Audiences relay morbid support towards the enjoyment of horrific entertainment. Such examples are the success and long-standing allure spectators hold towards musicals such as Phantom of the Opera, Spring Awakening, Heathers, and more. These are shows that include themes of death, darkness, and tragedy which are presented. Using Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Motivation, The Jungian Archetype of Shadow, and Catharsis I will show how audiences are supportive of protagonists who portray actions resulting in death, darkness, and murder despite the societal pressure to find such subject matter as offensive, vile, repugnant, or obscene. By referencing the characters found in Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors, and A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder and through deep analysis and study of these psychological ideas, I plan to show how spectators ultimately fulfill their own Maslownian and Shadowesque desires from witnessing such instances of horrific entertainment resulting in catharsis.

Labor literature is in popular and academic neglect. I argue that labor literature's neglect is unjust, and I provide a way of examining labor literature that can rescue it from neglect. I shall be concerned with labor literature's academic decline due to its apparent lack of value according to traditional standards of literary criticism. I will argue that ethical criticism - criticism of literature that considers the ethics of a work as a part of its literary value - can reveal new complexities in labor literature. An ethical critical analysis of the representation of American labor movements and workers in noncanonical texts will show the distinctive ethical value such texts hold. I will argue that labor texts possess ethical value insofar as they help readers develop awareness of complex ethical issues posed by labor and community, and that the ethical value of labor literature provides a new reason to value such works. / by Rachel McDermott. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The novels of Charles Dickens resonate with ancient and Christian moral messages: From plots and characters representative of Victorian ideals and concerns emerge themes that reflect centuries of moral, and, as I argue, specifically Augustinian, teaching. While the Christian overtones of Charles Dickens's novels are seldom denied, their Augustinian nature, their purpose, and Dickens's hopes for their effect are rarely given their proper due. In opposition to the postmodern idea of an increasing nihilism and despair in Dickens's message, I examine instead his steadfast fascination with and joy in the power of charitable friendships-friendships that embody goodness and the possibility for conversion, friendships that are especially noteworthy amid the societal darkness ushered in by the crises of faith that accompanied nineteenth-century industrialization, commercialization, and de-moralization. Preparing to highlight the undeniable moral value in both the rejected and realized friendships and conversions of Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, Bleak House, and Great Expectations, first I focus on true friendship as a necessary part of a soul's ascent developed in Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus, as well as in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, illustrating how these classical texts anticipate the Augustinian notion of a soul's transformation from the earthly city to the city of God. With this literary continuum thus established, I contend that the Heavenly City as it is reflected in the Dickensian world relies on its virtuous citizens, those true friends who consistently manifest Christian charity, humility, and forgiveness. / by Jill A. Kriegel. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This is a study of gender ideology in African popular literature published from the seventies onwards. First the thesis argues that, far from being merely the demonised Other of high literature, contemporary African popular literature can be profitably studied as a distinct modality of ideological signification. Secondly, it is argued that there are three dominant modes of representation of gender ideology in contemporary African popular literature. There is the conservative model which merely reproduces dominant gender ideology in a fictive modality. Then there are those texts which operate with a liberal model of ideological representation, within which the principle of pragmatic management of crisis within gender ideology is contained by an ideological ambivalence. The third mode of representation of dominant gender ideology employs a radical reading of gender difference and goes beyond mere analysis to envisioning the possibility of gender egalitarianism. Each mode of representation is illustrated by an in-depth study of select texts. All in all, what is offered is a materialist theory of cultural authenticity and taxonomy.

A Pact Sealed in Blood: The Creation of Blood Letters: An American Odyssey is a reflection on the project, writing, script and production phases of a student researched and written theatrical script, which debuted in the Shafer Street Playhouse on April 24, 2014 on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. This paper looks at the processes involved with the creation of that piece. The theatrical piece tells the tales of three men over the course of 150 years as each man goes through his own personal crucible. The first fights for his country and his family during the American Civil War. The second fights for his country and his love during World War Two. The third works for his country and searches for his family during bouts of political destruction, alcoholism, and lost love. The piece interweaves these three tales with a fourth, present day narrator, in an adaption of Homer’s The Odyssey. This paper looks at the research, development of the script, and the final product of that theatrical piece. It also delves into the author’s beliefs on the search for the human soul within writing and the importance of connection within that search. Finally, it is revealed that perhaps the greatest search lies within our own personal journey.

Para a poeta portuguesa Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, o espaço existencial do homem tornou-se um centro gerador da escritura, um fundamento para a criação poética. A espacialidade criada pela linguagem serve como um ponto catalisador, base pela qual a poeta explicita um fecundo mergulho no mundo, em que seres e coisas são captados por um vislumbre lírico de êxtase e paixão. Com efeito, o real, em sua aparição epifânica, ganha uma aura de encantamento, pela qual a voz lírica se conjuga no mundo, formando um verdadeiro tecido inconsútil. Assim, dessa intensa relação com os espaços, nasce uma aguda consciência dos limites humanos e de nossa condição histórica. Diante de um mundo em ruínas, a poeta irá empreender um canto de resistência, denunciando, principalmente nas cidades reificadas, a crescente desumanização do homem. Tanto a espacialidade é fundamental na obra de Sophia, que podemos dizer que sua escrita é uma topoiesis ou topoética. Dessa forma, para a escritora portuguesa, o ser do homem traduz-se, liricamente, pelo estar no mundo. / For the Portuguese poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, the existential space of the man became a center generating the deed, a foundation forpoetic creation. The spaciousness created by language serves as a catalyst, the basis upon which the poet explains a fertile diving in the world, where beings and things are picked up by a lyrical glimpse of ecstasy and passion. Indeed, the real, in his epiphanic appearance, gains an aura of enchantment, in which the lyric voice in the world fits together, forming a truly seamless fabric. Thus, this intense relationship with the spaces, there arises a keen awareness of human limitations and of our historical condition. In a world in ruins, the poet will undertake a song of resistance,denouncing, especially in cities reified, the increasing dehumanization of man. Bothspatiality is fundamental to the work of Sophia, we can say that your writing is a\"topoiesis\" or \"topoética.\" Thus, for the Portuguese writer, man\'s being reflected, lyrically, by being in the world.

Para a poeta portuguesa Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, o espaço existencial do homem tornou-se um centro gerador da escritura, um fundamento para a criação poética. A espacialidade criada pela linguagem serve como um ponto catalisador, base pela qual a poeta explicita um fecundo mergulho no mundo, em que seres e coisas são captados por um vislumbre lírico de êxtase e paixão. Com efeito, o real, em sua aparição epifânica, ganha uma aura de encantamento, pela qual a voz lírica se conjuga no mundo, formando um verdadeiro tecido inconsútil. Assim, dessa intensa relação com os espaços, nasce uma aguda consciência dos limites humanos e de nossa condição histórica. Diante de um mundo em ruínas, a poeta irá empreender um canto de resistência, denunciando, principalmente nas cidades reificadas, a crescente desumanização do homem. Tanto a espacialidade é fundamental na obra de Sophia, que podemos dizer que sua escrita é uma topoiesis ou topoética. Dessa forma, para a escritora portuguesa, o ser do homem traduz-se, liricamente, pelo estar no mundo. / For the Portuguese poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, the existential space of the man became a center generating the deed, a foundation forpoetic creation. The spaciousness created by language serves as a catalyst, the basis upon which the poet explains a fertile diving in the world, where beings and things are picked up by a lyrical glimpse of ecstasy and passion. Indeed, the real, in his epiphanic appearance, gains an aura of enchantment, in which the lyric voice in the world fits together, forming a truly seamless fabric. Thus, this intense relationship with the spaces, there arises a keen awareness of human limitations and of our historical condition. In a world in ruins, the poet will undertake a song of resistance,denouncing, especially in cities reified, the increasing dehumanization of man. Bothspatiality is fundamental to the work of Sophia, we can say that your writing is a\"topoiesis\" or \"topoética.\" Thus, for the Portuguese writer, man\'s being reflected, lyrically, by being in the world.

Recounts the story of the Overmountain Men and the battle of King's Mountain, a tide-turning battle in the American Revolution. This title includes the stories of native Americans, settlers, explorers, and revolutionaries of early America. / https://dc.etsu.edu/alumni_books/1018/thumbnail.jpg

"Jo Carson lays bare her personal investigation into her own creative process after a spider bite on her back begins a series of life-altering events. Spider Speculations applies cutting edge mind-body science, quantum physics and ancient shamanistic techniques to describe how stories work in our bodies and our lives, and what happens when real stories are used in a public way. Carson, whose ability to capture the spoken word hallmarks her community-based work, sets down this story in her own distinctive voice, interspersing the journey with examples of her performance work. This truly original American book will speak to anyone thinking about art and community or engaging with people's stories"--Publisher description. / https://dc.etsu.edu/alumni_books/1019/thumbnail.jpg

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