No description available.

Inaug.-Diss.--Kaiser Wilhelms-Universität zu Strassburg. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1905. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1905. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1905. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-191).

No description available.

This dissertation examines five figures associated with magic in contemporary literature: voodoo ghosts, magicians, automata, fortune tellers, and freaks. While glancing at a number of novels, this study chiefly examines five books published between 1972 and 2001: Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, Allen Kurzweil's A Case of Curiosities, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Susan Sontag's The Volcano Lover, and Thomas Wharton's Salamander. In these novels, figures of magic display different aspects of the work of representation, coded as magic, as well as the effect of magic on representation. In fiction, magic localizes enchantment as an inherent product of the representational act, as spectators or readers are compelled to think about the relation of perception to deception during magical performances. / Magical characters highlight the problems of literary bodies, which in these texts are bizarre, exotic, and glamorous. Ishmael Reed employs voodoo ghosts to liberate the novel from cultural essentialist representational practices; voodoo, the marriage of form to spirit, is plural and polymorphous. As celebrations of trickery, voodoo bodies do not reflect inner character. Similarly, magicians are sleight-of-hand artists or escapologists who confound perception. In Chabon's novel, magicians and super heroes evade the bounds of representation through crafts of illusion. Magicians invent visual illusions; analogous to authors, magicians animate inert forms such as golems or automata. The automaton, a spectacular parody of the human body, questions whether any represented body is alive or not. In Kurzweil's A Case of Curiosities, readers wonder about the veracity of the automaton as extensions of or surrogates for novelistic characters. Fortune tellers, on the other hand, turn bodies into objects of destiny. Tarot readers, such as Efrosina in The Volcano Lover, interpret bodies through visual texts in relation to the past and future. By contrast, in Salamander, the freak poses riddles to readers regarding the authenticity of the body. Not unlike automata or voodoo fetishes, freaks are human puzzles that resemble narrative invention rather than mimetic representations of character. Contemporary novels articulate magical bodies as spirit cabinets, ineffable spaces rendered briefly and spectacularly visible for the delight of readers.

The purpose of this project was to explore the nature of relationships and the concept of light and dark aspects of personality in a fantasy setting.Sisters of Shadow is the story of telepathically linked twin sisters who study in rival schools of magic. When their unique bond is discovered, they must deal with the hostile emotions it inspires in others. The pivotal event in the story is a test both girls must undergo before they can become apprentices in their respective schools of magic. The test forces them to work together, light magic balancing and harmonizing with dark magic. An assassination attempt also serves to bring the sisters together, body, mind and spirit; this results in a closer examination of the telepathic link and its potential uses, and the ethical issues its use raises.The story, intended as the first book, or section, of a larger work is targeted at young adults. It deals with young characters and their struggles to reach maturity. Its primary theme, that light and dark forces, the power to do good and the power to do evil, reside within every one of us, is somewhat allegorical in nature. As the work progresses, the idea that there can be a balance between the two forces in shadow--the mixture of light and dark--will be developed. In this story, however, the sisters have their first encounter with shadow and it is a terrifying one. It is the first in a series of experiences that will lead them to discover that the shadow realm is a meeting place where both girls can use their skills to their fullest.It should also be noted that this story uses a convention specific only to the fantasy genre. To differentiate mindspeech from regular conversation, colons are used in place of quotation marks and dialogue is italicized. / Department of English

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: 1 l. at end.