This dissertation proposes ?ghost writer? as a new critical term for the ?author? in accordance with what Roland Barthes calls the ?death of the author.? For this purpose, the dissertation conjoins current gothic criticism, modern authorship theories, and studies of nineteenth-century American literature. Current gothic critics, in their endeavors to re-define the gothic as a serious genre that represents social, cultural, and historical anxieties and terrors, have obscured gothic authors? presence. This indistinct, ghostly authorial existence within gothic criticism becomes relevant to modern authorship theorists? reflection on the end of eighteenth-century sovereign and autarchic authorship due to the ever-interpretable text and ever-interpreting readers, by means of the self-effacing gothic writers in nineteenth-century America. American literary scholars agree on contemporary readers? increasing power to assess writers? performance. Gothic writers, especially susceptible to this power since the ambiguities of the gothic necessitate readers? active constructions, composed their texts without selfassumed authorial intentions. This dissertation considers how the century?s five most representative gothic writers re-configure the author as a ghost that should come into being by readers? belief in what it writes. Chapter I examines the common grounds between the aforementioned three fields in further detail and illuminates the exigency of the ghost writer. Chapter II discusses Charles Brockden Brown?s prototypical expos� in Wieland of Edward Young?s typically romantic formulation of the originary and possessive author. Chapter III shows Edgar Allan Poe?s substantiation of Brown?s expos� through his conception of the author as a reader-made fiction in Arthur Gordon Pym. Chapter IV applies Poe?s author-fiction to Frederick Douglass and Louisa May Alcott, and investigates how those two marginalized writers overcome their spectrality with the aid of readers? sympathetic relation to their texts, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and ?Behind a Mask,? and subsequent validation of their author-ity. Chapter V explores the author?s willing self-transformation into the ghost writer in James?s The Turn of the Screw, and ponders how the ghost writer goes beyond the author?s death. By introducing the ghost writer, this dissertation ultimately aims to trace the pre-modern shift from the autonomous author to the heteronomous author.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / Title from PDF file main screen (viewed on Feb. 19, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, [Department of] Humanities Computing, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

This project is concerned with the role of the storyteller in the production and maintenance of human community. Starting with Roland Barthes's critique of romantic and modernist authorship in "The Death of the Author," I trace the parallels between literary and political authority in the globalized modern world, and ask if they mean that a revision of the author opens space for the reimagination of political community. To answer this question, I draw on recent discussions of cross-cultural comparison and theories of oral tradition to redefine literary voice and its relationship to modern textual authority. I then refer to the distinct cultural traditions that inform McCarthy, Hurston, and Young Bear to understand each author's focus on the material aspects of human speech, such as breath. The emphasis on these aspects of voice changes its use from a way to claim metaphysical certainty and political authority into a means for physical interaction that founds community in mutual vulnerability. The individual author thus becomes a participant in conversation, rather than one who intuits truth from the margins of human society, and the storyteller or political leader is able to take part in but not define the continuance of a given community. In making this argument, I use a study of poetics to ask students and teachers of modern American literatures to see the field as a site for the ongoing legislation of American community and identity, and suggest a method for engaging in comparative analyses that allows for the distinctiveness of different literary and cultural traditions while appreciating the possibilities in their resonating responses to the modern world.

Thesis (DTech. degree in Drama) -- Tshwane University of technology, 2011. / The central theoretical statement of this study is that if one wishes to teach dramatic narrative structure, then an instructivist instrument such as an AVA would be useful, while one takes care of teaching the application of such a structure in a constructivist fashion. The purpose of the study was to design an effective teaching and learning (T&L) instrument (DVD AVA), justify the design through a literature study, and test the efficacy of the AVA through approved quantitative research methods. The research results showed a significant increase (12.6%) in the students construction of knowledge and a more skillful application of screenplay structure when they were trained by way of the AVA intervention as opposed to the traditional method.

M.Tech. Drama. Tshwane University of Technology / How does a writer write good dialogue? This is the basis of this study. The need for investigation of this question arose due to the lack of information currently available to assist a writer a with a good dialogue-writing approach. Upon review of various literature contributions and articles, it was evident that this subject is relatively explored. The focus of the reviewed sources was mainly on the 'supposed' form and not on the theoretical methodology on constructing dialogue. Enganging this problem a qualitative method was used whereby a literature study identified three aspects, namely, discourse analysis, power dynamics and Stanislavsky's notions on acting. The works of James P. Gee, James C. Scott and Stanislavsky were the main sources used in the respective fields. From their work and others, a series of strategies for development of effective dialogue was developed. Essentially, these strategies drew on the notion of "language in Action" and thus engaged dialogue for film as a series of interactive utterance exchanges. The findings lead to a proposed model which integrates the above mentioned aspects, which were tested and analyzed. This model can assist a writer in the process of constructing dialogue. The conclusion of this study is that the aspects of the created model effects dialogue. If one of the aspects should change, then the dialogue will also change. This ensures a consistent methodical approach to construct dialogue.

The purpose of this study was to determine professor and student knowledge of, attitudes towards, and experiences with graduate level collaborative writing in Canadian universities. Data were gathered from professors and students in Engineering, Business, Education, Biology, English, and History. A mixed methods approach using two surveys and eighteen interviews was employed to explore four research questions. The surveys were analyzed deductively. Interviews were analyzed inductively and deductively. Results indicated that collaborative writing is practiced at the graduate level in a variety of ways. Professors and students described collaborative writing as mentorship, in the context of coursework, and as coauthorship for publication. In addition, a significant relationship was found between graduate students writing collaboratively and discipline. The relationship between professors assigning collaborative writing and discipline was also significant. Disciplinary differences were supported by and explored through interview data. Views in the academy seem to be shifting. Although solitary writing is the norm and highly valued in the humanities, participants in this study indicated an openness and desire to include collaborate writing in their graduate level experiences. In fields where collaborative writing is the norm, participants noted areas to address in order to increase its effectiveness. This study has implications in the areas of pedagogical change, technology, and the mandate of higher education.

The general purpose of this study was to duplicate research conducted by Beverley Joyce Miller Pitts, Ph.D., regarding the newswriting process of practicing journalists. (Future reference regarding this study will be termed the Pitts study.) In an effort to update previous research, this study sought to: review literature published between 1981 and 1987, update research conducted since 1981, support or disprove previous findings as documented in the Pitts study, and provide further research regarding the journalist's newswriting process. The study was conducted separately from previous research; thereby adopting an objective atmosphere in which research and data were obtained. The methodology and procedure of this study were replicated from the Pitts study to ensure consistency in research methods. All analyses, discussions, summaries, conclusions, observations, and recommendations, presented in this study, are based solely on data gathered during the research and presentation phases of this study. / Department of Journalism

This creative project has examined the craft involved in the writing of a series of thirteen original short stories based on the mythic faces of woman. The stories deal with woman from puberty to old age and are concluded with a look at the myth of the Earth Mother in the final story "Alma Mater."This study analyzes five major devices of the craft: setting, dialogue, person, theme and symbol. Each of these aspects is shown as it operates in the stories. Although every effort has been made to utilize the craft, it is possible to include these five elements in a short story which still does not jell into a coherent and successful creation. An error in judgment in the rigid selectivity necessary to the craft may result in a failure. Two stories rewritten to demonstrate the effect of changes in point of view should clearly establish the permutations which may occur through a variation in only one of the five elements.

The purpose of this study was to determine professor and student knowledge of, attitudes towards, and experiences with graduate level collaborative writing in Canadian universities. Data were gathered from professors and students in Engineering, Business, Education, Biology, English, and History. A mixed methods approach using two surveys and eighteen interviews was employed to explore four research questions. The surveys were analyzed deductively. Interviews were analyzed inductively and deductively. Results indicated that collaborative writing is practiced at the graduate level in a variety of ways. Professors and students described collaborative writing as mentorship, in the context of coursework, and as coauthorship for publication. In addition, a significant relationship was found between graduate students writing collaboratively and discipline. The relationship between professors assigning collaborative writing and discipline was also significant. Disciplinary differences were supported by and explored through interview data. Views in the academy seem to be shifting. Although solitary writing is the norm and highly valued in the humanities, participants in this study indicated an openness and desire to include collaborate writing in their graduate level experiences. In fields where collaborative writing is the norm, participants noted areas to address in order to increase its effectiveness. This study has implications in the areas of pedagogical change, technology, and the mandate of higher education.

Despite the recent growth of social media, rhetorical theory which addresses authorship in this realm has been slow to develop. Static terms such as "reader," "writer," and "author" are often used to refer to the roles occupied by users in social media, although these terms are insufficient to describe the dynamic rhetorical exchange which occurs there. The goal of this dissertation is to use rhetorical theory to develop an updated terminology to describe the model(s) adopted by creators of social media content. First, past models of authorship are surveyed to locate rhetorical precedents for the model(s) that currently exists in social media. After comparing potential historical precedents to the overall process of content creation in social media, the term "participant" is adopted to describe the roles which users assume when creating digital content. Although "participant" initially appears to be an appropriate term, this notion is complicated when one considers the asymmetrical roles adopted on a smaller scale in genres such as social networking and blogs. To determine if the "participant" model is still applicable in such cases, an examination of authorship as it occurs in the genre of women's personal blogs is conducted. An analysis of the terms that bloggers use to refer to themselves as writers reveals that bloggers situate themselves in roles through which they claim to speak for a group such as storyteller and truth-teller. Subsequent examination of the interactions between bloggers and other participants reveals that bloggers negotiate authority with readers in a variety of ways. By using such strategies, bloggers attempt to situate themselves as community members in a manner which aligns with the "participant" model. The participant role adopted in women's personal blogs helps this previously marginalized group to establish a public presence and may also serve as a precedent for models which could be adopted by learners in the composition classroom as they strive to break free from the author/student writer binary and to establish themselves as socially-engaged participants.