Research in Western American Literature: 1991–92

Abstract

J A N R O U S H Utah State University Research inWestern AmericanLiterature: 1991-92 The ten theses and seventy-two dissertations listed in Dissertation Abstracts International for 1991-92 that relate in some way to western American literature reveal an increasing trend toward landscape: not only the awareness ofand concern for the land that has long been a part of fiction and nonfiction alike but a new ecological consciousness that crosses regional boundaries to fuse eastern and western perspectives, bringing Thoreau and Berry in alignment with Dillard, Snyder, Lopez, and Abbey. Such topics proliferate at a time when the program for this year’s WLA conference presented no fewer than ten sessions focusing on land and its place in western American literature; a new release entitled Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing: Henry Thoreau, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, and Barry Lopez appeared on the literary scene; and a new journal, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, has declared it will “provide a forum for critical studies . . . address[ing] environmental considerations” across disciplines. The leading topic, however, isNative Americans, with twenty-three theses or dissertations discussing some aspect of their literature or culture. This trend, too, wasechoed by the WLA,which at itsconference in October honored Louise Erdrich with its 1992 Distinguished Achieve­ ment Award, scheduled a reading by Gerald Vizenor, and included a number of sessions devoted to Native American topics. Interestingly, enough topics appeared in the DAIon other minority and ethnic groups to indicate an increase in multicultural awareness. Of particular note were those that focused on Chinese-Americans in the West. Of those theses and dissertations that focused on a single author, Mark Twain and Willa Cather remained far ahead of the field, with fourteen and eight treatments respectively. New to the recent scholarly scene, however, is Steinbeck, with five dissertations devoted exclusively to his works. COMPLETED MASTERS THESES: American Literature Anderson, Karen Margretta The American Family inJohn Steinbeck’s Novels. (M.A.) SanJose State University, 1991. 350 Western American Literature Burns, William David The Tao of Pynchon: Society, Culture, and Politics in Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland. (M.A.) Boise State University, 1992. Cannariato, Susan Bacilek Recursive Time in the Works of Louise Erdrich. (M.A.) University of Houston-Clear Lake, 1991. Hawke,Judith Crowell Art and Nature in Four Cather Novels. (M.A.) Southern Connecticut State University, 1991. Lewis, Terrie Elliott Distant Drums: Old and New in the Fiction of Louise Erdrich. (M.A.) Tarleton State University, 1991. Lyke, Patrice Phelan Female Characters inJack Kerouac’s Fiction. (M.A.) Texas Woman’s University, 1991. Matlock, Phil D. Deculturation: Richard Brautigan and the Conditioned Reader. (M.A.) Boise State University, 1992. Stockton,Jim John Steinbeck’sHidden Western: A Biographical and Folkloric Interpreta­ tion of To a God Unknown. (M.A.) Boise State University, 1992. Anthropology, Archaeology Cranston, Vanita Renee Vernacular Ranch Architecture: An Ethnohistorical Study. (M.A.) University of Nevada, Reno. CulturalAnthropology Butler, Kristie Lee Along the Padres’Trail: The History of St. Michael’s Mission to the Navajo (1898-1939). (M.A.) Arizona State University, 1991. Chirinos, Sally Elizabeth Cultural Restructuring Among the Lakotas: A Case Study in Forced Accul­ turation and Human Adaptation. (M.A.) The University ofTexas at Arlington, 1991. United StatesHistory Hietter, Paul Thomas The Last Ride of the Younger Brothers; or, Missouri Outlawry and Minne­ Research 351 sota, and How Their Histories Influenced the Outcome of the Great Northfield Raid. (M.A.) University of Minnesota, 1991. Johnson, David Harmon The Development of the Sonora and Mono Wagon Road. (M.A.) SanJose State University, 1991. COMPLETED Ph.D., Ed.D., AND D.A. DISSERTATIONS: Mass Communication Bouse, Derek The Wilderness Documentary: Film, Video, and the Visual Rhetoric of American Environmentalism. (Ph.D.) University of Pennsylvania, 1991. Speech Communication Marshall, Gary Thomas William Stafford: A Writer Writing. (Ph.D.) Southern Illinois at Carbondale, 1990. GeneralLiterature Borthwick,John Stephan Travelling Writing, Writing Travelling: The TextAsJourney,theJourney As Text. (Ph.D.) University ofWollongong (Australia), 1991. Nielsen, H. Richard,Jr. The Personal and Political Rhetorics of Clifford Odets and Mari Sandoz in the 1930s. (Ph.D.) The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1991. Salyer, Gregory Signs, Symbols, and the Sacred: Representation and Meaning in...