Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Herbert Blau,not only for his able direction of this dissertation,but for his encouragement and unfailing support from the time I began my PhD studies.When waves of insecurity and diffidence came over me,it was his intellectual energy and rigor that became the steadying presence I needed.He knew just when to be my teacher,when to treat me as a colleague,and, above all,when to be my friend.For that I am grateful indeed. I thank also the other members of my committee: Professor Ihab Hassan,whose classes were an inspiration; and Professor Mary Lydon,who was my first teacher at UW- Milwaukee,and who introduced me to that "new French Stuff," as we referred to post-structuralism in those early days,to feminist theory,and to the riches of a transatlantic literary strain I was only dimly aware of.It was her intellectual excitement that I caught,and her friendship that sustained me as I strove to learn a new vocabulary and to read "differently." I thank my readers,Professor Kathleen Woodward,whose friendship and support over the years has been invaluable, and Professor Marcus Bullock,whose interest in my work has vAcknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Herbert Blau, not only for his able direction of this dissertation, but for his encouragement and unfailing support from the time I began my PhD studies. When waves of insecurity and diffidence came over me, it was his intellectual energy and rigor that became the steadying presence I needed. He knew just when to be my teacher, when to treat me as a colleague, and, above all, when to be my friend. For that I am grateful indeed. I thank also the other members of my committee: Professor Ihab Hassan, whose classes were an inspiration; and Professor Mary Lydon, who was my first teacher at UW￾Milwaukee, and who introduced me to that "new French Stuff," as we referred to post-structuralism in those early days, to feminist theory, and to the riches of a transatlantic literary strain I was only dimly aware of. It was her intellectual excitement that I caught, and her friendship that sustained me as I strove to learn a new vocabulary and to read "differently." I thank my readers, Professor Kathleen Woodward, whose friendship and support over the years has been invaluable, and Professor Marcus Bullock, whose interest in my work has v