Criticism
Working Reductively Through Criticism of The Birds and "The Birds"
Daphne du Maurier's short story "The Birds" has received little critical attention compared to the 1963 Hitchcock film it inspired. The attention it has received has largely been either dismissive or misdirected. Further, criticism of the film has been dominated by the presence of Hitchcock. This paper works reductively through that criticism, from the dominant presence of Hitchcock to the neglected short story. It challenges a prominent feminist critic, Nina Auerback, who calls du Maurier "distinctly anti-feminist," and argues that a feminist reading is very nearly the only convincing way to read the story.
The Repetition Compulsion in T.S. Eliot's Poetry
This paper discusses the contrast in T.S. Eliot's poetry before and after his conversion to Anglicanism, and attempts to resolve the apparent disparity between his two veins of writing.
The Aesthetic Sexism of Les Misérables
This paper analyzes the portrayals of women in Les Misérables and their foundation in Hugo's aesthetics and humanistic rhetoric. Drawing on the work of Coppélia Kahn as well as that of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, it discusses how these character portrayals reveal the percieved place of women in (or rather outside of) a humanistic society.