UST students, faculty and staff are invited to the first event of the 2010-11 English Department Colloquium Series. Three undergraduate English majors will present their UST Young Scholars summer projects in a panel presentation on Friday, Oct. 22. Their topic is: “Literature and Social Change: Flannery O’Connor, Arthur Conan Doyle, and American Dime Novels.”
This one-hour event will begin at 3:15 p.m. in the O’Shaughnessy Room, Room 108, O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center. Light refreshments will be served.
Paul Blaschko
Paul Blaschko’s project seeks to uncover the epistemological functions that operate in the stories and novels of Flannery O’Connor and to use this information to more elegantly explain the significance of her work and the effect it has on those who read it. In contemporary analytic philosophy, epistemology is a philosophical apparatus meant to explain processes of thought development and belief formation. Using an epistemological framework to analyze literature provides critics and readers with a consistent means of interpreting works with terms definable in the language of epistemology.
Adam Lownik
Adam Lownik studied the epistemological crisis that occurred in Victorian culture following the publication of Darwin’s findings on evolution and the way in which detective fiction from the period responded to that crisis. He examines the works of two masters of the genre, Arthur Conan Doyle and G.K. Chesterton, and analyzes the way each author provides a response to the moment of epistemological crisis society was facing.
Corey Dahl
Corey Dahl’s project observes the intersection of gender and class politics in dime novel detective fiction at the fin de siècle (French for end of the century). Over time, female detectives in dime novels developed increasingly strong feminist characteristics, defied gender stereotypes, and communicated the importance of independence, intellect and strength to a female working class audience.
The next English Department colloquium will feature Dr. Amy Muse, who will present “Visiting the Site of the Dance of Freedom: Notes from My Research in Greece” on Friday, Nov. 12.
For more information, call the English Department, (651) 962-5600.
