Thèse de doctorat : Etudes anglaises : Nancy 2 : 1994.

Inaug.-diss.--Halle. / Lebenslauf. "Literatur": p. [5].

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1956. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-211).

Wonder Woman is seen as the embodiment of feminism in the comic world and her placement as the secretary of the Justice Society of America is seen as a crime against her character. Many blame Gardner Fox for this decision, but I argue that accusing him of sexism is an oversimplification. My work seeks to fill in the lack of knowledge regarding his writing of Wonder Woman and restore his name. While scholars are right to be attentive to the use of demeaning stereotypes that have long been used to keep women from access to power, the way in which Gardner Fox wrote Wonder Woman, conveys a sense of respect for women and their contributions to society in general; therefore, assertions that he is a sexist are not only misleading but inappropriately degrading the work of a man who was trying to accurately represent the women he saw around him.

John Marston’s literary legacy has inevitably existed in the larger-than-life shadows of his great contemporaries William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. In the last two centuries, his works were hardly taken on their own terms but were perceived instead in overt or implicit comparison to Shakespeare’s or Jonson’s. As a result, Marston’s plays acquired the lasting but unfair image of haphazard concoctions whose cheap sensationalism and personal satire often got them in trouble with the authorities. This was the case until recently, especially with Marston’s comic drama. Following revisionist trends, this study sets out to restore some perspective: it offers a fresh reading of Marston’s comic plays and collaborations—Antonio and Mellida, What You Will, Jack Drum’s Entertainment, The Dutch Courtesan, The Malcontent, Parasitaster, Eastward Ho, and Histrio-Mastix—by pursuing a more nuanced contextualization with regard to religious context and archival evidence. The first central contention here is that instead of undermining political and religious authority, Marston’s comic drama can demonstrate consistent conformist and conservative affinities, which imply a seriously considered agenda. This study’s second main point is that the perceived failures of Marston’s comic plays—such as tragic elements, basic characterization, and sudden final reversals—can be plausibly read as deliberate effects, designed with this agenda in mind. The significance of this analysis lies in its interpretation of Marston’s comedies from the angle of religious and political conformism, which argues for an alternative identity for this playwright. The discussion opens with a presentation of Marston’s early satirical books as texts informed by a moderate Church of England Protestantism, yet coinciding at times with some of Calvin’s writings, and by a distrust of the individualistic tendencies of the English Presbyterian movement as well as the perceived literal ritualism of the old Catholic faith. On this basis, it then proceeds to reveal an identical philosophy behind Marston’s comic plays and collaborations. Antonio and Mellida and What You Will are interpreted to dramatize the human soul’s dependence on God’s favourable grace; Jack Drum’s Entertainment and The Dutch Courtesan to insist on the acknowledgement of God in romantic desire; The Malcontent and Parasitaster to present the dangers of the political immorality; and Eastward Ho and Histrio-Mastix to argue for the necessity of edifying occupations for the wayward human will. In its conclusion, this study further highlights Marston’s bias for political and religious individual obedience to established hierarchies and his suspicion of the early modern forces of change. The conformist identity that emerges from the present discussion is consistently supported by the archival evidence surviving from the playwright’s life. Thus, Marston’s comic drama can be interpreted as the result of carefully considered and skilfully implemented political and religious ideas that have been neglected so far.

Pomona College has professed a commitment to sustainable leadership and decreased water use, exemplified by shifts to garden areas with native landscaping. However, the central college green space, Marston Quadrangle, was renovated in the summer of 2012 and only a few native plants were added to the landscape. In this thesis, I explore Pomona’s Marston Quadrangle as a visual and symbolic space, attempting to better understand the intentions of the landscaped area. I first briefly examine recent campus dialogue surrounding sustainability, water issues, and native landscaping. Then, I look at the history and architectural iconography Marston Quadrangle is steeped in, as well as some of the ideas the architects and landscapers had. I found that Marston Quadrangle is deeply tied to Pomona College’s history and identity, representing the ways in which the college tried to establish itself as on par with the schools of the East coast and England. Attempts to renovate the Quadrangle have placed a priority on restoring the vision of Ralph Cornell, the landscape architect, when it is clear that late in his life he regretted the non-native landscaping decisions he had made. I conclude that Marston Quadrangle no longer serves its purpose of establishing Pomona College as unique and works against the college’s sustainability goals. In light of this, I make suggestions for planting changes that would allow the iconography of the architecture to interact with native plantings, creating a deeply symbolic gesture of sustainable leadership and uniquely Southern California identity.

John Marston’s literary legacy has inevitably existed in the larger-than-life shadows of his great contemporaries William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. In the last two centuries, his works were hardly taken on their own terms but were perceived instead in overt or implicit comparison to Shakespeare’s or Jonson’s. As a result, Marston’s plays acquired the lasting but unfair image of haphazard concoctions whose cheap sensationalism and personal satire often got them in trouble with the authorities. This was the case until recently, especially with Marston’s comic drama. Following revisionist trends, this study sets out to restore some perspective: it offers a fresh reading of Marston’s comic plays and collaborations—Antonio and Mellida, What You Will, Jack Drum’s Entertainment, The Dutch Courtesan, The Malcontent, Parasitaster, Eastward Ho, and Histrio-Mastix—by pursuing a more nuanced contextualization with regard to religious context and archival evidence. The first central contention here is that instead of undermining political and religious authority, Marston’s comic drama can demonstrate consistent conformist and conservative affinities, which imply a seriously considered agenda. This study’s second main point is that the perceived failures of Marston’s comic plays—such as tragic elements, basic characterization, and sudden final reversals—can be plausibly read as deliberate effects, designed with this agenda in mind. The significance of this analysis lies in its interpretation of Marston’s comedies from the angle of religious and political conformism, which argues for an alternative identity for this playwright. The discussion opens with a presentation of Marston’s early satirical books as texts informed by a moderate Church of England Protestantism, yet coinciding at times with some of Calvin’s writings, and by a distrust of the individualistic tendencies of the English Presbyterian movement as well as the perceived literal ritualism of the old Catholic faith. On this basis, it then proceeds to reveal an identical philosophy behind Marston’s comic plays and collaborations. Antonio and Mellida and What You Will are interpreted to dramatize the human soul’s dependence on God’s favourable grace; Jack Drum’s Entertainment and The Dutch Courtesan to insist on the acknowledgement of God in romantic desire; The Malcontent and Parasitaster to present the dangers of the political immorality; and Eastward Ho and Histrio-Mastix to argue for the necessity of edifying occupations for the wayward human will. In its conclusion, this study further highlights Marston’s bias for political and religious individual obedience to established hierarchies and his suspicion of the early modern forces of change. The conformist identity that emerges from the present discussion is consistently supported by the archival evidence surviving from the playwright’s life. Thus, Marston’s comic drama can be interpreted as the result of carefully considered and skilfully implemented political and religious ideas that have been neglected so far.

On the eve of the Second World War, high school English teacher Leon Ormond writes about a minor skirmish he has with a history teacher over the pedagogical usefulness of wit. After telling her about his book, Laugh and Learn: The Art of Teaching with Humor, she tells him, “Only morons laugh.” Ormond goes on to describe her as one who exhibits “a countenance curiously reminiscent of an ancient Greek tragic mask”—she was “an exemplary member of the Cult of Pedagogic Pallbearers.” Although educators, historically, have often frowned upon humor, humorous writing—especially satirical writing—helps students understand the fundamentals of rhetoric and composition in a way that is both engaging and intellectually demanding. While often misunderstood within the larger culture, and perhaps equally underused in academic culture, satiric writing can be a creative and critical heuristic for the learning and practice of various rhetorical principles in the introductory composition classroom, an alternate discourse that can teach fundamental communication concepts while challenging mainstream thinking. Chapter one explores various historical, theoretical, and pedagogical concerns about the use of humor. Chapter two outlines a positive case for the inclusion of satiric writing in college composition. Chapter three describes my own efforts at teaching satire in four introductory composition classes at Western Kentucky University. An appendix examines the difficult relationship between the satiric genre and the once dominant school of literary criticism known as New Criticism, focusing on New Critic Robert Penn Warren’s work with seventeenth-century satirist, John Marston.

The formal satire of the late English Renaissance is a complex phenomenon, modelled upon the classical genre but also profoundly influenced by medieval homily and Complaint. It is connected with other literary vehicles for social criticism and is a means of protesting against change, embodying the struggle between hierarchy and mobility that marks the period. Types are represented in a realistic manner and assigned parts in miniature dramas unified by the presence of a narrator, by imagery and often by a thesis statement. Critical theories about the derivation of the term "satire" and the nature of the genre helped to shape the form, tone and organization of these poems. This study focuses on the major writers of Elizabethan formal satire, Donne, Hall and Marston, and examines their relative merits. Donne is easily the most complex and the greatest poet, but the problem of which is the most effective satirist has yet to be resolved. Donne creates "humourous" and brilliantly sardonic portraits of types and with exhaustive detail localizes the satiric scene in Elizabethan London. However, his satires are a kind of metaphysical poetry, concerned with first principles and the narrator's psychological processes. Intense subjectivity and metaphysical subtlety are perhaps better suited to lyric and devotional verse than to social satire, in spite of the poet's mastery of the art of caricature. Hall's style, lending an Augustan quality to Virgidemiae, is the measure of the differences among the writers. Hall's assimilations of classical sources, modified Neo-Stoicism, intense conservatism and references to a Golden Age and academic retreat fuse together in a witty and amusing satiric creation marked by the quiet insult, the polite sneer, contempt for the targets. Marston's use of language foreshadows certain important trends in the early Jacobean drama. Although he is sometimes incoherent in his efforts to combine satirical rage and the pose of the malcontent with moral exhortation, Marston produces an impressive, ultimately unified structure and vision of man dominated by his animal nature. In conclusion, Donne is the superior poet, Hall the most effective satirist, while Marston writes the most dramatic works, and only his lack of artistic control prevents him from surpassing his contemporaries' satire. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Cette thèse porte sur la pertinence du concept historiographique d’ « antithomisme » appliqué à l’histoire intellectuelle de la fin du XIIIe siècle et du début du XIV. Elle se compose d’une première partie sur le contexte historique de la période 1274-1323 et sur l’émergence de débats dans de nombreux centres intellectuels consacrés à l’héritage de la doctrine de Thomas d'Aquin. Elle s’attache pour cela à mettre en avant les différentes discussions qui apparaissent lors de la première réception des œuvres de Thomas d'Aquin : censures, polémiques entre dominicains et franciscains, apparition de législation sur la lecture des ses œuvres, etc. Le travail se poursuit, dans une seconde partie, avec l’étude plus approfondie de deux auteurs de la fin du XIIIe siècle ayant été qualifiés d’ « antithomistes » par l’historiographie contemporaine : Roger Marston, OFM, et Dietrich de Freiberg, OP. Leur rejet de la noétique thomasienne est ici étudié dans son aspect doctrinal et textuel. / The purpose of this PhD is to examine the accuracy of the concept of « antithomism » when applied to late XIIIth and early XIV th intellectual history. I firstly adress the historical context, from 1274 to 1324, and the arguments involving the theaching of Aquinas in various intellectual domains. In doing so I underline the various debates that occur about how to understand Aquinas(work looking specifically at censorship, the controversies between Franciscans and Dominicans and first rules about the various readings of Aquinas’works. The second part goes into further depth about the work of two scholars of the late XIIIthe century, who have been frequently labelled « antithomists » in today’s historiography : Roger Marston, OFM, and Dietrich of Freiberg, OP. I intend to examine how they refuse Thomas’noetic, from both a doctrinal and textual point of view.