Spring 2023
“The Thin End of the Wedge.”
It’s what books are. A sort of wedge, a tool for prying apart the layer-cake of ideas, contradictions, ignorance, and lies that complicate life. But in fact these unsavory bits are essential to literature—in the stories, sagas, plays, and poems we read, as well as in all the painting, sculpture, and architecture that broadens and illuminates our lives. We like the hunt for meaning, and are honored by being clever and determined enough to discover the truth. All the arts—but especially literature—depend on our need to get beneath the surface, to ask the eternal question: What is this about in the deepest sense?
When poor confused King Lear wants clarity from his rebellious (perhaps with cause) daughter, this is his high-pitched demand: “Let them anatomize Regan. See what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts? Find what breeds about her heart!” Note that the crazed monarch says it twice. When you have to repeat yourself, it’s usually because no one’s listening.
Eventually, all the bloody surgery, the explosive underground mining, the sheer determination to push on beyond the obfuscations and caltrops of the bad guys in our stories will lead us to the light. And we are surprised and delighted. Some of us even turn back again to page one, hoping to repeat the excitement of the chase. But it seldom happens. And off we go to the next challenging book.
This train of events happens because, as Marcel Proust saw, readers mainly find themselves inside books. “The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.”
We do like the hunt. “Oh, villainy! Let the door be locked. Treachery! Seek it out.”
Just so, sleuthing is apparent in all five of the literary essays in this year’s Paper Shell Review. First up, is Charlotte Robertson, a junior at Vassar College, with “Storytelling as Healing in Richard Wagamese’s Medicine Walk.” Her paper is to do with Native American myth and healing. In fact, it turns out that certain tales associated with modern life are untruths. Humans need to retell their stories in order to rehear and understand them in the sharing. It’s all about the force of words, told and untold. “That’s all we are in the end, our stories.” And recovery is a team sport.
Next, Stella Kingscote of the University of Victoria writes about “Consequences of the Human Mind: The Function of Humans, Animals, and Sexuality in D.H. Lawrence’s Poetry.” Her paper is to do with the impossibility of understanding non-human creatures through language and reasoning devised by the human brain. The problem centers around the gulf between intellect and instinct. Says Lawrence:
“I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
Without ever having felt sorry for itself.”
The third paper here, written by Sophie Logsdon of Wellesley College, “The Uncanny in Puppetry,” considers the notion of puppets as a reflection of humanity’s quest to control anyone with even the slightest hint of inferiority about them. The essay is based on work by Sigmund Freud and a 2016 short story by Helen Oyeyemi titled “is your blood as red as this?” Based on Freud’s analysis and Oyeyeni’s saga, Logsdon suggests that “what defines humanity is its lack thereof.”
Fourth, Eddie Sciannella of Towson University, in “The Apollonian vs. the Dionysian in ‘Parturition,’” examines childbirth and motherhood through the lens of the Mina Loy poem called Parturition (1914). Says Loy, “The irresponsibility of the male / leaves woman her superior Inferiority.” In place of an authoritarian, Apollonian view of women and their duties, Sciannella suggests our embracing “the primal Dionysian ideals of celebrating women being able to create life from their own bodies.” Chaos always trumps control, one hopes.
The last paper is by Maggie Erwin of Wellesley College, entitled “The Extent of Rationality: Reason and Perception in Edgeworth’s Belinda and Austen’s Emma,” which considers two novels with “two heroines both strangely similar and uniquely different.” Still, both must contend with the uncertainty of public life and ethics, the limits of perception, and the slippery nature of reason and human attachment. And both novels, from 1801 and 1815, “appear to celebrate reasonable thinkers while simultaneously undermining the validity of reason itself, leaving us to wonder at the limits of objective thought.”
At the end of the day, this business of literary text analysis has been with us for a long time. “As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where there was a den; and I laid me down in the place to sleep; and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled: and not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry; saying, “What shall I do?”
The answer is plainly available to the five scholars published in this volume: Interrogate the text, disturb the peace, ask questions, and listen. Do what they did.
Michael Olmert
Professor, English Department
University of Maryland
Journal Information
Editors-in-Chief
Ella Deltefsen & LeeAnn Wong Arbelo
Managing Editors
Ella Deltefsen & LeeAnn Wong Arbelo
Cover Design
Eliza Barrie
Graduate Advisor
Shalom Rosenberg
Reading Group Leaders
- Joshua Gallatin
- Katherine Mahoney
- Kiersten Williams
Editorial Team
- Moses Bakst
- Hannah Campion
- Carolina Correia dos Santos
- Nada Fadul
- Sravaya Kommuri
- Emily Lin
- Kelsey Meis
- Lucy Ramos
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
Our deepest thanks to...
Scott Trudell and Christina Walter, for their confidence in undergraduate student work and for ensuring that the University of Maryland is home to a thriving and welcoming literary community,
Karen Lewis, for kindly guiding our staff through the publication process each year,
Shalom Rosenberg, for his patience and encouragement, without whom this project would not have been possible,
The Center for Literary and Comparative Studies and the Department of English, for housing our publication, providing our funding, and allowing this project to have a worldwide reach,
Michael Olmert, for his continued commitment to the success of this journal and for always inspiring students with his words of wisdom,
Our editorial board, for providing their thoughtful input during the essay selection process and for diligently reading, discussing, and copy editing these papers amidst challenging times,
Sohayl Vafai, for founding this wonderful journal over a decade ago,
Each of our contributors, for their willingness to conduct deep investigations into literary scholarship and for generously allowing us to feature their exciting ideas in this year’s edition,
And lastly, our readers, for enthusiastically engaging with literary criticism and for making the Humanities an integral component of your educational journeys.
Sincerely,
LeeAnn Wong Arbelo
Editor-in-Chief, 2023
Staff Biographies
Ella Detlefsen is a sophomore majoring in mathematics on the statistics track. Though she chose to pursue a STEM career, she still has an interest in literature and reads a lot during her free time. She wanted to be on the Paper Shell Review because she thought it would be a fun break from her classes and was a great opportunity to work alongside others who were also interested in the humanities. Ella gravitates toward sci-fi or biographies when looking for something good to read but being on PSR has also piqued her interest in analytical texts as well!
LeeAnn Wong Arbelo is a freshman Banneker/Key Scholar pursuing a double degree in English on a Languange, Writing, & Rhetoric track and Philosophy, Politics & Economics. She is a part of University Honors, and she works as a Writing Center tutor. In her spare time, she enjoys teaching her beloved cat, Dumpling, tricks. She has a passion for all things reading and books (especially romance and literary), and hopes to pursue her Ph.D. in English after graduating. However, next year she is excited to continue as the Editor-in-Chief of PSR.
Joshua Gallatin is a graduating senior with a degree in English and History. He enjoys reading and writing and hopes to work in law and write in the future. Joshua currently edits for the JANUS UMD Historical journal alongside his work for the review. Aside from academics, he enjoys spending time at coffee shops, with his cat, and watching TV. Joshua is also involved in climate defense activism and is excited for what the post graduation life will bring.
Katherine Mahoney of Olney, MD is a junior studying journalism and studio art at the University of Maryland. She has previously interned at Modern Luxury Magazine and written for HerCampus and Monumental Magazine. She is spending her spring 2023 semester studying abroad in Rome. Katherine is the preceding VP Media for UMD CHAARG and public relations officer for UMD Active Minds and an active member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She has also previously designed the cover page for the Paper Shell Review. After graduating, she plans to focus on entertainment writing or producing in the journalism world.
Kiersten Williams is a junior studying English at the University of Maryland and is looking to continue her education in Law school after graduation in Spring 2024. She is spending next year at UMD as an English TA, PAD member, and President of the club, Justice Reimagined: People over Prisons. Kiersten enjoys baking cakes as a side job, going to concerts, and traveling. She hopes to become more involved in Paper Shell next year and make the most of her senior year at UMD.
Moses Bakst is studying Electrical Engineering and is a member of the Jimenéz-Porter Writers’ House. He believes that all science is just magic we accept.
Hannah Campion is a junior English major with a history minor. She is active in the poetry club and enjoys writing and playing soccer. In the future she hopes to write fantasy and sci-fci novels.
Carolina Correia dos Santos is a English Language and Literarure major and Linguistics minor in her junior year. In her free time, she likes to spend most of her time reading, playing the guitar and the bass, and engaing in creative writing projects. She worked as an EFL instructor in Brazil, where she is from originally, and she is currently is the process of getting her TESOL certification so she can continue teaching in the U.S. With her degree in English, she would also like to work in publishing as a copyeditor and hopes to get a translation certificate in the future. She is a firm believer that language is an important stepping stone to bridging the gap between cultures to lead to a more understanding, well-informed, and compassionate world, and she hopes that she work will contribute to that.
A Banneker/Key Scholar, Nada Fadul is a sophomore at the University of Maryland concentrating in Physiology and Neurobiology and minoring in Science, Technology, Ethics and Policy. She enjoys reporting on research as a writer for UMD’s pre-medical journal The Scribe. As a Senator-Elect for the College of CMNS, Nada is honored to represent the voices of her fellow Terrapins to the University Senate faculty and administration. She was also honored to be elected as the CMNS Representative in UMD’s Student Government Association. Within the Gemstone Honors Program, Nada is the team liaison of MetaBio, researching a combinatorial approach to glioblastoma treatment. An undergraduate research assistant in an Optical Therapeutics and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Nada is contributing to the development of targeted photo-activable, multi-inhibitor nanoparticles for cancer treatment and imaging. In the future, Nada aspires to pursue an MD-PhD in the field of neurosurgery and cancer treatment, focusing on the applications of photodynamic therapy and nanotechnology in neuroimmunology. Outside of the lab enjoys walking her dog, working as a medical scribe at College Park Medical Center, volunteering with Terps4Change and her nonprofit Girls4Girls.
Sravya Kommuri of Rockville, MD, is a senior studying computer science and linguistics at the University of Maryland. An avid reader from youth, she finds solace in words and worlds. After graduating, she plans to work in industry. Emily Lin is an English major at UMD. She enjoys reading sci-fi books, video editing, and working on student short-films in her free time. After college, she plans to become a film producer.
Kelsey Meis is a junior pursing a double major in Computer Science and Immersive Media Design, and is ambitiously looking to complement her studies with an English minor in Digital Storytelling and Poetics. Fascinated by data science, software development, and digital media, she seeks to utilize her skills to craft educational and inspiring user experiences. Kelsey enjoys cooking, watching Bleach, and beating her boyfriend at chess. You can find her recklessly longboarding down Regents on her way to Iribe - she’s probably running late.
Lucy Ramos is a sophomore English major with a minor in creative writing. She is a member of the WMUC Radio Station’s Press Committee and loves any sort of live music. Lucy can be found at the McKeldin Library Services desk and is always surrounded by books and literature. Focusing on Secondary English Education, Lucy plans on teaching high school after graduation.
Eliza Barrie is an up and coming artist based in Kensington, MD. When she’s not working on some new art project, Eliza can be found trying out new moves at the local playground and spending quality time with her dads and her siblings. Eliza Barrie also enjoys swimming, peanut butter M&Ms, warm hugs, and having a good laugh.
Shalom Rosenberg serves as the Graduate Advisor for PSR, a role he has enjoyed for the last three years that is sadly concluding with this issue. Shalom is also a doctoral candidate in the Comparative Literature program at UMD researching the intersections of Jewish and Queer representations on screen. When not working on his PhD, teaching, or advising, Shalom enjoys being a dad and spending time with his family.
Spring 2023 Essays
General Essays
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