celle-ci. Pour Layton, le coût de la célébrité était la liberté d'expression et d'auto-définition. Cohen était également préoccupé par la liberté mais insinuait que la célébrité était un esclavage auquel les masochistes se soumettaient. Ondaatje a représenté la légende afin de détourner le regard du public et de résister au jugement publique de la sexualité et la race des vedettes. MacEwen a étendu cette critique en commentant implicitement sur l'exclusion générale des femmes de la célébrité dans la poésie canadienne. / En outre à l'analyse de la poésie et d'un argument historique, cette thèse affirme que la célébrité est littéraire parce que l'invasion de la vie privée que les vedettes peuvent vivre est elle-même une métaphore: le privé est publique. La célébrité dépend d'un système de médias et divers aspects de la culture, mais la formation de l'identité des vedettes dépend aussi de la métaphore. Ils créent des personnages ou masques et s'engagent dans des performances de la masculinité et de la religiosité qui les aident à établir l'exclusivité de la célébrité. Cette exclusivité est un aspect de la catégorie du 'littéraire,' mais la célébrité n'est pas seulement littéraire dans ce sens; elle implique aussi la métaphore, et les écrivains sont, par conséquent, certains de ses meilleurs critiques.

In contradiction to Lyotard, who posits an equal relationship between listener and speaker in Just Gaming and The Postmodern Condition, Atwood examines the ways in which women's voices are stifled by men's terroristic control of the speaking position. Her novels reveal a significant flaw in Lyotard's work: he ignores the effects which a political or hierarchical system has on his ideal language grid. Within contemporary patriarchal societies, Atwood's heroines must struggle against male dominance in order to fulfill what Lyotard calls "the obligation to retell." Irigaray argues that women's exclusion from discourse can be traced back to Plato's myth of the cave, in which both men and women are encouraged to forget their maternal origins. In Atwood's novels, women must return to and revalue their maternal origins in order to find a voice, and the stories they must retell are altered versions of those of the mother.