This article explores the relationship between first-person pronoun use and "personal" writing. First, a quantitative examination of 160 papers written for a college literature class reveals how frequently students actually self-reference. Then, three categories of first-person references are developed: "General Claims,"…

Sound plays a prominent role in narrative description of characters and environs in mainstream American literature. A review of American Deaf literature shows that the representations of sound held for deaf writers are in extensional and oppositional terms. American deaf writers, in their descriptions of entities, characters, functions, and…

Examines how the physically disabled have been depicted in American literature over the years, from the nineteenth century association of disability with moral culpability, to the post-Civil War image of the cripple as victim, to the more recent portrayal of the cripple as survivor and hero. (MJL)

Generally accepted interpretations and criticisms of Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" since the 1920s are chronicled and critiqued from the point of view of an admitted "Finnophile". (MSE)

Discusses effects of changing scientific and religious world views and changing literary methods on landscape descriptions in American literature. (LFL)

During his long career as medical doctor, professor, lecturer, and author, Oliver Wendell Holmes produced, among other notable works, three novels designed to caution the medical profession against giving precedence to cures over causes in the healing process: "Elsie Venner,""the Guardian Angel," and "A Mortal…

Contemplates the meaning and misunderstanding of the works of West Virginia author, Breece Pancake, who took his own life at age 26. Pancake used a "realistic" representation of a place to create an effect in his fiction, not to develop a regional image. Contains comments from other Appalachian writers concerning Pancake's work. (KS)

This paper analyzes non-Anglo views of the concept of justice; these views are different from those of the dominant Anglo-American tradition and therefore make up one of the components of ethnicity. The author examines justice as a concept in the literature of three contemporary American authors, the Italian American Pietro Di Donato, Nelson…

The cultural pluralism theories of Horace Kallen, Louis Adamic, and Michael Novak are related to the recent interest in questions about (1) the relation of ideas of ethnicity to the larger society in which ethnic groups exist, and (2) the theoretical bases of assertions of ethnicity. (KH)

Examines the fiction of Zane Grey and its appeal to high school students. (RL)

Outlines and discusses the necessary components for developing literature programs that are truly representative of the rich tradition and cultural diversity of writings in the English language. (RL)

The papers in this compilation were drawn from a 1977 conference on book publishing in Wisconsin. Following introductory remarks, the five papers in the collection deal with the following topics: (1) the history of Perishable Press, which specializes in publishing hand-made books; (2) the role of the publishing firm Wisconsin House in the…

The literary and personal relationship of Theodore Dreiser and H. L. Mencken as it appears in their correspondence with each other is traced and examined. (MSE)

This paper examines the Chinese literature on giftedness and talented performance (TP) and compares its dominant theoretical features with some influential models to be found in the North American literature. One significant feature to emerge from the Chinese literature is a deemphasis on giftedness as an innate ability and an emphasis on the…

Students and teachers need to discuss authorial intent to understand some literary works on their own terms--this is particularly true in the case of Carson McCullers. McCullers' works can be understood as having a rich foundation of authorial intent based on the writer's central experience, as a Southern woman, of gender. The central importance…