[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] We Are All Dealers in Used Furniture is a book-length work of creative nonfiction on the subject of inheritance, in which I weigh the influence of the ...

This thesis uses Deirdre McCloskey's memoir Crossing (1999) as a case study to explore the relationship between personal and cultural narratives of transsexuality. McCloskey's work is noteworthy for being the only trans ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Scriptorium is a book-length collection of poetry that wrestles with religious subjects, with its core questions being about religious authority. The ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The framework of this thesis breaks down a few specific examples of select paradigm shifts that occur when traditional models of folklore studies are ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The Moat is a short story collection unified through themes of the hidden, the underground, and the interior, both bodily and geographic. In my work, ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The creative portion of this dissertation consists of my first poetry manuscript called Amulet. The poems are prefaced by a critical essay, "The ...

Though contemporary fiction has evolved significantly alongside the social and political revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there remains the tendency to return to the stigmatized classifications of ...

Last summer, I spent three weeks on the island of Thassos, Greece discovering, eating, and savoring life. Immersing myself under the cool seawater and climbing out onto the rocky shore I was met not only by great natural ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] "Sphinx Eyes Antiphon," one of the poems in my collection, And the Wood Doll Arose and Told, I'm a Real, refers to a blank or unreciprocal social gaze. ...

There is a line between fact and parable, and the greatest writers of travel have unabashedly and purposefully ignored it in search of the subtle poetry just beneath the surface. This collection of non-fiction essays is ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This creative dissertation is in the form of a novel that explores the contemporary form of the Gothic novel. The classic Gothic novel used haunted ...

A comparison of Claire de Duras's Ourika and Nella Larsen's Quicksand may at first seem puzzling to those familiar with the differing social and historical contexts of the two works. While it may be tempting to read Ourika ...

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The critical introduction outlines three perspectives on place identified by Robert Root--the insider, the outsider, and the traveler with a lens text. ...

In the second Gilded Age that we live in now, it has been surprising to me to find that Edith Wharton's presence in homes and classrooms has been waning. In order to understand why this is, I turn to one of Wharton's most ...

Concluding paragraph: "In finality, addressing The Intuitionist and Zone One's ultimate goals rely on one motivating factor: progressive justice. Incorporating genre elements into sardonic dialogue about the current racial ...

Concluding paragraph: "This unpleasant conclusion results from Prufrock's night in the "Pervigilium," since his encounters with ambiguous women and his fears of venereal disease disturb him so much that they distance him ...

Concluding paragraph from Parody and media literacy in "Nathan For You": Over three decades after The Simpsons broke onto the primetime scene, Nathan For You harnesses a brand new form of comedy that makes similar use of ...

Concluding paragraph: "Langston Hughes as a literary figure today is beloved by many and it is through analyzing his life that I have become aware of his radical nature at the beginning of his career. His life, the mistakes ...

Concluding paragraphs: "Yet even in this uncertain time in life, many Y.A. novels end in hope. The last words of the Harry Potter series are "All was well." After coping with the death of his best friend and first love, ...