2010 Prize Winner:

This year's Presidential Undergraduate Honorable Mention for Best Undergraduate Essay on a Comparative Topic goes to Andrea Yamsuan of The University of California at Los Angeles, for her paper, “Possibilities of Paradise in Yeats and Rilke.”

Andrea Yamsuan's “Possibilities of Paradise in Yeats and Rilke” is worthy of praise for its originality as well as its wide-ranging cultural background. Against the backdrop of foundational texts of the Western tradition and of very contemporary cultural material, this provocative essay is a focused examination of the notion of paradise in two very complex poets. With thoughtful and creative perceptions, Andrea can discern trends over long historical periods and concentrate them on a particular literary moment which she discusses in a daring and sophisticated way.

2010 Presidential Undergraduate Prize Committee:
Nicoletta Pireddu, Georgetown Uuniversity (Chair)
Martin Harries, New York University
Ronit Ricci, National University of Singapore