2,532 research outputs found
The 'true use of reading' : Sarah Fielding and mid eighteenth-century literary strategies.
No full textPhDThe aim of this thesis is to explore, by examining her life and
works, how Sarah Fielding (1710-68) established her identity as an author.
The definition of her role involves her notions of the functions of
writing and reading.
Sarah Fielding attempts to invite readers to form a sense of ties
by tacit understanding of her messages. As she believes that a work
of literature is produced through collaboration between the writer and
the reader, it is an important task in her view to show her attentiveness
toward reading practice. In her consideration of reading, she has two
distinct, even opposite views of her audience: on the one hand a familiar
and limited circle of readers with shared moral and cultural values and
on the other potential readers among the unknown mass of people. The
dual targets direct her to devise various strategies. She tries to
appeal to those who can endorse and appreciate her moral values as well
as her learning. Her writings and letters testify that she is sensitive
to the demands of the literary market, trying to lead the taste of readers
by inventing new forms.
The thesis opens with an overview of Sarah Fielding's career,
followed by a consideration of her critical attention to the roles of
reading. I go on to examine the narrative structures and strategies
she deploys, with a particular emphasis on her use of the epistolary
method. The following chapter deals with her attention to the reading
of the moral message tangibly embodied in her educational writing. It
is followed by an analysis of the activity which earned her a reputation
as a learned woman. Various as the forms of her works are, they invariably
reflect her attempt to balance herself between the two demands of
inventiveness and familiarity
Sarah Fielding: Satire and Subversion in the Eighteenth-Century Novel
No full textThis study of Sarah Fielding (1710―68) is an original contribution to Fielding scholarship that has a dual purpose: to support those who are striving to re-introduce her to the modern literary landscape in an effort to restore her eighteenth-century literary standing, and to firmly establish Fielding as an early feminist writer. It is argued here that throughout her oeuvre Fielding challenged prevailing traditions that denied women a choice, particularly in education, employment and marriage. These themes are also considered in the political treatises of Mary Astell (1666―1731) and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759―97), who are now widely recognised as feminist writers.
It is further argued that Fielding’s subversion in fiction of the English patriarchal system is underscored by her unorthodox performance in the literary arena. This is fully explored alongside her use of sentimentalism as a literary tool with which she challenges her seemingly inhumane society. Fielding’s interest in ‘the Labyrinths of the Mind’ (in modern terms, human psychology) will also be addressed as will her placement in the history of feminism and her placement in the sentimental novel tradition. Fielding’s performance as a literary critic will be compared with the few female authors who, like her, dared to publish literary criticism during her writing career. Accordingly, extracts from Fielding’s novels and her two critical pamphlets will be thoroughly examined.
An updated biography of Fielding that is also included here will provide evidence for a further claim, that her fiction is autobiographical in part. A comprehensive account of Fielding’s performance as a literary critic forms the final chapter of this work. It is the first full-length examination of her contribution to the genre and includes an appraisal of her recently unearthed critical pamphlet entitled A Comparison Between the Horace of Corneille and The Roman Father of Mr. Whitehead (1750) that is yet to be formerly attributed to her. Ultimately this study of Fielding will go far beyond what has previously been written about this remarkable eighteenth-century author, particularly regarding her feminist activity
'F- F- Felt it': Breathing Feminist, Queer and Clown Thinking into the Practice and Study of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed and Blasted
No full textThis thesis uses studio practice, scholarly research, close reading of text, performance observation and conversation with practitioners to establish diverse readings of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed. It includes original material from the 2012 productions of Cleansed in Japan (Kamome-za Fringe Theatre), and in Ireland (Bare Cheek Theatre). It notes practice on Cleansed in gallery spaces (Cast-Off Drama, UK). It offers a dramaturgical approach to workshopping the play from a feminist and queer position, informed by theories of gender and transgender, and the marginalised, loving and delinquent practice of clowning. The research discusses principles of breath, voice and sexuate difference drawing primarily on the philosophies of Luce Irigaray, on the voice practice of Cicely Berry and the clown teaching of Sue Morrison.
The work challenges the ‘in-yer-face’ theatre discourse on Kane arguing that it represents a McDonaldization of its subject matter, and an insidious trivialisation of her texts. It offers new thinking on the opening night of Blasted (1995), suggesting that the ‘furore’ was fuelled by collective male hysteria and superstition; its roots centred in mourning. Analysing Cleansed in relation to Edward Bond’s Saved and Lear, it explores tropes of ghosts, stitching and the silent scream, and argues that Kane militates for gynocentric time and becoming. It analyses the symbol of the perimeter fence as a feature of 1980s Britain, noting the strength of binary associations configured in it with reference to both English football hooliganism (male) and the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (female). It argues that Kane sets up heteronormative binaries in Cleansed to debate and contest them.
A key conclusion of the thesis is that Cleansed politically addresses and dramatises issues of transgender experience presenting accounts of gender violence, mutability, transitioning, the sharp fractures and silences of gender dysphoria, but also, ultimately, queer desire, love and optimism
Food and eating in fiction since 1950 with particular reference to the writing of Angela Carter, Doris Lessing, Michele Roberts and Alice Thomas Ellis.
No full textPhDEating is a fundamental activity. What people eat, how and with whom, what
they feel about food, what they do or do not want to eat and why - even who
they eat - are of crucial significance in any reading of human behaviour.
In this thesis, I consider the diverse and complex uses of food and eating
in fiction since 1950, especially that written by women. I argue both that food
and eating carry much of the meaning of a novel or story and that the acts of
cooking, feeding and eating depicted are inseparable from issues of power and
control: individually, interpersonally, culturally, politically.
My discussion centres on the writing of Angela Carter, Doris Lessing,
Michele Roberts and Alice Thomas Ellis. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory,
sociology, anthropology, Foucault, Bakhtin and others, the thesis aims to
construct an interdisciplinary perspective which both resists reductive
interpretations and emphasises the centrality, complexity and diversity of food
and eating in literature in our culture.
I begin with an examination of the ambiguities of maternal feeding and
nurturing, moving on to explore the links between appetite, eating and sexuality.
I explore cannibalism and vampirism as manifestations of oppression, but also as
indicating insatiable emptiness and transgressive appetite. The body itself is
crucial, and my argument considers the paradox of not eating as
control/enslavement, also tracing self-starvation as a positive route towards
wholeness and connection. The last part of my argument focuses on social
eating, examining conventions, rituals and food itself in connection with power
relations, and finally considers how we might truly speak of food and eating in
the context of society as a whole
Recommended from our members
A comparison of laboratory, clinical and self-report measures of prospective memory in healthy adults and individuals with brain injury
Get PDFIndividuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have demonstrated deficits in prospective memory (PM) functioning when compared to healthy adults. These deficits have been measured using laboratory measures, clinical measures and self-report questionnaires. However, PM has been shown to involve multiple cognitive processes and have a variety of stages. Thus, it is not known if these measures all assess the same aspects of PM. Thus, this study was designed to measure the convergent validity of the three types of PM measures in both healthy adults and individuals with TBI. We aimed to investigate the convergent validity of the three types of tasks in two ways. First, we sought to investigate if the PM deficits experienced by people with TBI are consistent across tasks. And, second, we sought to examine the relationship between the three types of tasks. Results demonstrated that while all three types of measures were sensitive to PM deficits in TBI, there were differences in the aspects/processes of PM being measured. Data from the laboratory measure suggested a specific difficulty with detecting the correct cue. Data from the clinical measure suggested that TBI has a greater effect on time-based cues than event-based cues and that the primary deficit is a prospective intention retrieval deficit rather than the retrospective memory component. In addition, those with TBI did not differ from healthy adults when the time delay was short enough, suggesting that PM is not universally impaired. Data from the self-report questionnaire suggested that those with TBI are more sensitive to difficulties with basic activities of daily living rather than instrumental activities on daily living. These results are discussed in terms of rehabilitation techniques that could focus first on cue detection and use basic activities of daily living as outcome measures
A sketch of the Munro clan, also of William Munro who, deported from Scotland, settled in Lexington, Massachusetts, and some of his posterity, together with a Letter from Sarah Munroe to Mary Mason descriptive of the visit of President Washington to Lexington in 1789.
No full textLetter from Sarah Munroe to Mary Mason: p. [55]-75.Mode of access: Internet
The prose works of Mrs. Ellis.
No full textv. 1. The women of England.--The daughters of England.--The wives of England.--The mothers of England. v. 2. The poetry of life.--Pictures of private life, first series.--Pictures of private life, second series.--A voice from the vintage, & c.Mode of access: Internet
- …
