2,506 research outputs found
Writing and the rights of reality: usurpation and potentiality in Derrida, Plato, Nietzsche, and Beckett
No full textThe thesis critically evaluates Jacques Derrida's conferral of the rights of reality on writing, focussing on his theory of an arche-text in light of the speculative nature of this theory. The theory is initially considered in the context of Derrida's elucidation of the usurpatory status of writing within the Platonic and Nietzschean texts. This consideration reveals an admission of writing's usurpatory status by both writers while at the same time demonstrating their awareness of the intrinsically speculative nature of this view, the significance of writing lying in its ability to exteriorise the radically indeterminate status of consciousness m relation to reality rather than its ability to displace consciousness or reality The analyses, therefore, not only bring the Derridean hypothesis of a repressive or phonocentric metaphysical episteme into question but also exhibit the historical and philosophical role of potentiality in relation to writing, writing's ultimate significance lying in its capacity to exteriorise our existence as a mode of potentiality. Accordingly, in the second half of the thesis the Derridean theory of writing is countered with a specifically Aristotelian theory of the text as it is exhibited in the prose of Samuel Beckett, an author whose significance lies in his close alignment with Derridean theory within contemporary criticism. It is demonstrated that this identification has obviated an awareness of the significance of potentiality within the Beckettian text, his work consequently being appraised in the previously neglected context of Aristotelian metaphysics
Usability and acceptability of a website that provides tailored advice on falls prevention activities for older people
No full textThis article presents the usability and acceptability of a website that provides older people with tailored advice to help motivate them to undertake physical activities that prevent falls. Views on the website from interviews with 16 older people and 26 sheltered housing wardens were analysed thematically. The website was well received with only one usability difficulty with the action plan calendar. The older people selected balance training activities out of interest or enjoyment, and appeared to carefully add them into their current routine. The wardens were motivated to promote the website to their residents, particularly those who owned a computer, had balance problems, or were physically active. However, the participants noted that currently a minority of older people use the Internet. Also, some older people underestimated how much activity was enough to improve balance, and others perceived themselves as too old for the activities
Ohio impromptu, genre and Beckett on film
No full textSamuel Beckett’s choice of the title Ohio Impromptu to name the play first performed to an audience of academics and scholars at Columbus Ohio in 1981 is one manifestation of its author’s interest in the question of literary genre; more generally, in Beckett’s dramatic works one encounters a meticulous attention to the activity of categorisation, even if the energy is often directed toward the creation of phantom genres for spectral exemplars. This essay concerns itself with Ohio Impromptu in particular because by means of elements specific to this play (including the context in which it was first performed) it comments upon its own very failure to occupy its designated genre co-ordinates (these include its identity both as a play and as an ‘impromptu’). This play, which is so apt to incorporate other genres, however, is presided over by a stage direction which locates it firmly in the theatrical context. It is in its deliberate failure to attend to this stage direction that the Beckett on Film version of the play goes beyond the mere treacherous fidelity that is inevitably a feature of any adaptation. In arguing this, the essay analyses the foregrounding in the play of questions that can be said to pertain to genre (in several senses). Its more specific intention is to suggest that, via a combination of casting and special effects, the adaptation succeeds not only in cancelling the critical reflection on the ‘genre gesture’ that is lodged in Ohio Impromptu, but also in eradicating the very disjunction between Reader and Listener upon which the play depends
Samuel Beckett and the Writers of Port-Royal
No full textIt has been observed that ‘the literary influences on Beckett have been far more important than has been acknowledged, and more important indeed, than the philosophical influences’ (Smith 2002: 3). The truth of this statement is evidenced by the description that scholars have given of Samuel Beckett’s relationship to seventeenth century French classicism. To date, critical interest has been limited for the most part to the figure of the philosopher René Descartes on the (fragile) grounds that Beckett was exclusively concerned with the Cartesian imperative of clarity and order, the fundamental dualism between body and mind, and Nominalism.
Together with the assumption that Beckett’s vision was essentially Cartesian, his literary filiation with Pascal was suggested by critics, but only in terms of Beckett’s formal approach to the theatre. In his short article on En attendant Godot in 1953, the playwright Jean Anouilh was among the first reviewers to suggest that Beckett’s drama synthesizes the encounter between ‘classicism’ and a ‘modern’ form of art. It is well known that Beckett retained a lifelong admiration for Pascal – indeed, Pascal was one of his ‘old chestnuts’ (Knowlson 1997: 653). Little attention has been paid, however, to the originality of Pascal’s thought, the specific nature of his prose, and the impact these might have had upon Beckett’s mature work, especially the trilogy and the subsequent short prose. Yet, in the literary and philosophical context of post-war France, Beckett’s filiation with Pascal, their corresponding preoccupations, were evident to his contemporaries, who identified Pascal as an underlying presence in his works
Author Samuel Delaney talks about his participation in the 38th annual Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop at Michigan State University
No full textAuthor Samuel Delaney talks about his participation in the 38th annual Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop at Michigan State University. Delaney comments on the work done by the students, and the impact which the workshop might have on their careers. He also talks about his own writing career, teaching, who influenced him, and why he portrays mundane and often vulgar acts in his books. Delaney is interviewed by Capital Area District Library librarian Jessica Trotter
Écriture de soi et traduction dans les oeuvres « jumelles » de Samuel Beckett et Wilfred R. Bion
No full textÉcriture de soi et traduction dans les oeuvres « jumelles » de Samuel Beckett et Wilfred R. Bion — Cet article envisage la problématique de la traduction à partir du champ psychanalytique. Wilfred R. Bion fut pour une brève période l'analyste de Samuel Beckett. L'auteur souhaite démontrer que les écrits de Samuel Beckett et Wilfred R. Bion peuvent être lus comme des oeuvres jumelles qui tentent à leur manière de traduire l'infigurable source du « secret » de la cure. L'auteur aborde l'étude du concept d'après coup en psychanalyse, la mise enjeu du mythe de Babel dans l'oeuvre théorique de Bion, la traduction de la langue-mère dans l'oeuvre de Beckett. Les oeuvres de Bion et Beckett tenteraient ainsi l'impossible traduction du trauma dans la langue maternelle.Writing the Seifand Translation in the "Twin" Works of Samuel Beckett and Wilfred R. Bion — This article takes the psychoanalytic field as its point of departure in its discussion of the problematics of translation. For a brief period, Wilfred R. Bion was Samuel Beckett's analyst. The author endeavors to show that the writings of Beckett and Bion can be read as "twin" works that attempt, in their way, to translate the elusive source of the cure's "secret." The author examines the concept of après coup (deferred action) in psychoanalysis, the role of the Babel myth in Bion's theoretical writings, and the translation of the mother tongue in Beckett's writings. Both Bion and Beckett's writings would thus attempt the impossible translation, that of translating trauma into the mother tongue
Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook, Interviewed by Dr. Barbara R. Hatton, August 21, 2012
No full textVideo interviews with a complementing monograph providing reflections of former presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities discussing leadership, mission, challenges, successes, and issues of race and education. Interviewer: Dr. Barbara R. Hatton, President, South Carolina State University 1992-1995, President, Knoxville College 1997-2005. Interviewee: Dr. Samuel Dubois Cook, President Dillard University 1974-1997
In Richtung Delogozentrismus : eine Studie der dramatischen Arbeiten von Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard und Caryl Churchill
No full textThe relation between reality and language, the instability of language as a signification system, the representation crisis, and the borders of interpretation are the controversial issues that have engaged not only philosophers, but also many authors, translators, and literary critics. Some philosophers like Derrida accuse Western thinking of being obsessed with binary oppositions. In Derrida's view, Western tradition resorts to external references as God, truth, origin, center and reason to stabilize the signification system. Since these concepts lack an internal sense and there is no transcendental signified that can fix these signifiers, language turns to an instable system by means of which no fixed meaning can be created. Many authors like Beckett, Stoppard, and Caryl Churchill also noticed this impossibility of language. While Derrida's deconstructive approach to this crisis has an epistemological nature, these playwrights present an aesthetic solution by turning the deconstructive potential of language against itself in text and performance. This dissertation aims at exploring their performing methods and dramatic texts to demonstrate how their delogocentric strategies work. By analyzing their plays, I will examine if their use of signifiers that have no references in reality, intentional misconceptions, disintegrated subjectivities, decentered narratives, and experimental performances can help them undermine the prevailing logocentrism of Western thought. The examination of the change in aesthetic strategies from Beckett, who belongs to earlier stages of post modernism, to Caryl Churchill, who should perform in a globalized world with increasing dominance of speed and information, is another aim of this research. In my view,Beckett's obsession with unspeakable, absurdity, and disintegration of subjectivity develops to Stoppard's language games, metadrama, and anti-representation and culminates in Churchill's anti-narrative texts and pluralistic performances. The monophony of Beckett's dramatic texts is replaced by the polyphony of Churchill's performances, which are a mixture of theater, dance and music. However, all explored dramatic texts in this dissertation have something in common: they are language games, which have no claim on a faithful representation of reality or transcendental truth.Der Zusammenhang der Realität mit der Sprache, die Unstabilität der Sprache als ein Signifikationssystem, die Repräsentationkrise, und die Grenze der Interpretation sind die Streitpunkte, die nicht nur die zeitgenössischen Philosophen sondern auch viele Autoren beschäftigt haben. Manche Philosophen wie Derrida unterstellen, dass das westliche Denken das Wort als Sinträger betrachtet. Seiner Meinung nach beruht der Logozentrismus des abendländischen Denkens auf binärer Opposition oder externer Referenz wie der Präsenz von Gott, Wahrheit, Ursprung, Ursache, Transzendenz oder einem Zentrum. Da alle diese Begriffe ohne eigentlichen Inhalt sind, und es kein transzendentales Signifikat gibt, auf das alle diese Signifikanten jeweils verweisen, wird die Sprache zu einem unstabilen Signifikationssystem, deren Mittel keine fixierbare Bedeutung erschaffen wird. Aus dieser Problematik kommt eine Repräsentationkrise, die nicht nur die Philosophie sondern auch die Literatur betrifft. Ob und wie man gegen die Grenze der Sprache anrennen kann, ist nicht nur eine philosophische, sondern auch eine ästhetische Frage. Während die Antwort der Philosophen wie Derrida eine dekonstruktive Annäherung zur logozentrischen Interpretationen ist, schlägt die Literatur eine ästhetische Lösung vor: die Darstellung der Sprachkrise mittels der Sprache. Kann uns das experimentelle Kunstwerk der Autoren wie Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard und Caryl Churchill von der Illusion der Wirklichkeit befreien? Ist es möglich eine anti-erzählenden Erzählung zu schaffen, die die Dominanz des beherrschenden Diskurses abschaffen kann? Diese Fragen zu erforschen visiert diese Dissertation an. Die ersten Versuche dieser Autoren gegen pure Repräsentation richten sich an neue Phantasiequellen außerhalb der Realität. Dramatiker wie Beckett, Stoppard und Churchill nutzen die Eigendynamik der Sprache als eine Quelle um ihren Funktionsausfall darzustellen. Die Signifikate, die sich auf keine wirkliche Signifikante beziehen, die Charakteren, für die es kein Duplikat in der Realität gibt, die zerbrochene Subjektivität, die sich nicht mittels Sprache äußern kann, die Handlung, der es an Einheit oder auch Beschlussunfähigkeit mangelt, und schließlich die Sprache die nicht mehr eine ordentliche Sprache ist, stellen das Mittel, das diese Dramatiker für die Dekonstruktion der Sprache und des Textes brauchen. Diese Arbeit wird versuchen bei der Analyse ihrer Theaterstücke aufzuzeigen, wie die Methode, die diese Autoren genutzt haben, sich im Lauf der Zeit geändert hat. Becketts Besessenheit mit dem Unsprechbaren, der Sinnlosigkeit oder zerstörter Subjektivität steigert sich zu undeutlicher Sprache, Identitätsverlust und Antirepräsentation bei Stoppard und kulminiert in Destrukturierung des Narrativs und der Sprache bei Churchill. Die Einstimmigkeit von Becketts Werken ist durch die Polyphonie von Churchills Theaterstücke, die eine Mischung aus Theater, Tanz und Musik sind, ersetzt worden. Alle Theaterstücke, die in dieser Arbeit analysiert wurden haben jedoch eine gemeinsame Eigenschaft: Sie sind Sprachspiele, die keinen Anspruch auf Realitätstreue oder transzendentale Wahrheit haben
The idler [electronic resource] : By the author of The rambler. With additional essays. In two volumes. The sixth edition.
No full textThe author of the Rambler = Samuel Johnson and others.O & L report frontispieceElectronic reproduction.English Short Title Catalog,Reproduction of original from Bodleian Library (Oxford)
Richardson, Barbauld, and the construction of an early modern fan club
No full textMPhilMuch has been written about the life and long works of the eighteenth century epistolary novelist, Samuel Richardson, but the prospect of his position as the first celebrity novelist – responsible for courting his own fame as well as initiating his own fan club – has largely been ignored. The body of manuscripts housed at the National Art Library in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London provides the modern scholar with evidence of the skeletal beginnings of an early fan club. This thesis aims to show how these manuscripts were turned into a saleable commodity by the publisher and entrepreneur Richard Phillips, while under the guiding hand of another, slightly later, literary celebrity, Anna Laetitia Barbauld. In order to restore Richardson’s reputation amongst a new nineteenth century audience, Barbauld was required to construct her own idea of him as an eighteenth century celebrity author, and in doing so the insecurities of a self-professed, apparently diffident man, are revealed. Barbauld’s capacious, but heavily edited selection of letters is analyzed in this thesis, providing ample evidence that Richardson’s correspondents were more than just eager letter writers. By using Barbauld’s biography of Richardson this thesis aims to show how she manipulates the genre of life writing in her construction of him.
This thesis offers an alternative reading of how the Richardson manuscripts are viewed, redefining them as not simply a collection of letters, but as a collective entity, deliberately selected and archived as evidence of an early modern fan club, and its celebrity managing director
- …
