Forms in Transition: Experiments in Modern and Contemporary Literature

Ava Rahman

Was the “Lost Generation” a historical reality or a literary myth? This essay clarifies the ambiguity surrounding the famous term, analyzing the lives and works of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and T.S. Eliot. It argues that while the term is a broad generalization, it resonates as a “truth in abstraction,” capturing the very real collective mood of disillusionment and the complex worldview of American intellectuals navigating a tumultuous age.

Katherine van Wyk

Challenge the persistent characterization of T.S. Eliot as a simple conservative or even Fascist sympathizer. Through a close reading of his major early poems, this essay charts Eliot’s political non-conformism, arguing that his central ideology was actually one of “reactionism.” It reveals how his critiques of liberal principles and his stance on Fascism were nuanced reactions to the shifting political tides of his time, demanding a more complex understanding of the poet.

Siri Iagnemma

This essay brings Gabriel García Márquez and Selma Lagerlöf into unexpected dialogue, revealing how both transform the ordinary through a calm, reportorial tone. By describing miracles as civic facts—from García Márquez’s rain of yellow flowers to Lagerlöf’s devil at the dinner table—the essay shows how a shared narrative strategy serves divergent ends: in Macondo, it resists erasure; in Värmland, it sustains moral order across time and tradition.

Bui Gia Khanh Pham

Challenge the view that war literature is only about human suffering. This essay offers a groundbreaking ecocritical reading of Bảo-Ninh’s celebrated Vietnamese novel, The Sorrow of War. Using the theory of conceptual metaphor, it unearths how nature functions not as a passive backdrop for human trauma, but as a central and dynamic actor in the narrative. The analysis reveals how the novel’s very form establishes nature as an enduring standard against which human conflict is measured.

Taite Nicholson

This essay uses Ted Chiang’s celebrated short story, “Story of Your Life,” as a laboratory for exploring one of philosophy’s most challenging concepts: eternalism, the idea of a reality with no “present” moment. Drawing on thinkers from Spinoza to contemporary cognitive scientists, the analysis dissects Chiang’s use of tense and form to propose a new literary technique for portraying abnormal temporal structures. It ultimately argues that speculative fiction is an indispensable tool for understanding complex theories of consciousness, time, and free will.

Miles Heltzer

This essay tackles the long-standing academic debate: can song lyrics be classified as poetry? Through insightful analysis of four iconic songs spanning four decades—by Nas, Radiohead, Frank Ocean, and Denzel Curry—it reveals the sophisticated use of poetic devices. By examining rhyming, imagery, and figurative language, the paper demonstrates how lyrics, even without music, stand alone as powerful works of literary art.