As a novel on contemporary issues (shishi xiaoshuo 时事小说), the unfinished novel The Stone of Goddess Nüwa (Nüwa shi 女娲石; 1904-1905) recounts a story about new women’s attempts to save the nation, which is a reflection of late-Qing China. From a historical perspective, I aim to provide a study of the Nüwa stone and characterization of new women in the novel with the help of multiple intertexts. My thesis explores how the stone and the characterization elaborate the theme and design of the novel: new women saving the nation, which includes radical ideas for women and national salvation in the late Qing. Against the socio-cultural context of The Stone of Goddess Nüwa, I argue that through the characterization and narrative designs of the stone, the novel presents its explorations to solve social and political problems for national salvation, in which female power plays a central and crucial role. This thesis endeavors to both enrich the understanding and value of The Stone of Goddess Nüwa from a historical perspective and call critical attention to its meaning in the decades’ exploration of improving both China and Chinese women in literary works from the late Qing.

This study shows how the Grotesque Hero evolves from the grotesque victim in selected American novels from 1919 to 1972. In these novels, contradictory forces create a cultural dilemma. When a character is especially vulnerable to that dilemma, he becomes caught and twisted into a grotesque victim. The Grotesque Hero finds a solution to the dilemma, not by escaping his grotesque victimization, but by accepting it and making it work for him. The novels paired according to a particular contradictory dilemma include: Winesburg, Ohio and The Crying of Lot 49, As I Lay Dying and Wise Blood, Miss Lonelyhearts and The Dick Gibson Show, Cabot Wright Begins and Second Skin, The Day of the Locust and The Lime Twig, and Expensive People and The Sunlight Dialogues.

My dissertation analyzes the portrayal of women in Jewish novels of the Greco-Roman period (300 BCE-100CE): Greek Esther, Judith, Susanna, and Aseneth. During the Greco-Roman period, the female heroine frequently became the focus in Jewish novels. This innovation coincides with a concern over maintaining Jewishness. Several areas surrounding the maintenance of social identity appear in the Jewish novels, including dietary restrictions and the preservation of the family. Although a great deal of literature exists regarding the above texts, there are currently no systematic examinations of the portrayal of women’s Jewishness in regards to the Jewish novels. My dissertation examines the portrayal of women in the Jewish novels through a literary critical approach and questions how their representation can inform scholarship on how authors depicted Jewishness during this period. This dissertation treats the Jewish novels collectively and contributes to the scholarly discussion with a systematic examination of depictions of Jewish women in these texts. Following a brief introduction in Chapter 1, where I provide an overview and assessment of earlier treatments on the Jewish novels and the topics of women and Jewishness, Chapters 2 through 5 examine the portrayal of women in the Jewish novels. These chapters are organized around four distinct aspects of Jewishness which center on the representation of the female protagonists and their relationships in the narratives: 1) the representation of women’s sexuality, 2) the preservation of foodways, 3) kinship ties, and 4) the role of the protagonist in their Jewish community. In Chapter 6, I use a comparative approach to examine the depiction of women’s Jewishness in the novels, which demonstrates women’s active roles in maintaining and defining Jewishness. Chapter 7 concludes the dissertation with a summary and recommendations for future work. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation analyzes the portrayal of women in Jewish novels of the Greco-Roman period (300 BCE-100CE): Greek Esther, Judith, Susanna, and Aseneth. I question how women’s representation in the Jewish novels can inform scholarship on how authors depicted Jewishness during this period. The analysis of women is organized around four categories of Jewishness centered on the representation of the female protagonists and their relationships in the narratives: 1) the representation of women’s sexuality, 2) the preservation of foodways, 3) kinship ties, and 4) the role of the protagonist in their broader Jewish community. This dissertation contributes to the scholarly discussion by providing a systematic examination of depictions of Jewish women found in these texts and demonstrates that the authors of the Jewish novels depict women playing active roles in maintaining and defining Jewishness.

In this thesis I analyzed three different literary works; A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers (2020), Bunny by Mona Awad (2019), and Dirty Weekend by Helen Zahavi (1991) through the perspective of the female killer. The aim of the thesis was to analyze the so called “female rage” and what led the women in these novels to murder men. I also discussed how the female killers were presented and if and how the women were perceived as monstrous. The method I chose to do this was close reading, and the theory I used was queer theory. I mostly used Jack Halberstam’s book Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters to contextualize my arguments as well as Judith Butler’s Genustrubbel and Sam Holmqvist’s chapter in Litteraturvetenskap II. The analysis showed that there is a connection between the monster and queerness, and that each of the women I wrote about has both monstrous and queer aspects. The analysis also showed the importance of power and how most of the motivation behind the women killing the men was their lack of power in a patriarchal society.

It is becoming increasing important that teachers educate students about social studies in such a way so that students are interested and motivated by what they read. So often the curriculum is bombarded with physically heavy, incomprehensible, and traditional textbooks. Based upon the need for extensions to the social studies textbooks, my goal to establish a guideline for selecting quality graphic novels fitted for elementary social studies instruction. Therefore, my study will attempt to answer the question: What is an effective means of determining quality graphic novels? Following my adaptation and creation of rubrics established for determining the needs and qualities of graphic novels, I was able to establish and analyze several social studies content related graphic novels appropriate for the elementary social studies curriculum. This investigation into social studies graphic novels provided 18 graphic novels for possible use in the elementary social studies curriculum, 5 of which were deemed quality via the established rubrics. Furthermore, the investigation proved that the books deemed quality provided more than what was established as necessary within the rubrics. The additional information found within those texts was referred to as a postlude. One strong conclusion from this study is the large void of graphic novels that teachers might link with the social studies curriculum so as to enhance elementary social studies instruction.

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