The essays you will find here were written during various periods of my academic career as a student and teacher of literature in English. I do not make any great claims for them, but I do hope readers may gain some insights into the works discussed. All are under copyright. You may use material from these essays for academic purposes, but proper documentation of your source is essential. All essays are in PDF format. PDF files can be viewed with Adobe's FREE Acrobat Reader. Download the Acrobat Reader by clicking the previous link if you do not already have it.
The Centrality of the Center in Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Circles"
A look at Emerson's essay and its relation to the mystical tradition of the center.
James Jones, Terrence Malick, and The Thin Red Line
In this essay I argue that Malick's film version of The Thin Red Line is not an interpretation of James Jones's novelistic vision, but rather a repudiation of it.
"That Wonder Was to Se": Some Thoughts on the Prioress's Sobering Effect
This essay attempts to explain the effect on the other pilgrims of "The Prioress's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
An analysis of Joyce Carol Oates's short story that uses typical formulations from feminist literary criticism.
To Make a Self: Existentialist Themes in Richard Wright's Black Boy
A brief discussion of Wright's autobiography.
The Pragmatist Aesthetic and Langston Hughes
A discussion of the ways in which Hughes's writing reflects some of the aesthetic theories of pragmatists, such as John Dewey.
Imagination and Self: The Autonomy of William Carlos Williams
A discussion of Williams's Kora in Hell and what it says about his conceptions of the individual and the imagination.
If you like to read, maybe you would like to read my lengthy dissertation: The Beleaguered Individual: A Study of Twentieth-Century American War Novels. [In HTML format] [In PDF format]
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