Some of the more interesting characters in 19th and 20th century
literature have been defined by their experience, or lack thereof, with
baccalaureate education. Hardy's _Jude the Obscure_ is shaped by a
quixotic desire to go to university. Dorothy Allison's _Cave Dweller_
focuses on the familial disruption generated by a first-generation college
student from a hardscrabble background. Sinclair Lewis' Carol Kennicott
finds herself at odds with a small town because she is a woman with a
college degree, a theme also discussed in Bessie Head's _Snapshot of a
Wedding_ and Alice Walker's "Everyday Use." Oedipa Maas, from Thomas
Pynchon's _The Crying of Lot 49_ becomes convinced of a conspiracy because
of the way her college education taught her how to read.
Some of the issues panelists could address include: What does it mean for
a character to have a college degree? To want to go to college? To not be
able to go to college? How are characters treated because they went to
college? How does the "university experience" seen from far off campus
inform literature and critique society?
Email 400-word abstracts by May 15th to:
Dr. Mark T. Decker
Minors Advisor
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
The University of Wisconsin-Stout
P.O. Box 790
Menomonie, WI 54751
(715)-232-1495
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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