This thesis examines two works (My Journey to Lhasa and Magic and Mystery in Tibet) by Alexandra David-Neel. These works subvert the self/other dichotomies both necessary to and critiqued by postcolonial theory. Central to this study is an examination of a claim by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama that David-Neel creates an "authentic" picture of Tibet. In order to do this the first chapter establishes a working definition of authenticity based on both Western philosophy and Vajrayana Buddhism. This project argues that the advanced meditation techniques practiced by Alexandra David-Neel allow her to access a transcendent self that is able to overcome the self/other dichotomy. It also discusses the ways in which abjection and limit experiences enhance this breakdown. Finally, this thesis examines the roles that gender and a near absence of female Tibetan voice play in complicating the problems of self, subjectivity, and authenticity within these texts. / by Robert William Jones II. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This work of creative nonfiction is meant to explore the effects of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder in American war veterans and their families. As a work of blended literary journalism and memoir, the author interviewed afflicted veterans from World War II to the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars, included scholarly research, and reflected on how her father's dealings with the disorder have affected her family. / by Hillary Boles. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his deliberate use of the alchemical metaphor. These themes support the proposal that Milton, a Christian humanist, uses alchemy as a metaphor described in this study as "divine alchemy," which begins with his belief that Christians, inheriting original sin, must submit themselves to a transformative process similar to transmutation to restore right reason and, ultimately, achieve salvation. / by Andrea J. Rutherford. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 201?. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Both Thoreau and Rawlings call attention to humanity's need to expand its perceptions and interpretations of what it means to be a part of a community in Walden and Cross Creek, respectively. Building on the established idea of what it means to be incorporated into a human community, each author also implores his or her readers to extend the perceived boundaries of what comprises a "community" to include the natural world. Ultimately, both texts point to the need for the establishment of what Aldo Leopold calls a land ethic, which requires the re-drawing of communal boundaries to include the land with man as a citizen rather than a conqueror of Nature. Thoreau and Rawlings demonstrate how an individual can start to expand his or her conception of community to move closer to Leopold's ideal by recounting the different experiences they have with human society and nature while living at Walden Pond and in Cross Creek, Florida. However, each author uses different approaches. Thoreau concentrates primarily on reflecting upon improving his individual self in order to eventually improve his Concord community. Rawlings, on the other hand, makes a greater effort to reflect upon her interactions with the people of Cross Creek in addition to her interactions with Nature in order to strengthen her bonds with these things. Such a difference causes Rawlings to be read as presenting a re-vision of Thoreau's ideas about the relationship between humankind, one's community, and Nature. While the kinds of experiences Thoreau and Rawlings encounter might be different, in the end it is their emphasis on the importance of an individual's relationship to the community-one that includes both humans and Nature-that resonates with readers. / by Julianne Curran. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This thesis will reveal a political dimension to Emerson's work, situating itself in the current scholarly movement to analyze Emerson from a different angle. Scholars have long heralded Emerson as a staunch individualist or transcendentalist, yet there has been a recent shift in literary studies to consider him from a social or political perspective. Emerson's emphasis on the individual does not diminish in any of the three essays that I have selected; however, he strongly urges every individual to contribute towards the amelioration of society. He also believes that an individual person has enormous potential to cause both great improvement and great harm, which is why a wise man or scholar is a paramount component to any society. Moreover, this thesis addresses topics that are particularly useful today, as Emerson's words are just as relevant to the political situation in the world now as they were in the 19th century. / by Elizabeth Gillespie. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In John Fowles's last two novels, he alters his authorial project of discovering freedom for an individual from a social system to how a social system can be changed from within. Using Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection and her interpretation of the semiotic versus symbolic processes of signification, readers can determine how an imbalance in the human signifying process has become corrupted by power. Through Fowles's heroines and semiotic irruptions of the symbolic order in both Mantissa and A Maggot, Fowles reveals weaknesses in the symbolic, and consequently, moments where transformation of a patriarchal, symbolic system can be recognized. These moments of strain on the symbolic are significant because they cause a disruption of the rules and borders that define a social system like patriarchy. By calling attention to these moments, the categorical imperatives that have been imposed on women and perpetuated for the purpose of maintaining power relations can thus be subverted. In Mantissa and A Maggot, Fowles accomplishes a breaking of the boundaries, both within and of the text, by providing a literary space where readers can glimpse the power of the semiotic, the corruption of social conditioning, and gain a new perspective of their own symbolic/social system in the real world. / by Jenifer A. Skolnick. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Scholars have well established the influence of the Old and Middle English, Norse, Welsh, and also Medieval Latin and Christian mythologies that influenced the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. In particular, the mythology contained in The Silmarillion, specific the cosmology, behaves as sacred texts do in the primary world and mirrors a number of extant mythologies when they are directly compared. Several scholars have note, but as yet no one has studied in depth, the relationship between the cosmology the The Silmarillion to that of a number of extant ancient Near Eastern mythologies. This thesis seeks to address that gap in the scholarship by specifically exploring Tolkien's mythological creation story in relation to those of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Abrahamic of the Near East. Such a comparative study reveals a number of structural and thematic parallels that attest to the complexity of Tolkien's work that and can be used to argue that his mythology can be considered as well-developed and surprisingly authentic as any of these ancient mythological traditions. / by Amanda M. Dutton. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This study examines the recurrence of the image of sugarcane in Caribbean literature and traces a timeline of oppressive discourse. The image of the cane field represents a tension between silencing voice and identity independent of European nation-building ideologies. There is a history of silencing associated with sugarcane, even as Caribbean authors seek a potential to use this history to create a voice. While the authors examined employ the image of the cane field to create a voice outside of the dominant discourse, the voice of the Caribbean is nonetheless restricted. Postcolonial theory will be used to examine the history of oppression through the image of sugarcane as a negative past that authors try to get beyond, while dealing with the issue that it also helped to form their voice. My thesis investigates these issues using The Sugar-Cane: A Poem. In Four Books. With Notes, a poem by James Grainger, to set up the colonial history of sugar in the Caribbean and Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as a reaction to that colonial discourse. / by Michael Linder. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In "On Fairy Stories" J.R.R. Tolkien writes that joy is the "mark of the true fairy- story." Tolkien believed that joy was the defining characteristic of the genre. This joy is not just apparent in the happy ending of the fairy tale, but also in the manner in which the plot and characters show theories of joy, and the way the text itself creates joy in the reader. This paper will explore Tolkien's creation of brightness, hope, and wonder, and how these instances express a theory of joy. First I will look at the different types of joy in Tolkien's work, then the more general theories that these types express, and finally the effect the joy in the story has on the reader. / by Natasha Minnerly. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Charles G. Finney’s 1936 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao was published to enthusiastic reviews, but fell into relative obscurity shortly thereafter. Since its publication, it has been the subject of one peer-reviewed critical essay, a number of reviews, one non-peer-reviewed essay, and a master’s thesis. It was published in a world where the fantastic and unique found only barren desert soil, with no scholarly tradition for the fantastic, nor a widely receptive lay audience for something truly unique, or sui generis. The concept of the sui generis, meaning “of its own kind,” provides a useful lens for examining the novel, as Finney develops not only creatures, but people, which are truly of their own kind, borrowing from existing mythologies, traits of humanity, and aspects of nature, recombining them in a singular way which resists classification. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.