Session II: Theoretical Approaches to Literary Form and Function
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Second Floor of Campus Union
Dodge A & B
Literary Interpretation Based on Cultural, Personal, and Generational Context - Haney-Peritz, Janice. “Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at the Yellow Wallpaper
Subject: Conference Paper (English)
Presenter: Emily Van Horn
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Thifault
The peer-reviewed scholarly source, “Monumental feminism and literature's ancestral house: Another look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" written by Janice Haney-Peritz was a part of the English Department of Beaver College. It was published in Great Britain in 1986, which adds to my research based on my thesis that there are no timeless interpretations of famous texts, and that the theme is dependent on the generational fascination of the reader. This article breaks down many aspects of the piece of literature using feminism as the main structure. Haney-Peritz identifies that this text has an underlying meaning centered on a woman's fight to find her identity “within an oppressive patriarchal culture” (10). She touches upon the male dominance, and how the lifestyle pushed the narrator into this search for identity, of which she found within the woman-like figure in the wall.
This text works well with my topic because I am looking for sources form a few decades ago that do not mention mental illness within their analysis. My point is to highlight what the critic focuses on, and how they missed such massive clues of mental illness, how my interpretation in generational, and how the time that the story was written and the critic was written have an effect on the theme portrayed. The introduction of this article helps my case a lot, as it states “it can be said that between 1892 and 1973 ""The Yellow Wallpaper"" was completely ignored….Gilman's first husband who informed her that he found the story utterly ghastly, more horrifying than even Poe's tales of terror” (1).” This highlights the idea that when this story was written, feminism was not spoken about to the point where a strong female character that acted as she did was “horrifying”. When the critic analyzed the text, she highlighted the feminism worked within the plot, and today, it is difficult not to see mental illness in the narrator's actions.
Vogel, Dan. “Bartleby/Job/America.” The Midwest Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 2, 1994, p. 151.
This article, “Bartleby/Job/America” written by Dan Vogel in 1994 for Pittsburg State University includes interesting interpretations. There are some aspects that I am not very familiar with, and tis author brings in several other texts such as “The Book of Job” as a comparison. I’m not sure that the comparison will help my research project very much because it is centered around character development and religion, however I could use the religion aspect as a generational fascination. This article does help me in the sense that the author does not mention anything with mental illness at all, in fact, Vogel speaks that Bartleby’s preferences are deliberate and an act of defiance against how America has changed and it is becoming an environment that no longer coincides with the “American Dream”.
There are a particular quotes that work well with my thesis, one being in the very beginning when Vogel writes, “Bartleby, staring at the wall, becomes a symbol of humanities encounter with boundaries and limitations… become models for human experience” (1) When reading this part of the story, I interpreted the character staring at the wall a sign of depression, highlighting the differences generational interpretations. Also, Vogel also focuses on the Lawyer and how his “limitation of the mind” is what frustrated Bartleby, and the entire text is centered around the act of defiance to prove a point to the Lawyer and to the world. This actually makes Bartleby out to be a “non-hero” rather than a character suffering from a mental illness.
Lastly, a key passage in the article that shows exactly what the author pulled from this story is, “... Bartleby, as an individual and as a non-hero representing the inevitable descent of America from the height of it’s dream; and a lament for universal man, who like Bartleby, cannot escape the impulse to try to break his boundaries, and the ultimate realization that he cannot do so” (5). Overall, this article is very helpful to show how generations interpret stories differently based on the fascination of the time. There are aspects that I will not use, however, the general idea that mental illness is not mentioned at all throughout the entire critique is beneficial for my stance.
The Tristero: The True Protagonist of The Crying of Lot 49
Subject: Conference Paper (English)
Presenter: Ouellette, Brandon
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Thifault
In Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, readers are introduced to Mrs. Oedipa Mass, the novel’s suspected protagonist, arriving home late on a summer afternoon from a Tupperware party slightly intoxicated. Oedipa’s role of mainstream housewife, however, is suddenly morphed into that of a Sherlock Holmes figure when Oedipa becomes the what she jokingly supposes to be the executrix, of a massive estate of her recently deceased ex-boyfriend, Pierce Inverarity. Soon after, Oedipa finds herself unraveling a conspiracy that is far greater than she could have ever imagined. As the novel progresses, Oedipa gradually discovers clues left behind by Inverarity that reveal the societal influence of a mysterious organization known as the Tristero. Much like Pynchon’s novel itself, the exact role, intentions, and legitimacy of the Tristero are tremendously complex to track and follow.
Initially, the Tristero can be described as an underground community, in operation since the 17th century, that specializes in secret communications between rebels and other counter-culture figures. However, the role of the Tristero is something much greater. Throughout the rest of the novel, Oedipa discovers the almost endless presence of power and influence the Tristero has on the world around her. Although some readers may see the Tristero as having malicious intentions, to do so is to fall victim to the emptiness of the mainstream propaganda it exists to oppose.
Given the Tristero’s abilities to unify those who live on the margins of society, take action to move along the plot, generate symbolic actions and objects, and influence the transformation of other characters within the novel -- I argue that the Tristero, whether or not it exists, is the actual hero of the novel. Therefore, Oedipa merely serves the role as a false protagonist throughout the novel and the true heroic protagonist is the Tristero.
Women as Foils in Canonical American Literature
Subject: Conference Paper (English)
Presenter: Anthony Valentino
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Thifault
This essay focuses on female characters in narratives that classify as “captivity narratives” and the neglect of the characteristics that make them human. In narratives by O’Connor, Rowlandson, and Albee they hide female emotion and muffle their voice for the sake of delivering a message of some sort. These authors after introducing leading female characters and a general plot, allow for the qualities that make these women “human” to disappear in times of distress; which in fact delivers to the reader that in times of crisis a male’s voice is there to find a solution.
This essay contains three different novels and short stories, written by three different authors, in which all genders of authors are represented. By stripping the “human qualities” of important female characters in these pieces of literature, these authors are implying that these women exist as means to advance the story and deliver the takeaway message, regardless of their own female interpretations.
Non-Endings as a Form of Generating Creativity in Readers
Subject: Conference Paper (English)
Presenter: Molli Mowry
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Thifault
This paper examines the idea that authors, over the course of history and still today, have chosen to and continue to choose to end their works of literature without a clear conclusion in order to spark creativity in readers who are captive to the mundane world. Edgar Allen Poe and Thomas Pynchon both adopt a peculiar writing style and hard to read characters in their works in order to exercise the minds of readers and create a deeper level of understanding complicated fiction.
After looking closely at where these novels ended and why, this paper will delve deep into how cutting the prose at the height of the story's action is a technique to help readers escape the captivity the prosaic world keeps them in. Routines and norms are a staple of society, but Poe challenges this existence with his character of Arthur Gordon Pym and the lack of fate he meets at the end of his journey.
Furthermore, Pynchon demands readers use their imaginations when, 128 years after Poe's "Pym" is published, he decides to cease The Crying of Lot 49, before any actual "crying" takes place. This essay will challenge the idea that non-endings in literature are actually disguised endings, and rather, will argue that they are put in place by authors to release readers from a world of boundaries and expectations. Over many years and seen throughout different writing styles, authors have made conscious decisions to leave out resolutions from their works of literature.
When reading between the lines of Poe and Pynchon's novels, one can see that this lack of conclusion is ultimately an outlet for readers to embrace their creatively and develop their own order of thinking in relation to fiction.