Date of Award

Spring 5-2018

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Advisor

Sarah Harlan-Haughey

Second Committee Member

Greg Howard

Third Committee Member

Naomi Jacobs

Abstract

This project, though officially designated by the English Department as a creative thesis, is really a hybrid work that combines creative writing with literary criticism. The work is structured as a "dream vision," a literary genre popular in the Middle Ages in which a narrator receives some form of instruction or wisdom through an allegorical dream. Examples include The Pearl, The Romance of the Rose, and Chaucer's House of Fame. In this thesis, the allegorical space of the dream vision provides a platform for a series of essays structured as dialogues. These dialogues explore the aesthetics and politics of modern fantasy and supernatural literature, focusing particularly on the opposition of this literature, which often draws on ancient and medieval source material, to modern capitalist society. The discourses themselves are not strictly critical, but incorporate subjectivity, metaphor, and symbolism in their investigation of cultural texts.

Download

Share