Barrett

Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.

Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.

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The Many Roads to Babylon: The Thousand Year Legacy of the Trees of the Sun and Moon in the Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Medieval European Vernacular Texts of the Alexander Romance

Description
From the time of his death in 323 BC, the life and exploits of Alexander of Macedon were continually reimagined and reinterpreted in various literary works throughout the ancient world. While modern historians prefer such authorities as Arrian or Plutarch, in Late Antiquity there emerged an amorphous collection of stories,…

From the time of his death in 323 BC, the life and exploits of Alexander of Macedon were continually reimagined and reinterpreted in various literary works throughout the ancient world. While modern historians prefer such authorities as Arrian or Plutarch, in Late Antiquity there emerged an amorphous collection of stories, anecdotes, and apocryphal letters now subsumed under the title of the Alexander Romance, which elaborate in remarkable detail upon Alexander's Eastern campaigns. This project seeks to examine a popular episode of the Alexander Romance: the prophecy of the Sun and Moon Trees in the apocryphal letters of Alexander to his tutor, Aristotle, which appear as interpolations in the Romance text. We will trace the various permutations of this episode, from its earliest known versions in Latin and Ancient Greek, to its medieval translations in Old English, Old French, and Arabic. Through a close philological reading of these texts, we will examine the thousand-year history of a single tale about Alexander, and see how this single literary thread unites so many different peoples and cultures which at first seem so far apart.
ContributorsMaur, Glenn B (Author) / Cruse, Markus (Thesis director) / O'Donnell, James (Committee member) / Arena, Paul (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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Fairy Mothers, Enchanting Lovers, and Evil Sorceresses: Magical Women in Medieval Arthurian Literature

Description
Medieval Arthurian stories typically feature noble knights as their main characters, and follow these knights on various quests as they work to fulfill their destiny. Although women do not get to appear as the central characters in these stories, they are oftentimes afforded magical abilities that provide them with a…

Medieval Arthurian stories typically feature noble knights as their main characters, and follow these knights on various quests as they work to fulfill their destiny. Although women do not get to appear as the central characters in these stories, they are oftentimes afforded magical abilities that provide them with a great deal of power and influence. This thesis investigates the role of magical women, including fairies and sorceresses, in medieval Arthurian literature. I explore the conditions under which medieval authors permitted women characters to have power, magical or otherwise; for each of five different magical women appearing in Arthurian stories written between the 12th and 15th centuries, I discuss their different abilities, motivations, and major actions. Even when these fairies are fairly powerful and autonomous in their choices, their motivations are typically related to the interests of the male man character. Their relationship to the heroes of their respective stories determines their characterization. I argue that there are three major tropes that these characters fulfill: fairy caretakers, fairy lovers, or evil sorceresses.
ContributorsDardis, Cora Shea (Author) / Cruse, Markus (Thesis director) / Barca, Lisa (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05