Reading Lists

Primary Source Material

The three lists here detail various mythos and cultural aspects that are necessary for the analysis. All of these texts focus on the role of the hero, the role of the woman as protagonist, the role of the woman as warrior, as well as highlighting the semiotics and memes involved with these mythologies. Certain visual themes begin to arise from this research, such as the fact that so many female warriors are archers in these stories. Textually or visually represented, the symbol of the bow and arrow become part of the archetype of these women. In a pre-literate society, songs, mosaics, and pottery were just a few ways myths were recorded. I have included a few sources, such as operas and works of art, that further highlight the visual elements. However, for reading comps I didn't think the images or art pieces would be as necessary. The operas, however, do perpetuate these myths and stories both orally and textually.

Premodern Primary Source Material

Nonwestern Primary Source Material

World Literature Primary Source Material


Comic Book Primary Sources

This list was up for debate as to where it needed to go. The option was given, I have decided it is fair game for both the literature comps and the specialty area comps. In either case, the comics will not be the focal point of either comp exam, just modern examples and data to write about. This list is primarily for the dissertation itself.

Comic Book Primary Source Material


Specialty Areas

These lists were broken up primarily because of the intradisciplinary nature of this research. All of these lists fall under English Arts/World Lit: Adaptation Studies, Convergence Culture, Comic Book Adaptation, and Visual Rhetoric. All three lists are concerned with how stories get adapted, how people maintain control over intellectual property, how fans interact with the different modals, what evolves out of all of this memetically, and what are the visual cues (and terminology for them) that comprise memes.

Adaptation Studies/Convergence Culture Specialty Area

Comic Book Adaptation/Convergence Culture

Visual/Rhetoric


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