Falling Forward: Continuity and Change in the Poetics of Eden

<p>This dissertation suggests that late fourteenth century vernacular poetry in Middle English takes up the idea of a secular Eden by which various non-normative theorizations of time and self are made possible. The invocation of a rich and multifarious Eden may be effectively understood through its relationship to the psychoanalytic theorization of origins by which Eden’s powerful potentiality for therapeutic or at least revelatory growth is inherent in its availability for processes of cyclical return. The present study will attempt to redress the tendency to treat Eden only as a fall and thereby gain a better understanding of the modes of expression and the questions of subjectivity and longing that Eden might also bring forward. I will necessarily treat the fall not exactly as a “thing indifferent,” but as one part of a dialectical discussion that is at least as invested in continuity as it is in rupture.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Gafney, Julie L

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Steven Kruger

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Andrea Walkden
• Glenn Burger
• Rich McKoy

• Comparative Literature
• English Language and Literature
• Eden; paradise

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1609

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-2625