Islands and Memories, Place and Grief

Abstract

These two papers comprise an example of the written portion of the English department\u27s colloquium comps option. The theme of the colloquium this year was imitation and revision. The first of these papers looks at the way in which the changes in form alter the revisions in the island memory. It analyzes Daniel Defoe\u27s Robinson Crusoe, Elizabeth Bishop\u27s Crusoe in England, and Nadine Gordimer\u27s Friday\u27s Footprint. The second paper explores the way in which formal elegiac structure compares with the inclusion of physical structures within the narratives as exhibited within Mary Jo Bang\u27s The Role of Elegy, E.M. Forster\u27s Howards End, and Yusef Komunyakaa\u27s Facing I