<p>When a reader opens a novel and begins reading he enters a fictional world, one which he discovers and unfolds via his act of reading. This basic fact of reader/text interaction is, in short, the focal point of many metafictional works. Metafiction, which is simply "fiction about fiction," centers not only on the writer's processes of creation and his product, the text, but also broadens its scope to include the equally important process, that of reading. The contemporary metafictionists' concern for equating the creative acts of writing and reading engenders a new role for the reader--that of the text's co-creator. The reader, who accepts his new co-creative role, is made more aware of how he activates a text to bring it to life. This fact sets contemporary metafictional works apart from previous "novelistic self-consciousness."</p> <p>The representative contemporary American writers selected for this study share in common their focus on the reader and his act of reading. The concept of "intertextuality " and its constituent structural parts, the "intertext" and the "intratext," are key elements amongst the fictions here discussed, elements which seek to make the reader more aware of his co-creative role. After all, a text does not exist beyond the confines of print and page until it is read, until it is brought to life via an active, imaginative, and hence, creative mind.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to show the development of J.D. Salinger's character, Seymour Glass, in the following works, and in the order in which they first appeared: "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948), "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" [19551, "Seymour: An Introduction" [19591, "Hapworth 16; 1924" [1965].</p> <p>Seymour Glass is a greatly misunderstood protagonist in modern literature, and I hope to shed some light on his important function. He is a character who possesses a remarkable intellect, and whose supposed saintliness is conceived by many critics as inconsistent with the fact that he commits suicide, I hope to show, nevertheless, that Seymour Glass is a figure of hope for modern North America, in particular, and not a figure of despair. I also hope to show that the charge made against Seymour's inconsistent and, therefore, incredible, unreliable character, reveals the insufficiently perceptive reading on the part of the critics, and not the inability of Salinger to create fine literature.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This dissertation gives a close analysis of the letters of Clarissa and Lovelace written after five crucial incidents in the novel. Based on structuralist assumption that language constructs and shapes our world, this thesis examines the writing style of the two main characters of Clarissa. The manner of linguistic expression of these characters is considered: i.e., diction; choice of words, tone, sentence structure and syntax, the types of figurative language; imagery, and rhetorical devices. In the process, we discover that Richardson uses style to reveal character and the unconscious. How a writer says whatever he says is as important as what he says.</p> <p>In the last few years, much critical attention has been paid to Lovelace. His attractiveness as a dashing young rake cannot be denied. However, some of Richardson's main aims in writing Clarissa are to "warn the inconsiderate and thoughtless of the one sex against the base arts and designs of specious contrivers of the other," and to warn young people against the notion that "a reformed rake makes the best husband." Lovelace claims to be reformed, but his style, unaltered from beginning to end, shows that he is not. This paper shifts the attention away from Lovelace to the true heroine of the novel, Clarissa. She is in fact Richardson's idea of "christianity... thrown into action." His portrayal of her makes him truly worthy of the<br />title "master in the delineation of the female heart."</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The thesis concentrates on the treatment of love and separation in Emily Brontë's poetry and novel, Wuthering Heights. The first chapter discusses Emily Brontë as a Romantic artist and attempts to deal with the critical difficulties encountered in placing her in this tradition. Her imaginative use of source material is also considered along with the influences of Scott and Byron. Comparisons with other Romantic artists cofirm the sense that Emily Brontë is a Romantic writer.</p> <p>The second chapter explores the development of Emily Brontë's creative imagination by comparing the treatment of love and separation in her poetry to its treatment in her prose. The themes of love and separation are handled most powerfully in Wuthering Heights.</p> <p>The focus of the thesis in the third and fourth chapters shifts to love and separation in Wuthering Heights. The first part of the novel is Romantic in its emphasis on the transcendental nature of thwarted, passionate love. Heathcliff's desire for union with Catherine's spirit reveals the continuation of Romantic elements in the second part of Wuthering Heights. The novel's moral concern, the necessity of forgiveness, is viewed, however, as something it shares with the conventions of Victorian fiction. The recurring interest and faith in the transcendental make the novel primarily a Romantic work.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In the memoir That Summer in Paris, Morley Callaghan's vehemence regarding metaphor is pronounced. He is critical of writing that, in his view, examines the object in terms of some other thing and he insists upon a direct relationship between language and what is being described. Reflecting his expressed convictions, Callaghan's own writing style in the early novels is plain, at times even prosaic, seemingly stripped of shading and nuance. Callaghan's protagonists correspond to his style for they are all "ordinary" in the sense that they do not experience extremes either of wealth or poverty, heroism or ignominity, power or impotence. A close examination of the early novels reveals, however, that although his style is plain, it is far from simple and Callaghan himself uses metaphor, myth and symbol abundantly in his writing. Each of his protagonists, though "ordinary", is confronted with a profound moral dilemma whose outcome depends upon a clear, though frequently subtle perception of truth.</p> <p>In each of the early novels, the significance of seemingly unimportant detail enhances the single vision of life that Callaghan presents. In the context of each novel and the context of the early work as a whole, Callaghan's vision of life is based upon the acceptance of man as he is, neither naturally innocent nor naturally evil, but dependent upon his ability to distinguish truth from falsehood in his struggle for physical and spiritual survival. The early novels span a period of nine years, from 1925 to 1937 (More Joy in Heaven, published in 1937, is excluded in this study because of length requirements since its theme is somewhat similar to Such Is My Beloved). Callaghan's growing mastery of female characterization during this period corresponds with a decline in the influence of tangible Christian, and especially Roman Catholic symbols, such as the cathedral and its soaring spire. Without in any way diminishing the intangible values underlying the Christian faith, Callaghan emphasizes the need for individual responsibility as he probes the relationship between the recognition of truth and the survival of the contemporary human being in a materialistic, success-oriented society. By confronting myth, using symbol innovatively and employing metaphor to enhance truth and expose fraud, Callaghan's writing credo, as he sets it out in That Summer<br />in Paris, is confirmed through the early novels.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Alice Munro's fiction has a distinctive style that grows, in part, out of the close relationship between her themes and images. The main concern of this thesis will be to explore the way in which Alice Munro uses certain key images to dramatize the central themes of her fiction. Munro's fiction examines the trials and occasional triumphs which the individual experiences in developing from chilhood and youth to maturity and offers the reader insight into the complex processes of life through her subtle rendering of human experience.</p> <p>It is Alice Munro's perceptive dramatizations of life that mkae each of her short stories and novels memorable to the reader. She possesses the ability to present 'real life' vividly and convincingly as well as the talent to develop each story through her use of significant, and often recurring, images. These images are sometimes introduced<br />obliquely at first, yet the reader is made aware of their significance because of Munro's skillful attention to dramatic and sensuous detail. When each story reaches a climax or epiphanal moment it is because its images have been cumulatively built up and dramatically emphasized as essential to our grasp of the climactic moment and most important aspects of each novel or story's theme.</p> <p>The themes in each of her four works of fiction are similar and are often repeated in greater depth from earlier to later works. As a writer of fiction, Munro has created collections of short stories and novels which are basically concerned with the maturation process and the recognition of moral and social pressures which can influence the<br />individual. Munro's images are often sensuous and uncomplicated to begin with, mirroring the attitudes of her predominantly youthful narrators. As the individuals in her<br />stories grow to understand some of the pitfalls of society, Munro's images sometimes become unnatural and almost threatening. In becoming so they reflect the corruption and pressures of society which produce the madmen, suicides and cripples of her world who are the deprived manifestations of society's spiritual deformation.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The occasion for this study was a need for an analysis of the success of the Gentleman's Magazine in order to place its editorial policies and practices in proper perspective. The important work of C. L. Carlson and of James M. Kuist has focussed on the magazine's editorial history from 1731-1754 and from 1754-1800 respectively, but this particular study attempts to examine the editorial function in terms of the position of the Gentleman's as a successful periodical in the eighteenth century. The study, therefore, does not pretend to be a narrative; it is analytical rather than descriptive.</p> <p>Editorial involvement in the magazine was pervasive and complex. The Introduction provides necessary background to the study. Chapter II examines editorial policy and factors affecting its formulation and successful development. Chapter III discusses the nature of the magazine as a form of periodical. Furthermore, that section examines editorial criteria, methods and general presentation of materials in order to determine their effect on the magazine itself. Chapter IV analyzes the magazine's appeal from the viewpoints of the editors and the correspondents in order to assess further the success of the Gentleman's. That chapter develops the hypothesis that, in their attempts to be successful, the editors seriously compromised their claims to impartiality by involving themselves so completely within the magazine. Finally, Chapter V concludes that the establishment and continuation of the Gentleman's as a successful magazine with its basic ideas, form, criteria and personalities did not necessarily ensure the most effective presentation of literature.</p> <p>The policies adopted by the founders of the Gentleman's generally remained stable throughout the century. To facilitate analysis of that stability the study draws specific examples from a period roughly analagous to the 1770's. However, examples throughout the magazine's history in the eighteenth century appear in order to demonstrate the unity and complexity of the whole development of the periodical. Furthermore, the stableness of the Gentleman's was the result of the efforts of individuals. Those personalities associated with the magazine were primarily interested in the continuation of its success and in its general welfare for a variety of reasons. An examination of the involvement of those people in the magazine is a study in the expression of editorial opinion which, in turn, demonstrates and accounts for the success of the Gentleman's in the eighteenth century.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis is an examination of the relationship between Keats's concept of Negative Capability and Wordsworth's concept of "wise passiveness". Since the poets' idead on imagination, reason, sensation, and philosophy are related to their thoughts on Negative Capability and "wise passiveness", they are aso examined. The final chapter is an attempt to show how Keats's ideas concerning Negative Capability are worked out in his Odes.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In recent years, an interest in religious (especially Christian) discourses has resurged, as evidenced by the popularity of the conservative Catholic film, <em>The Passion of the Christ</em> (2004) and Dan Brown's Church-conspiracy thriller <em>The Da Vinci Code</em> (2003). My thesis explores the character of Mary Magdalen within such texts, comparing her<br />contemporary imaginings with the imaginings of late medieval English texts. This<br />comparison emphasizes the similarities between each archive--both eras are intent upon adding to the content and meaning of Mary's story-and their differences in purpose-medieval texts are largely devotional, contemporary ones much more iconoclastic. I examine such disparate texts as <em>The Golden Legend</em>, a late-medieval play called <em>Mary</em><em> Magdalen</em>, films <em>Jesus Christ Superstar</em> (1973), <em>The Last Temptation of Christ</em> (1988), <em>Jesus</em> (1999) and <em>The Passion of the Christ</em>, thriller <em>The Da Vinci Code</em> and Nino Ricci's novelization Testament (2003). Each text depicts Mary with a different role, and she often plays more. than one role in the same text. The narrative impulse is so similar in both archives that I believe it is not possible to read the medieval archive as a less progressive version of the contemporary one-neither is immune to misogyny, neither is entirely misogynist. The constant reinterpretation of Mary Magdalen engenders a hybridity in her characterization; using Bakhtin's concept dialogism and some mythographic theory, I argue that the paradoxality and plurality of these reimaginings allow her to become a central part of the unfixing ofmeaning in the gospels. Using feminist theology I argue that Mary's marginality makes her an ideal site for such imaginings.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)