Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1974
Keywords
Ambrose Bierce
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English, General Literature, and Rhetoric
First Advisor
William B. Stein
Second Advisor
Vincent Freimarck
Abstract
What I propose, therefore, is not really a new kind of criticism but a new emphasis, a criticism which combines the extensionally oriented theories and experimental findings of general semantics with many of the basic techniques of close, analytical explication of literary texts. I propose to "extend" semantic literary theory to a particular body of literature, specifically to the fiction of Ambrose Bierce.
"A Semantic Analysis of the Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce" is therefore justified because literary criticism has not dealt comprehensively with Bierce, because literary criticism has not dealt comprehensively with general semantics, because--as I think my study will show--general semantics can elucidate the complexities of this author.
Recommended Citation
Davidson, Cathy N., "The poetics of perception: a semantic analysis of the short fiction of Ambrose Bierce" (1974). Graduate Dissertations and Theses. 224.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/dissertation_and_theses/224