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In one of his essays, K.S Maniam, a Malaysian Literature in English author states that his literary works “attempt to bring the precision of the English language to the versatility and depth of Hindu mythology and spirituality” (“Fiction into Fact” 264). Despite his assertion, the role of Hindu spirituality in his works especially in relation to the Malaysian Indian identity construction remains little studied. Past studies tend to approach identity in Maniam’s works using the post-colonial theory and focus mainly on the politics of identity construction. Hitherto, the discussion of identity in Maniam’s works is limited to the political and sociological realms. Therefore, my thesis attempts to go beyond these realms by suggesting an alternative discourse of identity through spirituality. My central argument is that spirituality plays a significant role in identity construction in K.S Maniam’s novels. To address this, I employ Advaita Vedanta, an Indian philosophy as a theoretical framework in order to highlight an alternative rendering of identity in Maniam’s novels. Advaita Vedanta’s conception of identity rests on monistic and undifferentiated whole called Atman (True Self) which can only be achieved when a person transcends subject-object dichotomy. Advaita Vedanta’s accentuation of “non-duality” is revolutionary as it restructures the concepts relevant to identity such as one’s sense of selfhood, one’s relationship with the world, and one’s perception and experience of reality. I analyse all of Maniam’s novels which are The Return (1981), In a Far Country (1993), and Between Lives (2003) and show how his works reflect the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. Maniam incorporates this Indian philosophy into his works by means of literary motifs such as self-reflexivity, rites-ofpassages, rituals, disruptions of temporal/spatial linearity, and mystical experiences. These motifs highlight how spirituality informs identity construction in Maniam’s novels. My thesis shows t

In one of his essays, K.S Maniam, a Malaysian Literature in English author states that his literary works “attempt to bring the precision of the English language to the versatility and depth of Hindu mythology and spirituality” (“Fiction into Fact” 264). Despite his assertion, the role of Hindu spirituality in his works especially in relation to the Malaysian Indian identity construction remains little studied. Past studies tend to approach identity in Maniam’s works using the post-colonial theory and focus mainly on the politics of identity construction. Hitherto, the discussion of identity in Maniam’s works is limited to the political and sociological realms. Therefore, my thesis attempts to go beyond these realms by suggesting an alternative discourse of identity through spirituality. My central argument is that spirituality plays a significant role in identity construction in K.S Maniam’s novels. To address this, I employ Advaita Vedanta, an Indian philosophy as a theoretical framework in order to highlight an alternative rendering of identity in Maniam’s novels. Advaita Vedanta’s conception of identity rests on monistic and undifferentiated whole called Atman (True Self) which can only be achieved when a person transcends subject-object dichotomy. Advaita Vedanta’s accentuation of “non-duality” is revolutionary as it restructures the concepts relevant to identity such as one’s sense of selfhood, one’s relationship with the world, and one’s perception and experience of reality. I analyse all of Maniam’s novels which are The Return (1981), In a Far Country (1993), and Between Lives (2003) and show how his works reflect the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. Maniam incorporates this Indian philosophy into his works by means of literary motifs such as self-reflexivity, rites-ofpassages, rituals, disruptions of temporal/spatial linearity, and mystical experiences. These motifs highlight how spirituality informs identity construction in Maniam’s novels. My thesis shows t

Summary: During the nineteenth century, African American women like Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote wrote narratives of their spiritual conversions. Through their efforts and the efforts of others like them, spiritual autobiographies became not only evangelical tools but also a means of shaping African American culture and American society in general. While some black women were working to claim power for their gender and race by writing spiritual narratives, other women, both black and white, were working with sentimental literature to achieve similar goals., 2015, Includes bibliography., Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Summary: A recent trend in Spenser studies that relies heavily on materialist thinking either undervalues or misses altogether The Faerie Queene's inherent spiritual quality along with the irreducible interaction and ultimate reciprocity of earth and heaven. This thesis argues that Edmund Spenser's spiritual vision in The Faerie Queene expresses itself in a teleological romance that assumes a condition of mutability over stasis in the temporal earthly realm, as its first three heroes ascend a ladder of perfection that evokes the heavenly and eternal, while at the same time heavenly glory reaches down into the story "romancing" the characters and exerting its own influence on the action., by Laura Hendricks Groves., Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009., Includes bibliography., Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In my thesis, I examine the function and treatment of goddesses in six modern feminist mythopoeic fantasy novels by Y olen, Shinn, and Harris. In these novels, the goddesses and their worshippers serve as the agents of socio-political change within the secondary world, inducing changes that end with the ultimate transformation of oppressive social structures. Acknowledging these goddesses and incorporating them into the fabric of communal life, the protagonists, and ultimately entire societies, are able transcend issues of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and religion, in order to create a peaceful and prosperous society. These novels work through many of the issues troubling modern day feminist theorists and make important contributions to the discourse of feminist spirituality and feminist theory as a whole. Extrapolating both a theory and praxis from the texture of these fantasy narratives, I suggest that these stories offer a way to transcend dichotomous thinking and escape the current stagnation of spirituality based approaches to feminism., 2008, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008., Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection