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- Creator:
- Lewis, Phyllis N.
- Description:
- One of the seminal minds of the nineteenth century was the great English philosopher John Stuart Mill. Perhaps better than any other man of his age, Mill understood that the democratic form of government was fragile. He wrote at length on the value of the individual to government, as the repository for fresh thinking and progressive ideas. Mill found that repression of free thought by government. or by interest - based groups in society, held the seeds of destruction for democracy. His ideas are discussed here, with reference to the role that the interrelationships between society and government play in the viability of a twentieth century democracy. In addition, Mill was the subject of an unusual and concentrated form of education. His ideas about curriculum and motivations for teaching are discussed in a way which permits us to apply them to the development of people differently equipped to deal with modern society.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- D'Amato, Robert
- Description:
- W. H. Auden's “New Year Letter” is a poem which was written as an epistle to his dear friend and fellow exile, Mrs. Elizabeth Mayer. The poem is best understood in the light of what Auden said in a note which he sent to Mrs. Mayer on January 1, 1940 after he had spent the Christmas holiday with her family at their Long Island home: “1939 was a very decisive year for me and one of its most important events was meeting you. I'm not going to say you can't imagine what peace and joy you give to me every time because you know it very well . . . I must stop now and do a dreary chore of a review, when I want to start my poem to you.” Mrs. Mayer, who became Auden's confidant in 1936, provided him with the feminine friendship and the maternal affection which was an aspect of his homosexuality--Auden's brother, John, notes during this period that Mrs. Mayer strongly resembled his mother—and she was soon to become, in “New Year Letter,” the central focal point around which Auden would harmonize the various feelings and thoughts that he held in 1939. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Hayne, Alexandra
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Hale, Nona
- Description:
- On 30 August 1797, a daughter was born to Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, who had married only five months previously. Though believing that marriage was a stifling institution and that love should be free, Mary Wollstonecraft had seen the effects of her liberal views on her first child, Fanny Imlay, and she now wished to spare her second. Many of her perceptions of freedom had been formed while she lived in Newington Green among the leading dissenters of her day, to whom "free" meant "guided by one's own will." (To be guided by another's will was servitude.) These concepts had appeared in her Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790). Two years later she had written A Vindication of the Rights of Women in which she insists that rights have no sexual basis: "what they say of man I extend to mankind." She believed that inequality is the cause of the world's evils. "Cruelty, depravity, irresponsibility toward children and all helpless persons—these 'wrongs' are to be fought by eliminating institutionalized inequality and by educating the mind and heart of both men and women, of all classes. The right she is most concerned to vindicate, then, is the right to become a rational, responsible, independent adult." (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Wegner, Phillip Edward
- Description:
- The central aim of this work is to present deconstruction as both a theoretical movement and a "new" means of interpreting literary texts. Conventional notions of the sign, language, and the role of the reader are examined, leading to an unmasking of the logocentric desires which have had the effect of closing Western thought from the time of the Pre-Socratic thinkers to the present. William Blake engages in a similar activity. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell he undermines conventional thought to clear the space for his visionary state. While developing parallels with deconstruction, this reading also demonstrates how Blake's text resists totalized closure: the rhetorical and grammatical structures of The Marriage block the drive to discover "truth" in Blake's system. The first chapter offers a general theoretical overview of deconstruction. Due to the limitations of a work of this scope, the approach is essentially historical. Jacques Derrida is the central figure in this movement; thus, the greatest amount of space is devoted to an examination of his thought. Derrida unmasks the unexamined structures which influence the metaphysical quest for "truth." A brief look at some of his concepts-including "differance," play, presence and absence, and intertextuality-sheds some light on the complexities of his thought. Derrida did not arise in an intellectual void: the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and the linguistic models of Ferdinand de Saussure set the stage for his deconstruction of Western metaphysics. His thought has also had a radical impact on American literary criticism. Paul de Man and J. Hillis Miller use deconstruction as the base for a "new" reading of literary texts which undermines conventional assumptions about language and reading. The chapter ends with a brief look at Harold Bloom's ideas of misreading and the poetic self. The second chapter focuses on deconstruction in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Blake, in his desire to escape the influence of monolithic authoritarian structures, reverses the conventional relationship between reason and energy. Blakes sees reality as defined by the eternal struggle between energetic contraries. Conventional rational thought splits these "married" oppositions, creating a hierarchical structure which assumes it possesses the means of discovering final truth. Speaking through the "Voice of the Devil," Blake reveals the dangers of such philosophy. Along the way, he posits some interesting notions about the nature of language and its impact on self-actualization. Blake's reversal is primarily a figurative move which clears the space for his visionary misreader. Most of the chapter focuses on a close reading of the development of these concepts. Yet, the very rhetorical structures by which he actualizes his revolt, forestall the closure of conventional interpretation. The structure of the text and the important use of ambiguity reflect such a move. An examination of how ambiguity operates in four areas of the text ends the chapter. In the final chapter, the politics of interpretation which have defined how Blake has been read in the past are examined. Northrop Frye reads Blake as a reflection of Western liberal humanist values; psychoanalytic critics posit Freudian tenets as the objective value-free basis for reading Blake's texts. An unmasking of the underlying assumption of both these moves exemplifies a number of problems in reading Blake. Power as described by Michel Foucault has an important impact on the "will to knowledge," closing the play of the text through the imposition of unacknowledged interpretive imperatives. Blake resists the closure of this power, and offers the possibilities of reading as a means of real self-actualization. Blake becomes the "infernal misreader," creating a text which parallels deconstruction while deconstructively unravelling itself. In this activity he reveals the real extent of visionary possibility.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Hommel, Robert W.
- Description:
- “And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows In all his tuneful turnings so few and such morning songs Before the children green and golden Follow him out of grace.” --Dylan Thomas, "Fern Hill" One of the reasons for the success of J. D. Salinger may lie in his ability to portray that time in life when adolescence verges on the brink of adulthood. This is a time of tremendous confusion and pain, a time when one can still recall the innocence of his youth, and yet is faced with the realities of maturity. Numerous critics have commented on Salinger's use of the theme of innocence vs. experience which is so prevelent in stories of late adolescence. Why, then is another study in this area necessary? It seems obvious that the terms “innocence” and “experience” have become critical cliches. Critics often refer to Holden Caulfield as “an innocent youth,” or a rebel in a world of disinterested adults. While correct in themselves, terms such as these, when repeated as often as they are in Salinger criticism, become superficial, and finally are unable to show the full depth of Salinger's understanding of the confrontations between adolescence and adulthood. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Phillipson, Don
- Description:
- Saul Bellow defines, as they relate to people, certain very important but abstract words and concepts which, when used in their strictly logical sense, have no significance and can be logically untrue. Bellow, through art, shows that truths about people do not conform to logic and are often paradoxical and ineffable. Both Augie March, in The Adventures of Augie March, and Eugene Henderson, in Henderson the Rain King, search to discover the meaning of certain words: Augie searches to know what his character is and Henderson searches to know what reality is. Saul Bellow, in telling these individuals stories, develops other themes related to each one's search. It is through Bellow's expansion of these themes that he relates the importance and significance of the words to people's lives; it is through the respective stories that Bellow defines the words. The reader gains a true understanding of the concepts when he identifies them with Augie and Henderson. In The Adventures of Augie March, Bellow defines and expands upon the crucial words “character” and “fate” Singly, the words and their definitions pose no special problems. The Oxford English Dictionary Defines character as “The sum of the moral and mental qualities which distinguish an individual or a race, viewed as a homogenous whole; the individuality impressed by nature and habit on man or nation; mental or moral constitution.” (OED def.11) It defines fate as “The principle, power, or agency by which, according to certain philosophical and popular systems of belief, all events, or some events in particular, are unalterably determined from eternity.” (OED def.1). But then Bellow introduces the difficult to understand and what will prove to be paradoxical concept that a man's character is his fate. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- DeWinter, Raymond Roy
- Description:
- This study explores Blake's early delineation of Vision, as illustrated in "Tiriel" (1789), The Book of Thel (1789), and Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793). The central points addressed within the thesis are first that Blake sees Vision as the end product of a progression through Innocence and Experience, and second that the three poems discussed here are models which Blake used to show Man the pitfalls of the progression and what to expect when the entire cycle is completed. Part I is primarily an Introduction, which outlines the main points of the thesis, and relates Blake's poetry to the historical period in which he was writing--specifically, to his desire to refute the doctrines of Rationalism and Empiricism as put forth by Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Francis Bacon, and John Locke. Part II begins the discussions of the individual poems with "Tiriel," portraying the poem as the failure of Experience to move on to the final state of Vision. The character Tiriel is intellectually blind, and it is this inability to "see" that prevents his salvation. Thel in The Book of Thel suffers a similar fate, but her error is intellectual naivete, rather than blindness. She refuses to progress to the transitional stage of Experience, and Part III explores her error as another example of an attitude which precludes Vision. Part IV deals with the last of the three poems, Visions of the Daughters of Albion. Oothoon, the primary character, undergoes the successful progression from the naive Innocence of Thel, to the bitter Experience of Tiriel, and finally to the higher form of Innocence which Blake equates with Vision. Her reward is the heightened awareness and understanding which Blake himself possessed, and though physically imprisoned, she is intellectually and spiritually free. The thesis concludes with Part V, a summary of how the three poems relate to Blake's overall imaginative scheme, and a statement that Blake's design was not to dictate, but to suggest. Blake offered his poetry as a means for Man to attain Vision, but he avoided didacticism. "Tiriel," Thel, and Visions are models; Blake left it up to the individual whether or not to learn from them.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Good, Edie
- Description:
- On one level the novels and short stories of D.H. Lawrence can be read as simple love stories. But to read them as such is to cheat oneself and to debase Lawrence. To treat oneself to a fuller and deeper reading experience and to do justice to Lawrence, one should read the novels and short stories with an eye on the humanistic psychologists who followed Lawrence, for their theories inform many of Lawrence’s works. In fact, in this paper 1 shall show how Lawrence actually anticipated the humanistic psychologists by presenting fictional situations, characters, and relationships which generate the theories of the humanists. Among the humanistic psychologists were Wilhelm Reich who conceived the idea of orgone energy, the primordial cosmic energy which is at its optimum level in the orgastically potent individual, the individual who can totally surrender to the involuntary orgastic convulsion. Later, Alexander Lowen incorporated and refined Reich's conceptions in the theory of sophisticated sensuality versus mature sexuality. Erich Fromm added the notions that love is a way of overcoming the sense of existential isolation, through fusion, giving, caring, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. Abraham Maslow contributed the theory of Deficiency-love versus Being-love, the latter characterized by mutual self-actualization and peak experiences. Rollo May added that love must be joined to will, power, or self-assertion, that lovers must affect each other and be open to being affected by each other. Finally, Arthur Janov said that love means allowing another to express himself, letting another express his true feelings, whether it be sorrow, anger, joy, or pain. Sons and Lovers is the earliest of Lawrence's novels to generate the theories of the humanistic psychologists. For example, in the novel when an unbridgeable gulf develops between Mrs. Morel and her husband, she experiences a feeling of isolation and overcomes it by transferring her love and attention from her husband to her children. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Wintz, Douglas M.
- Description:
- Franz Kafka remains one of the most enigmatic authors of the twentieth century. The significance and meaning of his works have been debated from various viewpoints, ranging from psychological to historical criticism. Like most writers and artists of the twentieth century, Kafka was faced with tremendous changes of attitude, beliefs and social structure. The acceleration of mechanization and the horrors of World War I were reflected in Kafka's literature as well as in the poetry of T. S. Eliot and the art of surrealists and dadaists such as Magritte and Duchamp. The incorporation of symbolism and surrealism into modern art makes understanding and interpretation difficult, but rewarding. Kafka's art is no exception. The intention of this paper is to study Franz Kafka's art as twentieth century literature which allies itself with the form of the parable. If the works of Kafka are difficult to come to terms with, it is perhaps because the literary form with which they are associated is itself complicated. The origins of the parable are numerous. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English