Vol. 5 (2018)
While the June Symposium is not based on a theme, the pieces chosen for this edition all illustrate different facets of how we tell stories—stories about ourselves, stories that connect us to each other, and stories that examine the culture we live in. This issue begins with Melissa Berry, in “Current Trends in Creative Non-Fiction,” confronting her own understanding of what it means to belong to the Mensans as she joins their Fourth of July weekend convention. Mira Farrow continues the thread, of stories as a form of personal examination, in “Gender Outlaws,” which explores the tensions of belonging in their autoethnographic piece on coming out as transsexual. Their personal narratives both illustrate desire to belong and the self-constructed barriers preventing them from feeling at home in a space.
Stories also allow us to form connections with each other in how they are told. Cathy Collis in “Asides and Audience Participation in Restoration Theatre” and Michael Schock in “Basic Structures of Ideological Communication in Traditional Hollywood Feature Film Narratives” both illustrate how audiences receive stories presented on stage and in popular films. Collis explores the role of asides in 18th Century theatre and how they tell stories to the audience in order to connect the actor to the context of the time in order to create a deeper intimacy. Schock examines how the narrative structures of Hollywood films form a connection with their audiences, but at the same time are not always a depiction of societal values.
The last four pieces in this volume examine how a deeper understanding of culture is revealed in a close examination of personal and artistic practices. Libby O’Neil and Rachelle Burnside both illustrate how religion becomes a way to convey certain norms and expectations of how people should behave in society. O’Neil, in “Wedding (and Divorcing) the Brides of Christ,” explores the changing marriage practices with the rise of Protestantism, which in turn reflected the changing expectations towards how women were expected to show their devotion to God and their husbands. Burnside offers a different view of religion’s role in popular culture in her critique of how Blake’s illustrations of Dante’s Inferno both supported and disputed conceptions of sinners. Abilio Olmedo and Meg Cook both show how we tell stories about ourselves in the society in which we live in. Abilio Olmedo explores the way we present aspects of ourselves on social media and connects it to Utilitarianism. Meg Cook’s examination of Nabokov’s term “Poshlust” in relation to Lolita shows how fictional characters illustrate a greater critique of American society. The way we tell stories reveals something about the society in which we live, our values, and our connections with others—our desire to tell stories, both personal and academic, is what creates such a lively environment in Liberal Studies.
We hope you enjoy this volume!
Jennifer Chutter
Managing Editor
Editorial Board: Barbara Amen (Reed College), Peter Kline (Stanford University), Melissa Berry (Mount St. Mary’s University), Joan Barranow (Dominican University), Riki Thompson (University of Washington Tacoma)
