42 research outputs found
1984-10-04 Focus on the Region - Presidential Elections, Part 2
No full textOn this episode of Focus on the Region William Rusher, Conservative Author and Columnist, and Toby Moffitt, former Representative from Connecticut and Liberal Democrat, debate the key issues of the 1984 Presidential Election moderated by John Kleber, Professor of History at Morehead State University. The debate was the first event of the 1984-1985 Concert and Lecture Series at Morehead State University on October 4, 1984
1984-10-04 Focus on the Region - Presidential Elections, Part 1
No full textOn this episode of Focus on the Region William Rusher, Conservative Author and Columnist, and Toby Moffitt, former Representative from Connecticut and Liberal Democrat, debate the key issues of the 1984 Presidential Election and moderated by John Kleber, Professor of History at Morehead State University. The debate was the first event of the 1984-1985 Concert and Lecture Series at Morehead State University on October 4, 1984
Translating men : humanism and masculinity in Renaissance renditions of patristic texts
No full textPhDThis doctoral thesis focusses upon the translation of patristic works into English in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Considering the pragmatic usage of texts in humanist
culture, this research project explores the mobilisation of vernacular versions of the Church
Fathers in response to historical crises. Regarding Renaissance humanism as a gendered
intellectual methodology,I have investigated the way in which these texts particularly aim to
address the needs of men, offering them exemplars to 'cope' with their social circumstances.
The first chapter involves the analysis of Thomas Drant's rendition of Gregory of
Nazianzus' Epigrams (1568) as part of the struggles of the early Elizabethan era. I suggest
that this verse translation may possibly have played a supportive role for Protestant clerics
facing a loss of humanist confidence due to educational deficiencies and the conflict of
learning with the Catholic Louvainist scholars.
The second chapter examines John Healey's version of Augustine's City of God
(1610) in the context of the colonisation of Virginia. I propose that the Augustinian text - and
the included commentary by Vives - may have represented a 'handbook' for the
predominantly male community of planters confronted by (among other problems) the severe
difficulty of establishing a household and fathering the next generation.
The third chapter looks at Tobie Matthew's translation of Augustine's Confessions
(1620) as an aid for Catholic Englishmen in an age of religious persecution. I contend that
this text advertises and advances a passive / feminine form of manhood - which had been
initially propagated by late sixteenth-century recusant ideology - in order to offer succour to
its socially debilitated male readers.
By undertaking an examination of these previously neglected texts, this thesis has
attempted to expand the understanding of Renaissance humanist translation, as well as to
offer a unique insight into the history of gender
The dramaturgy of the tragedies of John Webster and John Ford with special reference to their use of stage imagery.
No full textPhDThe imagery of the plays of John Webster and John
Ford is not only verbal: in staging as well as language
these dramas display strongly imagistic, symbolic elements.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the seven extant
tragedies of Webster and Ford from the point of view of
their total dramatic nature - to examine the staging,
costumes, hand and large properties, movement and gestures
as well as the verbal imagery, and the interplay of these
verbal and visual elements. The original appearance, of
these plays in their contemporary theatre, and the
dramatist's intentions for performance, can only be surmised.
The original stage directions are examined for
hints of the original presentation: these stage directions
may not always be authorial, but, especially in the case of
Ford, they seem to reveal the playwright's hand. The dialogue,
too, frequently implies particular gestures,
grouping or stage placement.
The visual imagery, it is here suggested, is created
by the dramatist for several purposes: a moral or ironical
point may be silently established; a chain of related
visual motifs may bind various actions and characters into
an organic union; a visualization may appeal outward to
other works of art or theatrical or non-dramatic conventions,
enlarging the immediate significance by this shorthand
reference; visual ceremonies may make concrete the more
ephemeral words and feelings of the characters.
Each of the tragedies is studied in a separate chapter,
in the following order: Webster's The White Devil, The
Duchess of Malfi, and Appius and Virginia (the authorship
of which is disputed); John Ford's The Broken Heart,
Love's Sacrifice, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Perkin
Warbeck. A conclusion indicates the differences between
Webster's more overtly theatrical visualizations and Ford's
quiet tableaux.
The thesis is accompanied by illustrations which are
either explanatory or comparative
Tudor women writers fashioning masculinity
No full textThis thesis contributes to the growing interest in early modern masculinity and its literary representations by introducing texts by women writers into dialogue with their male-authored counterparts. It argues for a more nuanced approach that recognises that the concepts of masculinity and femininity can only be fully understood when studied in relation with each other.
The first chapter explores how, notwithstanding the wisdom of conduct books and marriage guides, the demands of the state may not always be commensurate with those of the domestic realm and shows that this conflict necessitates a rethinking of existing definitions of masculinity by focusing on selected writings of the Tudor sisters Mary and Elizabeth and Jane Fitzalan’s *Tragedie of Iphigeneia*. The second chapter identifies how Elizabeth’s unique discursive strategies were designed to elicit support from her male subjects and subdue the belligerence that simmered under polemic like John Stubbs’ *Gaping Gulf*. In her letters to Anjou, the chapter examines how Elizabeth manoeuvred around her position as a beloved and as a monarch to fashion a husband who would not only be sympathetic but also subordinate to her political authority. This chapter also shows how the fabulous world of John Lyly’s *Galatea* consummates the Queen’s desire for the ideal male subject. The final chapter investigates the construction of martial manhood. It juxtaposes Mary Sidney’s *The Tragedy of Antonie* with William Shakespeare’s *Antony and Cleopatra* to determine how the figure of Cleopatra, common to both plays, challenges and revises the martial code of masculinity as embodied by Antony. By examining the authorial position appropriated by Cleopatra in the plays and its impact on the narrative, this chapter also extends this thesis’ interest in the extent to which female characters within texts compete for diegetic control with male protagonists
The Irish plays of James Shirley, 1636-1640
No full textAlthough he was a prominent and influential playwright during his theatrical career,
the work of James Shirley (1596-1666) has been neglected since Dryden's description
of him in 'MacFlecknoe' as a mere 'type...of tautology'. Shirley holds a unique place
amongst Caroline dramatists as, at the height of his career, he left London to become
resident playwright of the first purpose-built theatre in Ireland, the Werburgh Street
Theatre. This seminal event has received fairly little attention from scholars, and the
plays of this Irish period (The Royal Master, The Doubtful Heir, The Gentleman of
Venice, The Politician and St. Patrick for Ireland) have not previously been examined
as a whole.
This thesis examines Shirley's Irish period in its entirety, from the
circumstances surrounding his move to Dublin in 1636, through an exploration of his
relationship with the Werburgh Street Theatre and what influenced his Irish plays, to
the factors which resulted in his return to England in 1640. The thesis historicises the
production of these plays in their socio-political context. The chapters
(chronologically arranged by play) provide close textual studies and contextual
material relating the texts to their patrons, performance spaces, audiences, print history
and Irish politics. This research reveals that during this four year period, Shirley
gradually adapted his writing style in a targeted attempt to appeal to the tastes of the
Dublin audience. Shirley managed the theatre with John Ogilby, who was appointed
Master of the Revels in Ireland by Lord Deputy Wentworth. An analysis of the
relationship between these three key figures has contributed to a comprehensive
picture of the socio-political conditions of Shirley‘s writing. Through the investigation
of Shirley's work and professional position during this time, this thesis builds on
recent critical recovery work (including that by Hadfield/Maley, Rankin, Dutton) on
the literary-political circumstances of Stuart Ireland
The eclipse of 'elegant economy': post-war changes in attitudes to personal finance in Britain
No full textPhDIn Britain, almost all survivors of the Second Word War found themselves in a
stronger and more secure financial position than at its outbreak. Simultaneously they
were confronted by a host of intrusive controls, rationing, shortages and ubiquitous
reminders of conflict. Pride in victory was immense, yet there were few perceivable
signs of reward for sacrifice. The resultant widespread disorientation belied pecuniary
fortune and gave rise to many formidable dilemmas demanding financial decisions.
The solution of a majority was thrift and avoidance of money spending, which cleared
the conscience and provided peace of mind. A substantial minority, often equally
disorientated, followed their natural inclinations to spend freely and benefit from or
enjoy their new-found resources. The latter discovered themselves not only severely
restricted by bare-shelved shops and emergency legislation but by social censure of
conspicuous consumption. The remaining options open to them most commonly
involved expenditure on the intangible and the inconspicuous.
Between 1945 and 1957, as austerity waned and greater opportunities returned for
beneficial employment of private funds, attitudes appeared to evolve from despair into
confidence. But austerity culture, embedded in the national mindset,took much longer
to dispel than is popularly supposed and arguably has never been fully eradicated. The
impact on British life of this gradual change is here highlighted by comparing and
contrasting the relevant history of prior and subsequent periods.
This thesis focuses on theoretical, political and practical influences on all forms of
employment of private means without differentiating between the material and
ethereal, including saving and investment as forms of consumption. Reinterpreting
Britain's transformation from austerity to affluence from the perspective of personal
finance demonstratest hat it is an essential but hitherto ignored factor which adds
significantly to the understanding of social history
European Avant-Garde: Art, Borders and Culture in Relationship to Mainstream Cinema and New Media
No full textThis research analyses the impact of transformation and hybridization processes at the intersection of art, science and technology. These forms of transformation and hybridization are the result of contemporary interactions between classic and digital media.
It discusses the concept of 'remediation' presented by Bolter and proposes the concept of 'digital ekphrasis,' which is based on Manovich' s analyses of the interactions between classic and digital media. This is a model which, borrowed from semiotic structures, encompasses the technical as well as aesthetic and philosophical transformations of contemporary media.
The thesis rejects Baudrillard's and Virilio's proposed concepts of 'digital black hole' as the only possible form of evolution of contemporary digital media. It proposes a different concept for the evolutionary model of contemporary hybridization processes based on contemporary forms of hybridizations that are rooted in aesthetic, philosophical and technological developments. This concept is argued as emancipated from the 'religious' idea of a 'divine originated' perfect image that Baudrillard and Virilio consider to be deteriorated from contemporary hybridization experimentation.
The thesis proposes, through historical examples in the fine arts, the importance of transmedia migrations and experimentations as the framework for a philosophical, aesthetic and technological evolutionary concept of humanity freed from the restrictions of religious imperatives
Beyond the pink: (post) youth iconography in cinema
No full textBeyond the Pink: (Post) Youth Iconography in Cinema is a project in cultural time travel. It cuts up linear cinematic narratives to develop a hop-scotched history of youth, Generation X and (post) youth culture. I focus upon the pleasures, pedagogies and (un)popular politics of a filmic genre that continues to be dismissed as unworthy of intellectual debate. Accelerated culture and the discourse of celebrity have blurred the crisp divisions between fine art and crude commodity, the meaningful and meaningless, and real and fictive, unsettling the binary logic that assigns importance to certain texts and not others. This research project prises open that awkward space between representation and experience.
Analysts require methods and structures through which to manage historical change and textual movement. Through cinema, macro-politics of identity emerge from the micro-politics of the narrative. Prom politics and mallrat musings become imbued with social significance that speak in the literacies available to youth. It grants the ephemerality and liminality of an experience a tactile trace. I select moments of experience for Generation X youth and specific icons - Happy Harry Hardon, Molly Ringwald, the Spice Girls, the Bitch, the invisible raver, teen time travellers Marty McFly and Donnie Darko, and the slacker - to reveal the archetypes and ideologies that punctuate the cinematic landscape. The tracked figures do not configure a smooth historical arc. It is in the rifts and conflicts of diverse narratives and subjectivities where attention is focused.
This research imperative necessitates the presentation of a series of essays arranged in a tripartite framework. The first section proposes theoretical paradigms for a tethered analysis of filmic texts and Generation X. The second segment explores sites of struggle in public spaces and time. The final section leaves the landscape of post-Generation X to forge the relationship between history, power and youth identity. I particularly focus on the iconography, ideologies and imaginings of young women to lead the discussion of the shifts in the experience and representations of youth. By reinserting women into studies of film, it is imperative to stress that this is not a dissertation in, and of, women's cinema. Rather, it serves as an historical corrective to the filmic database.
The existing literature on youth cinema is disappointing and narrow in its trajectories. Timothy Shary's Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in Contemporary American Cinema and Jon Lewis' The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture exemplify the difficulties of capturing the complexities of individual films when they are collated in artificial and stifling categories. At one end of the analytical spectrum is the critique that comes with the caveat of 'it's just another teen movie'. Jonathon Bernstein's monograph Pretty in Pink: The Golden Age of Teenage Movies is one such example which derails into acerbic diatribes and intellectual dismissal. The Cinema of Generation X: A Critical Study by Peter Hanson is a more successful project that is interested in the influences that inform a community of filmmakers than arriving at a catalogue of generic themes and narratives. There is an emphasis on the synergy between text, producer and readership.
I continue this relationship explored by Hanson, but further accent the politics of film. The original contribution to knowledge offered by this doctoral thesis is a detailed study of (post) youth popular culture, building into a model for Generation X cinema, activating the interdisciplinary perspectives from film and cultural studies. With its adaptability into diverse media forms, cultural studies paradigms allow navigation through the expansive landscape of popular culture. It traverses beyond simple textual analyses to consider a text's cultural currency. As an important carrier of meaning and sensory memories, cinema allows for alternative accounts that are denied in authorised history. As a unique form with its own visual literacy, screen theory is needed to refine observations. This unique melding of screen and cultural studies underscores the convergent relationship between text, readership, production and politics.
This doctoral thesis activates concepts and methods of generationalism, nationalism, social history and cultural practice. There is a dialogue between the chapters that crosses over text and time. The 1980s of Molly Ringwald shadows the dystopia of Donnie Darko. The celebrity status of the Spice Girls clashes with the frustrated invisibility of the female raver. Douglas Coupland's vision of Generation X in 1991 has evolved into Richard Linklater's documentation of post-youth in the new millenium. Leaping between decades through time travel in cinema, I argue that the nostalgic past and projections for the future evoke the preoccupations and anxieties of the present
Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index
No full textObesity is globally prevalent and highly heritable, but its underlying genetic factors remain largely elusive. To identify genetic loci for obesity susceptibility, we examined associations between body mass index and similar to 2.8 million SNPs in up to 123,865 individuals with targeted follow up of 42 SNPs in up to 125,931 additional individuals. We confirmed 14 known obesity susceptibility loci and identified 18 new loci associated with body mass index (P < 5 x 10(-8)), one of which includes a copy number variant near GPRC5B. Some loci (at MC4R, POMC, SH2B1 and BDNF) map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance, and one of these loci is near GIPR, an incretin receptor. Furthermore, genes in other newly associated loci may provide new insights into human body weight regulation
