Thesis Theater: Eugene Sullivan ~ "Red Indians in Middle Earth"

Signum Symposia

22:08

Host Francesca Amiker sits down with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, producer Angela Russo-Otstot, stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, and more to uncover how family was the key to building the emotional core of The Electric State . From the Russos’ own experiences growing up in a large Italian family to the film’s central relationship between Michelle and her robot brother Kid Cosmo, family relationships both on and off of the set were the key to bringing The Electric State to life. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts . State Secrets: Inside the Making of The Electric State is produced by Netflix and Treefort Media.…

3 роки тому 59:54

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This recording from November 18 2021.

Signum master’s student Eugene Sullivan will present his thesis “Red Indians in Middle Earth: The Woses of Drúadan Forest and the Racial Landscape of Tolkien’s Legendarium” and respond to questions from the audience in an interactive Thesis Theater. The discussion will be facilitated by Eugene’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Sara Brown.

Abstract:

The shift from the mythological mode of The Book of Lost Tales and the early Silmarillion, to the novelistic mode of The Lost Road and The Lord of the Rings brought the Men of Middle-earth into sharper focus. The Lord of the Rings is, as Tolkien noted, “a Mannish affair”. In populating Middle-earth with Mannish cultures, Tolkien drew on many sources for inspiration, both historical and literary. For the Woses, who appear unexpectedly from the forest in The Return of the King to help bring the Rohirrim to the aid of Gondor, Tolkien looked to a cultural depiction that had captured his interest as a child: the Red Indian. As depicted in The Lord of the Rings, these people are the inheritors of a complicated legacy of stereotypes that reaches back through the Piccaninnies of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, through the Mohicans and Hurons of Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans, to the travelogues and romances generated by the interactions between European settlers and the Indigenous inhabitants of North America. This thesis explores the history and characteristics of the Romantic Indian trope, and the ways in which their presence, and Tolkien’s attempt to explain that presence, alters the cultural landscape of all three Ages of the history of Middle-earth.

About the Presenter:

Eugene Sullivan earned his BA in English from UC Santa Barbara. He is a lifelong fan of Tolkien, and was a regular listener of the Tolkien Professor podcast before beginning the Masters program at Signum University. He is employed as a System Engineer at Sony Pictures Entertainment, and also plays guitar in a Traditional Irish band. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

For more information about Signum University and our degree program, please visit: https://signumuniversity.org/

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/start/

Support Signum Symposia

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Signum Symposia

Thesis Theater: Eugene Sullivan ~ "Red Indians in Middle Earth"

Signum Symposia

published 3 роки тому

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MP3•Головна епізоду

This recording from November 18 2021.

Abstract:

About the Presenter:

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

For more information about Signum University and our degree program, please visit: https://signumuniversity.org/

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/start/

Support Signum Symposia

124 епізодів

#Arts #Signum University

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State of the University Address, 2024 1:33:53

11 weeks тому1:33:53

1:33:53

Join President Corey Olsen for a look at the year that has been and a discussion of Signum's direction in 2025 and beyond! Please consider supporting Signum University. https://signumuniversity.org/news/find-joy-learn-the-things-that-you-love/ https://signumuniversity.org/support/donate/ More about Signum University https://signumuniversity.org/new-here/ https://signumuniversity.org/ Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Jay Moses, "Seedbed Of Darkness: M.R. James, Folk Horror, And 17th Century England" 58:39

18 weeks тому58:39

58:39

This recording from November 1, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Jay Moses on Saturday, November 1, 2024 at 5pm ET. M.R. James was recognized and acclaimed for his short stories of the macabre written at the turn of the twentieth century. In the 1970’s the new genre of Folk Horror arose, basing many of its stories within the England countryside, and claiming M.R. James as a significant foundation and forerunner. While setting most of his stories in present day England, several of them are set within 17th Century England. This Thesis explores four of James’ stories with settings in 17th Century England: The Fenstanton Witch, The Ash Tree, Martin’s Close and The Rose Garden and attempts to discern what exactly drew James to this time period, but more importantly, what it was about this time period that lent itself to Folk Horror. It is the conclusion of this Thesis that the great instability of England, combining Puritan beliefs, fanatical authority, and brutal punishments, laid the seeds of paranoia and rural unease from which M.R. James and Folk Horror both created tales of terror. About the Presenter: Jay Moses is a pastor at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in the DC area, teaching adjunct at the University of Maryland. His favorite memories leading to his studies at Signum are finding yellow-worn paperbacks of Ray Bradbury in his sister’s book shelf, watching the Hobbit with cheese popcorn made by his mother, and listening to the many ghost stories told by his father while camping. His wife is the best thing about him, and his children continue to wonder if he really reads his books. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Spring 2025 semester (term begins January 13th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/upcoming-courses/ Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/ Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Peter DeVault, "Illuminating the Metrical Grammar of Germanic Alliterative Poetry" 59:35

22 weeks тому59:35

59:35

This recording from September 28, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Peter DeVault on Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 10am ET. Modern metrical analysis of Germanic alliterative poetry (GAP) has invariably proceeded from edited texts in which the poem is represented visually as verses on a printed page or screen. Of course, that is not how these poems came down to us. The manuscript form of a GA poem is typically indistinguishable from prose, the words (and abbreviations) inscribed margin to margin on parchment, with little or no indication of where one verse ends and another begins. This manuscript arrangement is a trove for learning how medieval poets and scribes assembled and presented their materials. Remarkably, the abstract structure of a GAP poem can be recovered from manuscript “storage” by someone having no prior familiarity with the poem. Hitherto, to present the poem has been to lose the manuscript. I propose an alternative that illuminates on the one hand the continuity between manuscript and poetic text, and on the other, the versecraft of the poet as evidenced in the text. The annotation scheme and processing method outlined in this thesis allow us to create a TEI/Menota compatible xml document based on a medieval germanic poem realized in a particular manuscript. This document can contain several overlapping layers of information: the layout of the words on the manuscript page along with their linguistic and morphological features and decomposition into syllables; the organization of those words into poetic lines and verses; and a projection of metrical features onto this abstract structure. While being itself a data source for further programmatic analytic and comparative work, this document can in turn be transformed into an interactive html representation showing any of these layers of information. In this presentation, you will see how these methods and tools work in the context of selections from five poetic manuscripts including portions of Beowulf and the Poetic Edda. About the Presenter: Peter DeVault hails from the upper Midwest of the United States, where he works at a healthcare software company leading a team developing applications for clinical genomics. Having discovered Signum University in 2019 while tracking down linguistic resources for Tolkien’s invented languages, he has since immersed himself in a world of medieval Germanic languages and texts. When he isn’t grappling with philology and metrics, Peter composes and records music and talks with his grandchild about dragons. Benjamin Bagby's "Beowulf: The Epic Performance": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WcIK_8f7oQ&t=0s About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Spring 2025 semester (term begins January 13th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/upcoming-courses/ . Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/ . Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Julia Stowe, "Time and Eternity in 8-10th c. West Germanic Language and Literature" 1:06:31

26 weeks тому1:06:31

1:06:31

This recording from September 9, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Julia Stowe on Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 10am ET. The concepts of time and eternity, and the words that are used to express them, have significant influence over a culture. This thesis examines how the understanding of these concepts changed in early Germanic culture with the introduction of Christianity, and how this shift is reflected in the languages and literature of the early Germanic world. Focusing on West Germanic languages and literature from the 8th to 10th centuries, it explores how a shift in a cultural conception of time instigates broader and deeper cultural transformations and linguistic change. The perception of time as cyclical and endless, yet enduringly doomed, as can be glimpsed in pre- Christian Germanic cultures, is contrasted with the conceptualization of time as a finite creation and eternity as an existence wholly outside of time’s boundaries, the view introduced to early medieval Germania through early Christian writings. By considering how an understanding of time and eternity affects a culture and by analyzing texts from this era, we can examine how the introduction of Christian theological and philosophical thought surrounding these concepts influenced the greater culture, and how that influence is reflected in the language and literature. About the Presenter: Julia Stowe began studying with Signum University in 2020 with plans to complete a graduate certificate. After the first course, however, a general interest in medieval literature and Germanic philology had turned to passion that has continued to grow in the past few years of working towards an MA. Outside of academic interests, she is an herbalist, graphic designer, and avid gardener, and is delighted at the prospect of staying connected with the Signum community in the future through auditing and SPACE courses. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/ . Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Robert Black, "Beowulf as a Christian Critique of Germanic Heroism" 1:01:56

31 weeks тому1:01:56

1:01:56

This recording from August 10, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Robert Black on Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 4pm ET. This paper proposes to compare once again the heroes Beowulf and Böðvarr Bjarki, using linguistics and critiques of the heroes to build on the traditional approaches of comparison through folktale, etymological, and literary analysis to examine the degree to which Beowulf may be considered a hero or the praised object of censure. After summarizing their mode of Germanic Heroism and lightly comparing the heroes’ stories and reviewing the current state of scholarship on the Bear’s Son Tale as applied to these analogues and the role of the Dragon in Beowulf, attention is given to the use and significance of the term aglæca in Beowulf, including its application to the eponymous hero. Further consideration is given to Beowulf’s fate as a Christianised Germanic Hero, and it is argued that the poet subtly critiques Beowulf for the shortcomings endemic to his particular idiom of heroism, in contrast with absence of critique of Böðvarr. This evidence and reasoning provide additional support for the argument that Beowulf was composed in an Anglo-Latin and thus Christianised England, and allow for fresh examination of the implications thereof. About the Presenter: Robert Black earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Austin College and has taught English Language & Literature at various levels for the past dozen years. When he has free time, he enjoys reading, hiking, a pint of bitter, reading, whistling, watching & discussing movies & shows, and more reading. But what is best in his life is raising three lovely children with his wonderful wife in their native Texas. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Fall 2024 semester (term begins August 26th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Celesta Clegg, "Original Sin: A Portrait of the Fall Through Germanic Texts” 1:09:46

35 weeks тому1:09:46

1:09:46

This recording from July 13, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Celesta Clegg on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 5pm ET. Germanic reworkings of Genesis material present a glimpse into the Christian doctrine and societal understandings of the medieval culture in which the texts were composed. This thesis serves as an analysis and synthesis of the topic of original sin as found in a selection of prominent Germanic Genesis-related texts. Primary sources from the early post-conversion period through the late medieval period will be analyzed comparatively to determine common themes across analogues, explore original material unique to specific reworkings of the text, and postulate societal influence and reception of these works within the culture of the time. About the Presenter: Celesta Clegg is a graduate of West Liberty University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. She has worked in the music field for the better part of a decade working with choirs, marching bands, and private lesson students. In her free time she enjoys reading Tolkien, writing in Tengwar, painting, hiking, and playing with her dog, Bailey. She and her husband are expecting their first child together this month. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Fall 2024 semester (term begins August 26th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Trevor Brierly, "Tolkien's Vision of Faërie in 'Smith of Wooton Major'" 57:07

44 weeks тому57:07

57:07

This recording from May 7, 2024. Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Trevor Brierly on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 2pm ET, on the subject of Tolkien's "Vision of Faërie" in "Smith of Wootton Major." Tolkien's story "Smith of Wootton Major", written in 1965, and an accompanying essay written at the same time, provide a rich understanding of Tolkien's "Vision of Faërie" that goes significantly beyond earlier critical works such "On Fairy-stories" and "Mythopoeia". A close reading and analysis approach to "Smith" and the essay indicate that Tolkien saw Faërie as necessary, universal, beneficent and transformative to humanity. In order to fully appreciate what "Smith" has to say about Faërie, it must be understood that "Smith" is neither an allegory nor primarily autobiographical and should be seen as a "fairy-story", a story about a human journeying in the Faërie realm. The essay adds to our understanding of Faërie as it tells a parallel story concerning Faërie intervening in Wootton Major, to restore contact with the enchantment of Faërie that is being lost. "Smith" and the essay together are important for understanding Tolkien's increasingly sophisticated and elevated view of Faërie, which he claimed was "as necessary for the health and complete functioning of the Human as is sunlight for physical life." About the Presenter: N. Trevor Brierly is a software engineer with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. He has a background in literature with an MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English from George Mason University. His research interests include worldbuilding in speculative fiction, Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Le Guin, Shakespeare, and the Renaissance. He has presented working papers on “Lord of the Rings”, “Dune”, “King Lear”, worldbuilding, and other topics. He has published an essay “Worldbuilding Design Patterns in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien” in “Sub-creating Arda” (Walking Tree Publishers, 2019) and is co-editor of “Discovering Dune” from McFarland Books (2022). He lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys books, jazz, tea and cats. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Summer 2024 semester until May 10th! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Shannon Choudhari, "Notion Club Papers and Tolkien’s Vision of Creative Mysticism" 46:27

44 weeks тому46:27

46:27

This recording from May 10, 2024. Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Shannon Choudhari on Tuesday, May 10, 2024 at 5pm ET. “I wonder what you’ve been up to?”: The Notion Club Papers and Tolkien’s Vision of Creative Mysticism Since it’s publication in 1992, Tolkien’s unfinished time-travel story The Notion Club Papers has received relatively infrequent critical attention for its depiction of time and time-travel, as well as for its representation of Tolkien’s Númenor legend. This thesis seeks to counter the dominant view – that the tale’s intricate plot, narrative complexity, and unfinished state overshadow the “real” story of Númenor, resulting in a work that is both difficult and ultimately unsatisfying. Beginning with a reconsideration of the story as written (rather than as it might have been), this study explores how narrative and stylistic strategies work together to convey a distinctive portrait of the sub-creative artist that is defined by the very techniques that make the story itself uniquely effective. It begins with a consideration of the tale’s climax and thematic focus, arguing for the threshold of creative mystic experience, rather than Númenor, as the crux of the story. Further examining the unique meeting of structure and theme, the study then moves into an analysis of narrative form, demonstrating how the metafictional interface and complex embedding of narrative layers engage in a carefully balanced rhetoric of authentication, while also working to simultaneously destabilize assumptions about reality. Further entanglement of the Papers and its vision with the Primary World through elements of metacommentary and biographical allegory are seen to break through narrative boundaries, resulting in a unique vehicle that is perhaps best suited to deliver Tolkien’s radical vision of creative mysticism – a vision that is consistent, if somewhat obscured, within his larger body of fictional and personal writings. The complexity of these features which others have perceived as failings are here reinterpreted as the “essentials” of the tale, themselves revelatory of a sweeping assertion of visionary power and overlapping realities, where personalities are subsumed and the Primary World itself transformed. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Timothy Francis, "Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn" 1:01:14

49 weeks тому1:01:14

1:01:14

This recording from April 11, 2024. Signum MA student Timothy Francis will present his thesis “Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn” and respond to questions from the audience in an interactive Thesis Theater. The discussion will be facilitated by Timothy’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Gabriel Schenk. Abstract This thesis explores bureaucracy through the works of three artists working in different media: prose, visual art, and bureaucracy itself as a medium. Rooted in an understanding of what constitutes bureaucracy and administration and previous works on the subject, it seeks to explore what might constitute bureaucratic art and what the aims of such an art might be. Building upon existing literature and prior artistic explorations of bureaucracy and their analyses, this thesis aims to understand bureaucratic art and unravel its significance and potential impacts. The works are considered individually and collectively, offering multifaceted insights from different perspectives. By navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic structures and creative interpretation, this thesis endeavors to shed light on the intersections between bureaucracy and artistry, ultimately paving the way for a deeper appreciation and comprehension of administrative or bureaucratic art. About the Presenter Timothy Francis is a recovering bureaucrat, former public accountant in tax law, and sometimes musician who applies his collaborative and creative lenses outside of the public sector and has been Composer-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts developing and exploring creative collaborative frameworks for performers, lyricists, and composers. His compositions have been performed worldwide including at the Bregenzer Festspiele by the Vienna Symphony, Carnegie Hall by the New York Pops and the Berlin Film Festival. At Signum University, as a Language and Literature Master’s student, his focus has been on discovering works old and new, and exploring various critical lenses, approaches, and their applications. Highlights include the opportunity to read ancient texts in their original language, and focus on areas of interest including semiotics, translation, and adaptation. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Summer 2024 semester! Classes begin Monday, April 29th. To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Duane Watson, "Dominate or Preserve: Magic as a Means of Production in Middle-earth" 59:39

49 weeks тому59:39

59:39

This recording from April 5, 2024. Abstract J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth has long been praised for its sense of depth, but Tolkien’s creation has often been criticized, especially by Marxist critics, for its lack in depicting economic realities and for providing a reactionary fantasy to soothe bourgeois anxieties about a changing world. However, the traditional bourgeois-proletarian dichotomy, in particular when mapped onto the Hobbits and the Orcs of Middle-earth, fails to fully engage with Tolkien’s fantasy world. Building off the concept of sub-creation established by Tolkien in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” and Gergely Nagy’s examination of magic as inherent power in Middle-earth, this paper argues that magic rather than capital functions as a means of production in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Just as our relationships to capital in the real world shape our ideologies, so the peoples of Middle-earth are shaped by their relationship to magic, from the highest Elves to the most ordinary of Hobbits. This focus on magic shows how Tolkien’s works present a compelling picture of a world where relationships to power are complicated and change is inevitable. About the Presenter Duane Watson is an instructor at Llano High School in Llano, Texas, teaching English Composition, Economics, Government, and Audio/Visual Art and Technology. He received a B.S. in History from Howard Payne University (Brownwood, TX), an M.A. in English from National University (La Jolla, California), and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University – Nebraska. He resides in the Texas Hill Country with his wife, Jen, and their four cats. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Summer 2024 semester! Classes begin Monday, April 29th. To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Laurel Stevens, "An Awareness of Debts: Dark Academia and its Source-Texts" 49:38

52 weeks тому49:38

49:38

This recording from March 22, 2024. Abstract Dark Academia (DA), as a genre, is an offshoot of academic fiction that has become prominent over the last decade. After defining DA and exploring its roots, I dive into Intertextuality to ask why modern authors have chosen DA as their genre of choice as they reimagine elements of classic works. The works I chose to analyze are The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005), which exists in connection with Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897); Conversion by Katherine Howe (2014), which exists in connection with The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1953); Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth (2020), which exists in connection with The Story of Mary MacLane, alternatively titled I Await the Devil’s Coming by Mary MacLane (1902); and The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven (2022), which exists in connection with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). Authors give myths breaths of new life century after century, and works that have asked pointed questions of society and their readers often stay around long enough for new, younger readers to ask those same questions of their own changing societal contexts by building on the existing classical works. DA gives a structured power setting that can be treated as a sandbox of sorts for enquiring minds on how new people and places have altered responses to questions that have been asked again and again in literature. About the Presenter Laurel M. Stevens completed her undergraduate in English at Westminster College where she first delved into fantasy studies with Tolkien. Her masters coursework at Signum focused on Imaginative Literature and has allowed her to explore fantasy at greater depths and introduced her to areas of studies such as adaptation and Dark Academia. She reads and reviews heavily in modern fantasy and science fiction, yet remains interested in a wide range of literature. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Summer 2024 semester! Classes begin Monday, April 29th. To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

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State of the University Address, Fall 2023 32:52

1 year тому32:52

32:52

This recording is from Signum University Annual Fundraising Webathon, December 9, 2023. If you want to watch the recordings of the full event, check the 2023 Fundraising campaign playlist here. • Signum University Annual Fundraising ... This year's campaign announcement • Signum University's Fall Fundraising ... Support Signum University https://signumuniversity.org/support/ More about Signum University, visit https://signumuniversity.org/ Support Signum Symposia…

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Thesis Theater: Kira Tregoning, "The Semantic and Narrative Meaning in Homeric Epithets" 1:02:37

1 year тому1:02:37

1:02:37

This recording from October 6, 2023. Signum MA student Kira Tregoning will present her thesis “More Complicated Than They Seem: The Semantic and Contextual Meaning of Homeric Epithets” and respond to questions from the audience in an interactive Thesis Theater. The discussion will be facilitated by Kira’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Gabriel Schenk. The thesis presentation will be pre-recorded and played in the session, followed by a live Q&A with Kira Tregoning. Abstract Milman Parry and subsequent scholars since the late 1920s have argued that Homeric noun-epithet formulas are divorced from the context of the sentence and scene. Epithets — those phrases such as “swift-footed Achilles” or “gray-eyed Athena” — have often been shoehorned for much of the last century into a strict interpretation of metrical convenience and mnemonic device. Such a rigid approach unnecessarily limits readings of Homer today. This study analyzes Homeric epithets in the Iliad and Odyssey through a combined linguistic, literary, and digital humanities approach. Three significant characters are examined in detail — Odysseus, Athena, and Helen — to determine how epithets affect interpretations of character, motivations, and actions in a scene. Specific qualities as conveyed by epithets are linked to a character in spite of the framing story. Epithets act as focalization, pushing and pulling characters to and from the foreground as needed, and the lack of an epithet for an important character is as noteworthy as the presence of one. Translators may play with the repetition of epithets to emphasize various connotations according to the context. Epithets have semantic and narrative value and, while they do have a mechanical value, are more necessary to the poems than formulaic theories suggest. This thesis argues that epithets are too complex for any single theory to encompass and should instead be considered with interdisciplinary approaches to include context, semantics, and function. Epithets can be formulaic and still express essential qualities of character, reflect the narrative action, and connect to the immediate context as needed by the poet. About the Presenter Kira Tregoning (she/her) is a lifelong fan of mythology, language, and fantasy. Greek and Roman mythology, and the Robert Fitzgerald translation of the Odyssey, were the gateway to studying Classics in undergrad. Kira holds a B.A. in Classics and a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Maryland, College Park. She now works as a freelance editor and proofreader and is considering options for further study. In her spare time, she writes fantasy novels, plays video games with her two cat sidekicks, and spends time with her husband and family. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! To view Kira's Epithets Database, please visit: www.epithetsdatabase.com Registration is open for the Spring 2024 semester! Classes begin Monday, January 8th. To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

Signum Symposia

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Thesis Theater: Gina Petrone, "'Let Me In!' Vampirism in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights" 47:21

2 years тому47:21

47:21

This recording from August 1st, 2023. Signum MA student Gina Petrone will present her thesis “‘Let Me In!’ Vampirism in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights” and respond to questions from the audience in an interactive Thesis Theater. The discussion will be facilitated by Gina’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Sara Brown. Abstract In Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, scholars have studied the gothic elements of the story, but only in recent years has the idea of vampirism emerged. Cathy, a strong-willed and spirited girl, wants nothing more than to live her life at Wuthering Heights with her soulmate, Heathcliff. However, it is impossible for the two to be together in Victorian society. Cathy is from a respectable family, and Heathcliff is treated as no better than a servant after the death of Cathy’s father. Both monstrous in their own rights, Cathy and Heathcliff undergo transformations in order to become vampiric. I explore the transformation process of both characters and argue the possibility of traditional vampirism. I also argue the vampiric qualities of both characters due to their souls being halved by Cathy’s death. As such, this research connects Brontë’s own criticism of Victorian society to the meaning behind her characters in Wuthering Heights. About the Presenter Gina Petrone (she/her) is an English teacher for both middle and high school students. She has been an educator for the past thirteen years, and this will conclude her second Master’s degree. She recently moved to upstate New York with her fiancé and four cats. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Fall 2023 semester! Classes begin Monday, August 28th. To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p .... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ . Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr .... Support Signum Symposia…

Signum Symposia

1
Thesis Theater: Christoph Schabert, "Magus Saga Jarls: A Digital Edition" 57:34

2 years тому57:34