31,328 research outputs found
Theology in suspense : how the detective fiction of P.D. James provokes theological thought
No full textElectronic redacted version excludes material for which permission has not been granted by the rights holderThe following dissertation argues that the detective fiction of P.D. James
provokes her readers to think theologically. I present evidence from the body of
James’s work, including her detective fiction that features the Detective Adam
Dalgliesh, as well as her other novels, autobiography, and non-fiction work. I also
present a brief history of detective fiction. This history provides the reader with a
better understanding of how P.D James is influenced by the detective genre as well as
how she stands apart from the genre’s traditions.
This dissertation relies on an interview that I conducted with P.D. James in
November, 2008. During the interview, I asked James how Christianity has
influenced her detective fiction and her responses greatly contribute to this
dissertation. However, James’s novels should be interpreted and explored in the
manner that they are received by the reader. How the reader receives and responds to
the novels, not only how James writes the novels, is what causes her stories to
provoke theological thinking.
By examining Christian symbolism that is present in setting, character, the
Detective Adam Dalgliesh, and plot, this dissertation seeks to assert that James
contributes to a theological conversation through her popular detective fiction
Godwin, James H.
No full textMary Godwin - wifehttps://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-ch-memoranda-1932/1381/thumbnail.jp
The Godwinian psychology of hope and its legacy in the work of Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley
No full textThis thesis examines the work of William Godwin in terms of a conjunction between secular Enlightenment optimism and the psychology of Christian hope. This conjunction produced his particular inflection of human perfectibility, where the idea of liberal improvement in society becomes a semi-fictional narrative of faith. This political philosophy is developed alongside a Dissenting literary theory that
understands literature as discussion, locating the means of improvement in the written text's influence over the mind of the reader. Godwin's interest in altering the mindset
of his readership as a means of political improvement sees him emphasise the idea of hope in his novels, seeking to sustain the progressive project through literature in the
face of the rise of anti-Jacobinism and Malthusian political economy in the late 1790s.
Percy Shelley defined his literary project as an attempt to revive liberal hope in the wake of the `failure' of the French Revolution, a definition initiated by his reading of
Godwin. His reaction against Wordsworthian conservatism is framed in the terms of Godwinian psychology. Percy Shelley's theories on the poet as `legislator' emerge
from his encounter with Godwin's ideas on reader-response as the vehicle of improvement. However, there is also a reaction against Godwinian hope, which sees Percy Shelley explore a countervailing anti-humanist disappointment.
A key theme of Mary Shelley's novels is the persistence of Godwinian hope. She discusses Godwinian ideas on benevolence and the absence of innate disposition to
crime as a means of reviving the progressive project. While Mary Shelley explores the collapse of liberal optimism, she makes a paradoxical attempt to sustain Godwinian hope through a disappointed lament for its demise.
The thesis contends that the work of these authors constituted a coherent debate on the liberal Enlightenment, forming an important presence in British literary culture
from 1793 up to the verge of the first Reform Bill in 1832
Engraved portrait of James Nayler (1618–1660)
No full textEngraved portrait of James Nayler (1618-1660) by Robert Grave (1768-1825). Inscribed, 'Born at Ardesloe, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire. Was an Independent and served Quarter Master in ye Parliament Army, about the Year 1641. turn'd Quaker in 1651. Punish'd as a Blasphemer 1656. Author of many Books & Dyed at Holm in Huntingtonshire 1660. Aged 44.
Polyphony and the anxiety of influence in the fiction of Henry James
No full textJames's fiction, especially in the Middle Phase, centres
on the figure of the artist and is characterized by, the two
interrelated aspects which previous criticism has largely
overlooked: the Bakhtinian 'polyphonic' -creation of
'author-thinkers'; and the conflict between ephebes and
precursors, for which Harold-Bloom's concept of 'the-anxiety of
influence' is the most illuminating model. Polyphony is the
narrative mode, and influence is the intra-artistic, theme.
These, as the Introduction to the thesis makes clear, are
rehearsed in James's inaugural novel, Roderick Hudson. Rowland
Mallet is an author-thinker, and his failure is caused by
authorial limitations. His monologism -is impaired by his
mistaking empathy for the authorial sympathy. Likewise,
Hudson's failure does not arise from a mercurial temperament,
but from a polyphonic shortcoming: not possessing the power of
fiction to contain the fiction of power in, his mentor. And the
relationships among the three artists - Gloriani, Hudson and
Singleton - perfectly exemplify the Bloomian-theme. It is these
two concepts, polyphony and influence, which are the major
preoccupation in the Middle Phase; as, the works chosen
demonstrate. These are a novella, a novel, and a number of
short stories all of which have been unjustifiably neglected.
Chapter One, on The Aspern Papers, argues that Tina Bordereau,
far from being, the artless victim seen by many critics,
actually challenges and defeats the narrator by the very form
of her narrative. Her 'realist' discourse undermines his
language of 'romance', and shows up its internal unstability.
Chapter Two is an extensive study of the critical reception of
The Tragic Muse. The most common areas of critical attention
have been its contemporary topicality, its relation to previous
novels on similar themes, and the possible genealogy of Gabriel
Nash. Those have all missed the core of the work. - Chapter Three
demonstrates how polyphony and the anxiety of influence make
the novel what it really is. Influence arises from the
juxtaposition of, and the wrestling between, artistic ephebes
and their precursors (Nick and Nash,, Miriam and Madame Carre).
The dialogic quality defined by Bakhtin is crucial to the
proper, and even-handed, characterization of all, the conflicts
in the novel. And since most of James's tales in the eighties
and nineties -are about 'masters - and acolytes, the anxiety of
influence remains central. Chapter Four is a study of 'The
Author of Beltraffiol' and 'The Lesson of the Master'. Again the
characters' manipulations are a crucial focus in a way that
G6rard Genette's terminology helps to illuminate. The fact that
the ephebe is the author-thinker emphasizes the inextricability
of the Bakhtinian and the Bloomian in James. Just as
polyphony offers a different focus for explicating the poetics
of James's fiction; so the ephebal conflict provides the basis
for a fresh perception of James's own artistic struggle
The influence of real-world factors on threat detection performance in airport X-ray screening
No full textThe visual search task carried out by X-ray screening personnel has begun to be investigated in a number of recent experiments. The goal of the present thesis was, therefore, to extend previous examinations of the factors that may be detrimental to screener performance, to understand those factors in more detail, and to bring those factors to bear upon current models of visual search. It has been argued that screener performance is impaired by searching for infrequent targets (the prevalence effect), by searching for several targets simultaneously (the dual-target cost), and by the tumultuous environment in which screeners work . Over the course of six experiments, these factors, and, in some cases, the interaction between these factors, was examined. Experiments 1, 2 and 3 explored the role that the prevalence effect and the dual-target cost have upon the performance of untrained participants. Experiment 4 revealed that airport screeners are, in fact, vulnerable to both the prevalence effect and the dual-target cost, highlighting the relevance of the present work to those working in an applied environment. Experiment 5 tested the impact of ambient noise upon search performance and the dual-target cost, and found that ambient noise has no deleterious impact. Experiment 6 set the foundation for future research involving the impact of external distractions upon search performance, with the results showing that observers are slowed substantially when conducting even a simple mental arithmetic in conjunction with a search task. Based on the results from the experiments, it appears that actual screener performance could be improved by increasing the prevalence of ‘dummy’ items, as well as tasking with screeners to search for only a single target at any one time. Efforts could also be made to reduce sources of external distraction
The marriage record of Pollock, Thomas and Godwin, Jane
No full textMarriage license for Jane Godwin and Thomas Pollock. James P. Martin was the Justice of the Peace
Dr. James Gillam, Spelman College, September 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. James Gillam. Dr. Gillam talks about his book, "Life and Death in the Central Highlands: An American Sergeant in the Vietnam War 1968-1970". Daniel Le, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
James Bond: international man of gastronomy
No full textThis article is concerned with the representation of food and drink in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. In particular, it examines how the author uses Bond’s culinary knowledge and habits of consumption as an important constituent of his hero’s character. Similarly, the food choices of other characters, notably villains, are shown to be linked, by Fleming, to core aspects of their identity − principally their ethnicity. Bond’s impulse to observe and classify, very much in evidence in the novels’ food sequences, is examined in terms of the texts’ construction of Bond as a skilled identifier of signs
A Tripartite Post-Recession Rebalancing
No full textIn this latest Advance & Rutgers Report, entitled “A Tripartite Post-Recession Rebalancing,” Dean James W. Hughes and Professor Joseph J. Seneca deliver an incisive assessment of the current market conditions and obstacles in the path of our economic recovery. They offer a statistical cautionary tale that the private and public sector need to hear and acknowledge in order for the economy to make continued progress.This report was published as Issue Paper Number 7, November 2011, in Advance & Rutgers Report
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