ABSTRACT: This dissertation examines the novel The Eight Mountains by Italian author Paolo Cognetti. It offers an analysis of how Cognetti, a self-taught student of American literature, has reproduced and adapted American tropes into the Italian setting of his novel. This research aims to demonstrate that Cognetti has performed an act of cultural translation and that, by introducing themes of American literature into his own national context, he has Italianized them and given them a new meaning which differs from their original one. This analysis compares Cognetti’s novel with the literary works of American authors including Henry Thoreau, Mark Twain, and Jack Kerouac and shows the way in which The Eight Mountains has reinterpreted themes they present. The dissertation also examines how the English translation of the text has reintroduced Cognetti’s novel to the culture that helped produce it. It further argues that, despite the international success of the novel, its mild reception in the English speaking world is attributable to the impossibility of the English language to translate key words of the novel and the lack of interest that English speaking people have for literatures written in foreign languages.
ABSTRACT: This dissertation is a literary exploration of understanding and surviving the loss of a loved one. The two-part nature of this work divides this exploration into a research section and a creative writing section. The research section focuses on Emily Dickinson’s perspective of death, and suggests that she deconstructs conventional notions about death, to further her belief in a continuous existence instead. For the purpose of this exploration, I will explore the biographical factors of her life that contributed to this perspective, as well as an analysis of some of her most popular poems. In an effort to completely understand the deconstruction, the research section has been divided into the three main techniques she’s employed that makes her work stand apart: introducing death as a persona, the continuum of consciousness, and the separation of the body and the soul. The creative writing section at the end pays an homage to Dickinson’s belief in a metaphysical connection with those who passed. It contains ten poems narrating a family’s struggle in surviving the suicide of their son/brother.
ABSTRACT: This thesis is the result of the question, “What did ‘The Little Mermaid’ say about gender roles when it was first published, and what do two of its future adaptations add to that discussion?” It was born out of a curiosity on how fairy tales change with time, altered by the values and taboos of the societies that created them. In order to answer this question, I have selected three versions of ‘The Little Mermaid’ to discuss: the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the Disney cartoon, and the Northern Ballet production. First, each version was summarized. Then, in order to better understand the social and cultural context of each version, I researched the countries and time periods that these versions found themselves in. Then, I discussed gender roles in each setting. Finally, I related the topic of gender roles in each time setting to its respective version, thus concluding how the view on women’s roles has changed over the course of two centuries. The general conclusions are that stories and societies are very tightly linked, constantly influencing and reflecting each other. By extension, ‘The Little Mermaid’ has changed numerous times since its initial publication. Its more spiritual elements were removed and its more graphic details were diluted, but its core premise has remained the same. Despite obvious differences separating these three versions, they all depict what the time period considered to be strong female qualities. The first portrayed the protagonist as a strong-willed creature who seeks spiritual ascent and achieves it through love and sacrifice. The second casts the mermaid into a hopeless romantic who sacrifices everything for the man she loves, and is rewarded with his love. The third stars a fusion of its predecessors, with a heroine who falls in love with a prince and endures constant, unyielding pain in order to be with him, and it is this love that gives her the strength to kill the sea god and ascend to the heavens, encapsulating both physical and emotional fortitude.
