Date of Award

Spring 2019

Document Type

Thesis Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Committee Chairperson

Paul Green, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Margaret Ervin, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kuhio Walters, Ph.D.

Abstract

The pastoral mode in literature is historically one that engages prior works in a creative and generative dialogue. A closer look at this tradition reveals a creative process in which authors are at liberty to preserve, reject, or transform their source material. Due to the pastoral mode’s easy interaction with other modes, genres, and themes, this creative process is arguably a versatile one that extends beyond the pastoral mode. Using the formalist terms “siuzhet” and “fabula,” this thesis provides a structuralist comparative reading between William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It and its most direct source, Thomas Lodge’s pastoral romance novella Rosalynde, to better outline this process and its potential application for writers.

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