27 research outputs found
Contextualizing narrative theory: reading the politics of formal innovation in contemporary women's fiction
Get PDFTo ignore the strategies and structures through which stories are told, this thesis contends, is to neglect a vital dimension of their politics. Narratology provides productive analytical tools to illuminate the complex and varied mechanics of narrative form, yet it also bears the traces of its structuralist origins. Its value is therefore contingent upon its continuing reformulation as an expansive, pluralist and contextualized critical discipline. Participating in this expansion, this
thesis evidences the pertinence and vitality of some narratological models and the limitations of others. It opens up alternative critical possibilities by drawing upon insights within contemporary critical theory, from poststructuralist philosophy to transcultural feminism to
sociolinguistics. Above all, my interventions proceed from close readings of innovative fiction by women writers hitherto all but unrepresented in, and therefore potentially subversive of, existing models: Nicole Brossard, Daphne Marlatt, Hiromi Goto, Ali Smith, Jackie Kay, Erna Brodber, Dionne Brand, Aritha van Herk.
The first chapter formulates an in-between critical space where feminist and postmodernist theories of narrative intersect. It re-examines metafiction through the lens of auto(bio)graphical practice and feminist poststructuralist theories of self, and introduces the notions of folds and
echoes to describe specific structural innovations. Chapter Two examines unconventional uses of second-person address and reconsiders existing narratological approaches in their light, focusing on the `push and pull of narrative' that the `you' form enacts. Chapter Three addresses the insufficient attention paid to multiply narrated novels, theorizing them as `narrative communities' and introducing terms to describe different internal relations between narrators, relations that can often be read as determinedly 'democratic'. The final chapter contests the
hegemony of temporal models of narrativity by formulating a 'spatial poetics' that accounts both for how spatial structures can be agents of narrative change and for the complexity of textual constructions of space, which frequently exceed static definitions of 'setting'.
Running throughout is a reconception of narrative as located not with the figure of the narrator, but in relations of intersubjectivity. The narratological criticism formulated here works towards a situated ethics of reading responsive to the politics of writing: it is engaged, relational, and ever in process
HIT-PARADE N °5 - DANSES A GOGO
No full textTitre uniforme : [Moonlight serenade]Titre uniforme : [Blues in the night]Comprend : LET'S GO STEADY FOR THE SUMMER : slow / The THREE G'S - CANDY KISS / George MORGAN - WON'CHA : fox-woogie / The FOUR LAD ? - RUSH ME, fox-boogie / the Big Heats - LULU LEE, slow-rock / Bill GRADDOCK - NO REGRETS : blues / Johnnie RAY - MOONLIGHT SERENADE, slow / Ray CONNIFF - THE BLOB / The Five Blobs - BLUES IN THE NIGHT : blues / Doris DAY avec Frank DIEVAL et Orch. - SWEET THING, slow / The Three G'S - SHARK IN THE BATHTUB : hula-fox / Jimmy DEAN et Orch. - I'M NOT AFRAID : slow / George MORGAN - C'MON LET'S GO, rock / Guy MITCHELL avec Orch. - YEAH, YEAH, fox / Billy FARELLBnF-Partenariats, Collection sonore - BelieveContient une table des matière
Literary representations of maternity in the eighteenth century
Get PDFThe primary concern of this thesis is the representation, in the eighteenth century, of mothers' bodies. It is also concerned with the treatment of domestic duties which were supposed a consequence of a woman's very nature. Throughout the first seven decades of the century, medical men and virtuosi demonstrated particular interest in the nature of physicality, and especially in women's bodies, pregnancy, and childbirth. 1 will be testing out a widely-held view that dissection and new anatomical findings regarding women's bodies produced a new idealisation of motherhood, and that this was immediately translated into lay-medical and related discourse, and was thus firmly established in middle-class culture by the end of the century. The relationship between primary medical and lay-medical literature raises several questions: my work asks whether lay-medical literature mirrored medical writing, and whether there was a direct translation of material from one to the other. Lay-medical texts for women are especially interesting. They offer an insight into precisely what examples of female nature and correspondingly 'natural' behaviour were intended for women readers. Representations of maternity in specific forms of writing which rely heavily upon women for subject matter are further extended in the second half of this study. 1 have focussed upon two genres, conduct literature and narrative fiction. Neither is conventionally associated with medical or lay-medical discourse, yet both have significant links with these. Conduct literature and narrative fiction have much to offer in this attempt to recover what women were being taught about their bodies and roles; both were concerned with what the body displays externally, and with corresponding ideas of 'naturalness'. Conduct literature for women was enjoying a period of growth and change, and has obvious, direct links with medical texts. Narrative fiction also had important links with medical writing, and 1 will describe these. The dissemination of medical representations of the maternal body was a process which contributed to a contradictory cultural sense of female identity
Music in words : the music of Anthony Burgess, and the role of music in his literature
No full textTheý principal focus of the thesis is Anthony Burgess, a prolific novelist whose first and
enduring creative passion was music in general and composition in particular. Burgess
criticism is limited and largely out-of-date, showing little recognition of the aural or musical
elements in his fiction, and virtually no specialist commentary on the music and its
relationships with the literature. The main aim of the thesis, therefore, is to demonstrate the
variety and strength of the widespread musical elements in Burgess's literature, including the
importance he attaches to the sonic basis of language, and to show that these are supported by
the musical sensibility and technical competence evident in his. compositions. It is suggested
that in the inevitable reassessmenot f his work following his death in 1993, the effects of his
musicianship on his literary work should play a greater part than hitherto, and the thesis makes
a contribution to this reassessmenbt oth through its original critical commentaries on his music
and through the music-orientated discussion of his literature.
After an introduction and literature review, the first chapter examines three examples of
Burgess's little-known music. All are associated with verbal texts, though the range is
otherwise wide, and through them it is possible to draw conclusions about the competence of
his handling of musical language and structure. The second and third chapters examine the
more familiar work of Burgess the acclaimed author, but from the unfamiliar viewpoint of its
musical content, including not only surface references but also hidden allusions and technical
puzzles aimed at the musician reader. Two instances of music serving as a structural template
for literature are analysed in detail, and attention is also drawn to Burgess's awareness of
musical elements in the content and language of the, work of some. of his predecessors. The
final core-chapter,e xamines the fusion of Burgess's literary and,m usical skills in the context of
his music and words for stage and radio.
What emerges is the clear intermeshing of his parallel careers;, and the production within his
distinctive literary output of work which, due to the radical extent of its musicalisation, has to
be viewed as musically-aware literature for specialised readers, at times evincing, it is
proposed, a logic which springs primarily from music
Voices of inheritance : aspects of British film and television in the 1980s and 1990s
Get PDFDuring the 1990s the notion of the heritage film has become a taken for granted
category of British cinema. Rather than dispute the merits of particular films that lie
within this genre I question the construction of the relation between the idea of
heritage and contemporary British film and television. Using the critical literature
established by the contending cultural histories that address the rise of heritage in
British culture, I highlight other, frequently personal and national engagements with
inherited pasts. The concentration upon inheritance lends a greater emphasis to
what is passed on from the past and endures in the present.
The modes of articulating these inherited pasts are formally distinctive and
constructed out of the vocabulary of documentary and fiction. The corpus of texts
begins with the apparently radical avant garde film-making of Derek Jannan and
moves through the work of the Black Audio Film Collective to the apparently
conservative television documentaries of Alan Bennett. These key voices are then
situated in relation to the hegemonic definition of heritage and current debates
concerning British film and television. The persisting opposition which defined
British cinema during the 1980s posits an unofficial cinema characterized by dissent
and urban decay against an official cinema represented by the heritage film. My
corpus of texts challenges this opposition. The different engagements with inherited
pasts take place from different speaking positions and represent a diminishing
publicly funded tradition of film and television production. The range of positions
from margins to centre reveal that there was a contestation of the cultural sources
which are aggregated into the construction of heritage during the 1980s and 1990s
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Regulating competitive balance in sport
No full textSport is an integral part of popular culture, capturing the hearts and minds of millions of people from every section of society 1. Maintaining competitive balance in sport is essential in preserving its long term survival. A higher uncertainty of outcome in contests is likely to result in greater spectator demand and increased revenues; whereas an imbalanced competition will eventually lead to a decline in attendance and the overall quality of the sport. The regulation of competitive balance in individual sports is difficult to implement, as success relies largely on the athlete’s individual skill and ability 2. In contrast, team sports can be influenced by a number of regulatory measures such as player drafts, salary caps, transfer windows, and player quotas. Analysis into Europe and North America’s regulation of competitive balance reveals a variety of measures used to foster greater equality of opportunity between teams competing with one another in sport. Unfortunately European sports are restricted somewhat, as access to sport is considered to be a social advantage and importance for the integration of citizens, and therefore cannot remain outside the scope of the fundamental principles of free movement. Although the European Union accepts the ‘specificity of sport’, it grants no exception from European Union law for the industry; a principle that has recently been reaffirmed in the decisions of Bosman 3 and Meca-Medina 4. Sports governing bodies must therefore ensure new rules and regulatory measures comply with European Union law; reducing the number of measures available to them
Teenage Pregnancy and Fertility in English Communities: Neighbourhood, Family and Peer Influences on Behaviour
No full textPhDThe British government established the Teenage Pregnancy Unit in 1999 to
reduce early pregnancy. Current policy initiatives have a significant geographic
dimension: specific English neighbourhoods have been identified as the sites
where most early pregnancy occurs and have been targeted for intervention.
The aim of this thesis is to explore the factors that influence teenage sexual and
reproductive behaviour by drawing on the neighbourhoods effects literature.
Within this body of research, teenage reproduction is believed to be affected by a
multiplicity of factors operating within different domains. The analysis (of survey
data and qualitative material collected in three locations) was guided by two
research questions: which factors within neighbourhoods, family and peer
contexts are the most important in elucidating the causal pathways to teenage
sex, pregnancy and fertility; and do the importance of these factors vary between
neighbourhoods?
Overall, factors within neighbourhood and peer contexts were found to be less
significant than family and individual-level factors. The analysis of British Cohort
Study data showed that, for example, women who experience teenage
pregnancy or birth lived in deprived areas at age 16, but other neighbourhood
variables were not significant in multivariate analysis. There were some
differences between neighbourhoods, but the cohort member's attitude to school
was, generally, the most important factor associated with teenage sexual and
reproductive behaviour. The qualitative data supported these statistical results.
There was little evidence that women had been influenced by either their friends
or others within their neighbourhoods (though some women reported knowing
high numbers of teenage mothers), and nearly all the young mothers had low
educational attainment. In conclusion, individual and family-level influences on
sexual and reproductive outcomes are paramount, but behaviour is also subtly
informed by wider social factors
The Church of Christ in early Bernicia: forerunners and foundation
Get PDFA firmly multidlsciplinary approach starts from a theological definition of the Church as the Body of Christ, and Christians as empowered by the Holy Spirit, the possibility of miracle, and the reality of warfare with demons are taken seriously, and scholarly belief in them defended. They are made the subject of excursuses. Hagiographic writings are treated with cautious respect. Bernicia, land and people, and its relationship to its neighbours are considered. In a demographic excursus the view that Dark Age life-span was short is rebuffed. Part two discusses the life and mission of the Church in sub-Roman Britain. In our area evidence for this proves to be largely limited to the shadowy activities of Ninian and Kentigern, therefore further evidence of the status of the British church in the fifth and sixth centuries is sought in Patrick’s Confession and Gildas's De Excidlo Britɸmniae. A new model for the latter - the sermon of the protomartyr Stephen - is proposed; as is a new exegesis of D. E. B. c.69, which may have Implications for our understanding of the persistence of Pelagian beliefs. An excursus considers the significance of white stones in association with Christian burial. The origins of the mission of Augustine are considered briefly. Part three considers the mission of Paulinus in detail, in particular the reasons for its collapse; in contrasting it with the Celtic mission misslological principles are cited. A reappraisal of Paulinus's retreat, more favourable to him than that normally held, is reached by invoking wartime experience. The discipline of obstetrics is involved to advance the theory that /Ethelburh's delivery was premature; also earlier to re-examine the Herbert Ian account of Kentigern's conception, where the 'something contrary to sound doctrine' is identified, against the hitherto standard view, as the apparent approval, by Servanus, of extramarital coitus. The final establishment of the Church in Bernicia is seen as occurring principally as the result of Aidan's mission, but with valid contributions from the British and Roman traditions. That Simeon of Durham gave the credit for this foundation to Oswald is found Justifiable. A new genealogical tree of Oswy has been constructed, and maps have been provided
Public duty and private interest: report of the Committee of Inquiry established by the Prime Minister on 15 February 1978
Get PDFThis was the first report to set out the principles that underpin public servants\u27 and politicians\u27 obligations to disclose and manage conflicts of interest.
Tabled in 1979, this is the first time a digitised version of this report, known as the \u27Bowen report\u27, has been made publically available.
The intention to establish this inquiry was announced in a press statement issued by the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser on 16 December 1977. The statement mentioned the difficult position in which a Prime Minister finds himself when he is called upon to pass judgment on colleagues with whom he has worked closely, particularly as the Prime Minister must act as a judge and jury when allegations of impropriety are raised.
Fraser expressed his disatisfaction with a previous inquiry on the topic, conducted by a Parliamentary committee. He stated that he would instead he would appoint a judge or Queen\u27s Counsel, to be assisted by a businessman and an accountant, to carry out a new inquiry.
On 15 February 1978 Fraser stated that the new inquiry would be conducted by the Chief Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, the Hon. Sir Nigel Bowen, K.B.E., as well as Sir Cecil Looker, and Sir Edward Cain, C.B.E.
The terms of reference were:
1. To recommend whether a statement of principles can be drawn up on the nature of private interests, pecuniary or otherwise, which could conflict with the public duty of any or all persons holding positions of public trust in relation to the Commonwealth.
2. To recommend whether principles can be defined which would promote the avoidance and if necessary the resolution of any conflicts of interest which the Inquiry may, under paragraph (1) above, find to be possible.
3. In the event of a finding under paragraph (2) above that principles can be defined, to recommend what those principles should be.
4. Without limiting the scope of paragraph (3) above, to recommend whether or not a register under judicial or other supervision should be maintained so that, in the event of allegations of impropriety, the allegation may be open to judicial investigation and report.
5. For the purposes of paragraph(1) above, \u27persons holding positions of public trust in relation to the Commonwealth\u27 to include the following:
(a) Ministers;
(b) Senators and Members of the House of Representatives;
(c) Staff of (a) and (b);
(d) Members of the Australian Public Service; and
(e) Such other persons or classes of persons which in the opinion of the Committee ought to be included.
This is the final report of the inquiry, which has helped shaped the conduct of the public service to this day.
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Part of the Policy History Collection. Digitisation of this report has been supported by the National Library of Australia.
Reproduced with permission of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
'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
