In the "metaphysical vacuum" of The Possessed Stepan Trofimovitch Verhovensky is symbolic of a non-productive stewardship--a father who did not father, a teacher who did not teach, and elder who did not will wisdom and tradition to the dependent younger generation. It is puzzling how little critical notice has been taken of Stepan, and it is a lonely position to find in him the key to the teeming, chaotic world of the novel, but this is the thesis which will be pursued.

Wuthering Heights is the story of Heathcliff, a psychological study of an elemental man whose soul is torn between love and hate. The Byronic hero is the natural contact with the great heroic tradition in literature. This examination involves the consideration of the Byronic hero's relationship to the Gothic villain, the motivation behind the Byronic fatal revenge, and the phenomenon of Byronic supernatural manifestations.

This thesis intends to point out the religious thoughts that Clemens encountered. It will present the various religious groups with which he dealt the most and the clergymen with whom he associated both casually and intimately. It will also attempt to indicate at least one reason why he never found in religion the peace which he sought.

Critics and biographers have recognized the importance of failure and its many aspects in the life and poetry of E. A. Robinson. For a more complete idea of how Robinson dealt with concepts of failure, it is best to study the poetry itself.

Just to what degree Dostoyevsky's thoughts paralleled those of the Slavophiles will be outlined in subsequent chapters in three major areas--Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality. Uvarov's old 1828 formula provides a simple outline in which to describe and compare the more complicated core of Dostoyevskyan and Slavophile philosophy.

The classical genre of marriage poems called epithalamia appeared in England in the late sixteenth century. The English epithalamia of the Renaissance form a closely related body of literature. This work will be a close analysis of this small body of English Renaissance poetry.

In 1931 William Faulkner introduced to the scrutiny of the public eye one of his most admirable and delightful characters, and for the following three decades the history of Yoknapatawpha County was enriched and deepened by the appearance of this gentleman and man of words--Gavin Stevens. There has been no lack of critical attention given to Gavin Stevens and his role in Faulkner's stories and novels, and that criticism encompasses a variety of opinions, ranging anywhere from intelligent and sympathetic interpretation to unsympathetic rejection. With such an abundance of critical opinions and evaluations, perhaps justification for another piece of criticism on Stevens might best be stated in negative terms, in pointing out limitations in the criticism that already centers on Stevens.

Hegel and Eliot have been chosen for this study not because of their differences but because of similarities in their thought. Although most of Hegel's works are obscure and pedantic, it is possible to show that his early thinking reflects a deep awareness of many of the implications of the new age. A growing number of philosophers and theologians today are apparently "rediscovering" Hegel as one who caught a vision of the transition in man's history and whose insights are valuable today.

The purposes of this thesis are two-fold-: 1) in light of the information which is now available, to record accurately the events of the long newspaper career of Samuel L. Clemens; and, 2) to attempt to assess the influence of his journalistic experiences on him as a man, as an observer of humanity, as a reporter fulfilling his assignments, as a developing artist, and as a future author of books.

This approach to Unamuno does not propose to deny the fact that he was a polemicist, a poet, a teacher, and a philosopher more than he was a writer of fiction or an entertainer. What is intended is to point out to the average reader in simple terms something of the general signification and method in Unamuno's attempt at the art of prose fiction--at least as it appears in translation.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the sense of immediacy in fiction, i.e., the sense that the story is unfolding before one's eyes; the sense that the story is happening now. What it is and how it can be achieved is discussed in relation to the author's own stories; as well dealing briefly with some more general points in regard to what fiction is and how it seeks to achieve what it attempts.

Golding has developed a process of discovery that takes place in the overlap of fable and fiction, which is found in almost all of Golding's works. He is writing about free will and human choice: most of Golding's characters make the wrong choices and, in so choosing, create their own isolated and fallen existences.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore in depth the effect which World War I had on the life and early poetry of Robert Graves, primarily by tracing his involvement in the war as revealed directly in his autobiography and by examining his responses to that involvement as revealed indirectly in the two volumes of poetry which he wrote during the war.

The purpose of this thesis is to consider Camus's use of the death metaphor and its probable meaning for him.

This thesis is a creative one, comprised of eight short stories which deal with a variety of subjects. All of the material is concerned with personal or vicarious experience.

The subject of this thesis is concerned with the organization of a course of study for slow learners in the English class using both full-length and short films to stimulate their discussion and writing.

The thesis of this paper is that Mencken was a better critic than he is credited with being, that he was unusually discerning in his judgment of the fiction of his time, and that his criteria are clearly stated in various of his writings. It is conceded, however, that his taste in poetry was limited and that his contribution to dramatic criticism was not? greatly significant.

The purpose of this thesis is to point out the three levels of mythic structure contained in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, a novel published in 1958 by the British novelist Alan Sillitoe. The novel has been criticized almost solely in its role as a work dealing exclusively with the English proletariat; the critics have ignored mythic content in the novel, and in doing so have missed valuable meaning and structure which each myth adds to the novel.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's personal family history, his boyhood in the Salem area of New England, and his reading of works about New England's Puritan era influenced his choice of witch and Devil lore as fictional material. The witchcraft trials in Salem were evidence (in Hawthorne's interpretation) of the errors of judgment and popular belief which are ever-present in the human race. He considered the witch and Devil doctrine of the seventeenth century to be indicative of the superstition, fear, and hatred which governs the lives of men even in later centuries. From the excesses of the witch-hunt period of New England history Hawthorne felt moral lessons could be derived.

D. H. Lawrence left one of the most diverse collections of literary works ever contributed to the literature of the English language; the Lawrence canon contains a body of material which includes novels, short fiction, poetry, drama, literary criticism, travel essays, and philosophical writings. Since Lawrence is generally considered a novelist, the problem arises concerning the relationship between his novels and his other writings. In this case the concentration will be upon Lawrence's philosophical writings or what Lawrence called his pseudo-philosophy--his "pollyanalytics."

This thesis attempts to describe a consistent development in the attitudes adopted toward women in the poetry of T. S. Eliot published between 1917 and 1930 and to identify certain philosophical changes which influenced this development. It suggests that a tendency toward the affirmation of an ideal woman underlies the apparently incongruous attitudes toward women in Eliot's poetry of this period. Three stages in the poet's progression toward an affirmation of an ideal woman are suggested and described.

Through a close study of Hawthorne's four major romances--The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun-—this thesis singles out all significant references to apparel or accessories and evaluates the use he makes of them.

This thesis is concerned with systematically investigating the relationship between Emily Dickinson's many personal tragedies and the crisis poems which grew out of them. Its basic organization is formed by discussing specific periods of her life in each chapter.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a program for teaching composition skills to children in the intermediate grades. The study is based on a survey of research, reports, books, and articles in the field, and on the teaching experience of the author. The organization of the study follows the actual steps in initiating a program for composition teaching in the intermediate grades.