English Comps Symposium – Saturday, May 10, 2014

Coffee & Muffins available—Laird Second Floor Hallway—9:00 a.m.

WELCOME—Chair Tim Raylor—9:25 a.m.

Session I – 9:30-10:30

A.    The Power of Literature—Laird 206

  •  Erica Lobel, “The Child’s Perspective in Ender’s Game and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
  •  Madeline Reynolds, “The Efficacy of Political Poetry in Shelley”
  •  Kailey Schumacher, “Social Justice through Christian Community in Gaskell”

B.    Creative Writing I—Laird 211

  •  Emily Bernard—The Short Story: “Sheila Painting Herself”
  •  Patsy Pineda—Poetry: “The Early Years of Ana Lucia”

C.   Distortion, Enigma, and Unwanted Motherhood—Laird 212

  •  Daniel Bertaud, “Image and Distortion in the Los Angeles Novel”
  • Amy Swerdlow, “Unwanted Motherhood in Faulkner”  
  • Jordan Washam, “The Enigmatic and Ambiguous Jay Gatsby”

Session II – 10:35-11:35

A.    Comedy and Dark Humor—Laird 206

  •  Nick Hittner-Cunningham, “Deconstructing Dualities in Early Modern Comedies”
  •  Hannah Neville, “Female Modesty and Sexuality in Restoration Comedies”
  •  John O’Brien, “Dark Humor in Novels Inspired by the Second World War ”

 B.   Creative Writing II—Laird 211

  • Ariane Mass—Poems: “Ventriloquated”
  • Sarah Walz—Poems: “Pauses”

C.     Misogyny, Dementia, and Generic Boundaries—Laird 212

  • Emily Boghossian, “Narrative Nonfiction from Didion and the New Journalists to the Millenials”
  • Joseph Steigmeyer, “First-Person Portrayal of Dementia in Contemporary Fiction”
  • Kayla Tam, “Women as Satellites: Androcentrism and Misogyny in Huxley and Orwell”

Session III – 11:40-12:40

A.     Colloquium: Dangerous Writing, Dangerous Reading—Laird 211

  •   Asiya Gaildon, Micaela Hahn, Gwendolyn Hogan, Shaquille Malcolm, Isaac Werner, Molly Work

B.     Histories, The “Troubles,” and Transgression—Laird 212

  •   Elizabeth Callen, “Memory as a Challenge to Hegemonic Histories in Cisneros and Diaz”
  •   Molly Hemes, “Children of the Troubles in Contemporary Northern Irish Fiction”
  •   Halah Mohammed, “Reexamining Transgression in Nella Larsen and Jessie Fauset”

RECEPTION/LUNCH—Laird Second Floor Hallway—12:40-1:30 p.m.