Signum Symposia

This recording from August 10, 2024.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Robert Black on Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 4pm ET.

This paper proposes to compare once again the heroes Beowulf and Böðvarr Bjarki, using linguistics and critiques of the heroes to build on the traditional approaches of comparison through folktale, etymological, and literary analysis to examine the degree to which Beowulf may be considered a hero or the praised object of censure. After summarizing their mode of Germanic Heroism and lightly comparing the heroes’ stories and reviewing the current state of scholarship on the Bear’s Son Tale as applied to these analogues and the role of the Dragon in Beowulf, attention is given to the use and significance of the term aglæca in Beowulf, including its application to the eponymous hero. Further consideration is given to Beowulf’s fate as a Christianised Germanic Hero, and it is argued that the poet subtly critiques Beowulf for the shortcomings endemic to his particular idiom of heroism, in contrast with absence of critique of Böðvarr. This evidence and reasoning provide additional support for the argument that Beowulf was composed in an Anglo-Latin and thus Christianised England, and allow for fresh examination of the implications thereof.

About the Presenter:

Robert Black earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Austin College and has taught English Language & Literature at various levels for the past dozen years. When he has free time, he enjoys reading, hiking, a pint of bitter, reading, whistling, watching & discussing movies & shows, and more reading. But what is best in his life is raising three lovely children with his wonderful wife in their native Texas.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

This recording from July 13, 2024.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Celesta Clegg on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 5pm ET.

Germanic reworkings of Genesis material present a glimpse into the Christian doctrine and societal understandings of the medieval culture in which the texts were composed. This thesis serves as an analysis and synthesis of the topic of original sin as found in a selection of prominent Germanic Genesis-related texts. Primary sources from the early post-conversion period through the late medieval period will be analyzed comparatively to determine common themes across analogues, explore original material unique to specific reworkings of the text, and postulate societal influence and reception of these works within the culture of the time.

About the Presenter:

Celesta Clegg is a graduate of West Liberty University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. She has worked in the music field for the better part of a decade working with choirs, marching bands, and private lesson students. In her free time she enjoys reading Tolkien, writing in Tengwar, painting, hiking, and playing with her dog, Bailey. She and her husband are expecting their first child together this month.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

This recording from May 7, 2024.

Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Trevor Brierly on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 2pm ET, on the subject of Tolkien's "Vision of Faërie" in "Smith of Wootton Major."

Tolkien's story "Smith of Wootton Major", written in 1965, and an accompanying essay written at the same time, provide a rich understanding of Tolkien's "Vision of Faërie" that goes significantly beyond earlier critical works such "On Fairy-stories" and "Mythopoeia". A close reading and analysis approach to "Smith" and the essay indicate that Tolkien saw Faërie as necessary, universal, beneficent and transformative to humanity. In order to fully appreciate what "Smith" has to say about Faërie, it must be understood that "Smith" is neither an allegory nor primarily autobiographical and should be seen as a "fairy-story", a story about a human journeying in the Faërie realm. The essay adds to our understanding of Faërie as it tells a parallel story concerning Faërie intervening in Wootton Major, to restore contact with the enchantment of Faërie that is being lost. "Smith" and the essay together are important for understanding Tolkien's increasingly sophisticated and elevated view of Faërie, which he claimed was "as necessary for the health and complete functioning of the Human as is sunlight for physical life."

About the Presenter:
N. Trevor Brierly is a software engineer with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. He has a background in literature with an MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English from George Mason University. His research interests include worldbuilding in speculative fiction, Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Le Guin, Shakespeare, and the Renaissance. He has presented working papers on “Lord of the Rings”, “Dune”, “King Lear”, worldbuilding, and other topics. He has published an essay “Worldbuilding Design Patterns in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien” in “Sub-creating Arda” (Walking Tree Publishers, 2019) and is co-editor of “Discovering Dune” from McFarland Books (2022). He lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys books, jazz, tea and cats.

About Signum Thesis Theaters
Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

This recording from May 10, 2024.

Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Shannon Choudhari on Tuesday, May 10, 2024 at 5pm ET.

“I wonder what you’ve been up to?”: The Notion Club Papers and Tolkien’s Vision of Creative Mysticism

Since it’s publication in 1992, Tolkien’s unfinished time-travel story The Notion Club Papers has received relatively infrequent critical attention for its depiction of time and time-travel, as well as for its representation of Tolkien’s Númenor legend. This thesis seeks to counter the dominant view – that the tale’s intricate plot, narrative complexity, and unfinished state overshadow the “real” story of Númenor, resulting in a work that is both difficult and ultimately unsatisfying. Beginning with a reconsideration of the story as written (rather than as it might have been), this study explores how narrative and stylistic strategies work together to convey a distinctive portrait of the sub-creative artist that is defined by the very techniques that make the story itself uniquely effective. It begins with a consideration of the tale’s climax and thematic focus, arguing for the threshold of creative mystic experience, rather than Númenor, as the crux of the story. Further examining the unique meeting of structure and theme, the study then moves into an analysis of narrative form, demonstrating how the metafictional interface and complex embedding of narrative layers engage in a carefully balanced rhetoric of authentication, while also working to simultaneously destabilize assumptions about reality. Further entanglement of the Papers and its vision with the Primary World through elements of metacommentary and biographical allegory are seen to break through narrative boundaries, resulting in a unique vehicle that is perhaps best suited to deliver Tolkien’s radical vision of creative mysticism – a vision that is consistent, if somewhat obscured, within his larger body of fictional and personal writings. The complexity of these features which others have perceived as failings are here reinterpreted as the “essentials” of the tale, themselves revelatory of a sweeping assertion of visionary power and overlapping realities, where personalities are subsumed and the Primary World itself transformed.

About Signum Thesis Theaters
Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

This recording from April 11, 2024.

Signum MA student Timothy Francis will present his thesis “Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn” and respond to questions from the audience in an interactive Thesis Theater. The discussion will be facilitated by Timothy’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Gabriel Schenk.

Abstract
This thesis explores bureaucracy through the works of three artists working in different media: prose, visual art, and bureaucracy itself as a medium. Rooted in an understanding of what constitutes bureaucracy and administration and previous works on the subject, it seeks to explore what might constitute bureaucratic art and what the aims of such an art might be. Building upon existing literature and prior artistic explorations of bureaucracy and their analyses, this thesis aims to understand bureaucratic art and unravel its significance and potential impacts. The works are considered individually and collectively, offering multifaceted insights from different perspectives. By navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic structures and creative interpretation, this thesis endeavors to shed light on the intersections between bureaucracy and artistry, ultimately paving the way for a deeper appreciation and comprehension of administrative or bureaucratic art.

About the Presenter
Timothy Francis is a recovering bureaucrat, former public accountant in tax law, and sometimes musician who applies his collaborative and creative lenses outside of the public sector and has been Composer-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts developing and exploring creative collaborative frameworks for performers, lyricists, and composers. His compositions have been performed worldwide including at the Bregenzer Festspiele by the Vienna Symphony, Carnegie Hall by the New York Pops and the Berlin Film Festival. At Signum University, as a Language and Literature Master’s student, his focus has been on discovering works old and new, and exploring various critical lenses, approaches, and their applications. Highlights include the opportunity to read ancient texts in their original language, and focus on areas of interest including semiotics, translation, and adaptation.

About Signum Thesis Theaters
Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!