8,876 research outputs found
Art, Biography, Sexuality: Patrick Procktor and Keith Vaughan
No full textThis critical review forms a reflection on the research published within the following publications:
Patrick Procktor: Art and Life (Unicorn Press, 2010)
Keith Vaughan: The Mature Oils 1946-1977, (Sansom & Co., 2012)
The research is on two artists, Patrick Procktor (1936-2003), and Keith Vaughan (1912-1977). The monograph on Procktor – previously one of the least documented of the generation of artists who came to prominence in London in the Sixties – positions him in a history of art from which he had been notably absent. The research on Vaughan asserts a new reading of his work, one that is both deeper and more nuanced in its analysis of the ways in which personal experience and sexuality are encoded autobiographically within his work. Crucially, in both artists biography and work are symbiotically linked; the research therefore examines the links between life and art.
Revisionary in intent, the work examines trajectories of experience of gay British (or rather, English) artists in the twentieth century, artists who sought to express themselves and forge careers within the constraints of a heteronormative society, albeit one in which attitudes to sexuality were undergoing change. As gay men, both were constrained by the social mores of their times, and each used painting as a means to affirm personal and sexual identities. A key research interest is in the ways in which sexuality and persona are reflected in critical responses to the artist’s work: in Vaughan, Procktor and other gay male artists of the period. The writing on both Procktor and Vaughan examines the relationship between their personal and professional/artistic lives, framed within a broader socio-political and art historical context. It asserts the place of biography as a means to understand and form new readings of the work. The work adds substantially to the literature and wider discourse on post-war British painting and social history
Patrick Rafroidi . Irish Literature in English : the Romantic Period
No full textJeffares A. Norman. Patrick Rafroidi . Irish Literature in English : the Romantic Period. In: Études irlandaises, n°5, 1980. pp. 275-276
Davies (Norman) Heart of Europe. A Short History of Poland
No full textMichel Patrick. Davies (Norman) Heart of Europe. A Short History of Poland. In: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, n°67/2, 1989. pp. 257-258
Norman Vincent Peale portrait
No full textPortrait of author and minister Norman Vincent Peale, ca. 1984. Peale was born on May 31, 1898, in Bowersville, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and became one of the most influential ministers of the twentieth century, known for his dynamic and energetic sermons. He preached an optimistic message that many Americans accepted during such trying events as the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. His sermons were broadcast on the radio and shown on television all across the United States. Peale also published forty-six books, his most popular being "The Power of Positive Thinking.
Family, followers and friends : the socio-political dynamics of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy, 1100-1204
No full textThree groups are examined: the family, followers and friends. The structure,functions and tensions of these groups are described and their dynamics analysed in the fields of decision making and conflict resolution.
The approach offers a dialectic between Latin and French sources, historical and literary, and social science theories. This opens up new avenues for analysis and allows a holistic description of medieval politics and society.
The family comprised parents and their children. Within this small unit affection was very strong; outside, it quickly declined. Although uncles and nephews had political links there was considerably less emotional attachment between them than between parent-child and sibling relationships.
Three types of follower are examined: household retainers, enfeoffed tenants and 'neighbours'. Household knights had the strongest emotional bonds to their lord and were
seen as the most loyal. Tenants who performed homage were called `men'; 'vassal' is shown to mean 'good follower'. An aristocrat exercised considerable control within his lands and beyond them he maintained some power. In these areas people may have obeyed his will without having any direct link with him. Such people were often called 'neighbours'.
Informal influences such as love and fear are shown to have more force than the formal bonds created through homage and oaths. Concepts of 'treason' and 'defiance' are also examined.
Five types of friendship are identified: friendship as courtesy, formal friendship, emotional friendship, company and companionship. Calling someone 'friend' was a sign of
politeness. Political agreements, often termed covenants, created formal bonds of friendship. A new methodology for investigating emotional friendship is proposed. Groups with a strong identity were called companies. Companionship was a close bond, usually between two men, that combined elements of formal and emotional friendship.
This description of the socio-political dynamics of the aristocracy offers an alternative to earlier models and greatly enhances our understanding of Anglo-Norman politics and society
Norman Biggs – Calculus on Clay?
No full textNorman Biggs is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at LSE. He is the author of 13 books and over 100 papers on Mathematics, and has also published in the fields of Numismatics and Metrology. His latest book, “Quite Right: The Story of Mathematics, Measurement, and Money” was released in February 2016. Follow him on Twitter: @norman_biggs
Norman Biggs – Strictly not dancing
No full textNorman Biggs is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at LSE. He is the author of 13 books and over 100 papers on Mathematics, and has also published in the fields of Numismatics and Metrology. He has been Librarian and General Secretary of the London Mathematical Society, and Vice-President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. Follow him on Twitter: @norman_biggs
Improved asymptotics for econometric estimators and tests
No full textChapter two derives saddlepoint approximations for the density and distribution of a ratio of non-central quadratic forms in normal variables. Excepting a few special cases, little is known of the exact, finite sample properties of these statistics. Hence we derive and prove the existence of an exact inversion based upon the joint characteristic function. Thence the saddlepoint algorithm is applied and the leading term approximation is found. An illustration accuracy of the approximation.Chapter three derives higher-order, leating term approximations for the density of the MLE in three classes of models. It is found, by exploiting the properties of the likelihood directly, that approximations so constructed often coincide with the saddlepoint approximation. Importantly though we circumvent the necessity of calculating the characteristic function and of solving some saddlepoint defining equation. For each class of models: linear exponential, curved exponential and a class of non-exponential models, the central results are given along with a simple illustrative example.Chapter four investigates the application of Edgeworth series as symptotic expansions for the densities of minimal sufficient statistics. Since much inference is constructed through functions of this statistic validity for both the statistic itself and arbitrary functions of it is proved. Further, numerical accuracy of such approximations is shown to be influenced by transformation. Hence, conditions for an optimal transformation are derived, that is one which minimises some criterion of numerical error, given an asymptotic order of error.Chapter five applies this 'optimal' transformation in the context of first-order regression. We find that asymptotic inference in this model can be significantly improved, i.e. made more accurate, if inference is made via this transformed statistic.</p
Ralph Norman Angell Lane, an analysis of his political career, 1914-to 1931
No full textNorman Angell, most often remembered as the author of The Great Illusion, (1910), was also a member of the British Parliament from 1929 to 1931 and deserves to be remembered for the overall political career that this brief stay in Commons represents. Although Angell was never a popular political figure--the vast working class public failed to identify with him--he was not without great influence during the period in which the Labour Party went from one of ridicule and political obscurity to one of power and respectability. This study analyzes Angell's career in light of his impact on Labour Party leaders, particularly Edmond Dene Morel and James Ramsey MacDonald.The Angell-MacDonald relationship was a complex and ironic one. Although of similar ideological persuasion, neither assumed a dominant role in their relationship. They were both proud, vain and stubborn men, a fact which precluded their assuming a leader-follower relationship. Angell's relationship with Morel was equally full of irony since Morel, the most vociferous member of Labour's intelligentsia in 1924, epitomized the radical element which Angell desired to eliminate in the Labour Party. The fact that Angell had the confidence of both men and wrote many of Morell's articles criticizing MacDonald's policies in 1924, even though he publicly supported "Ramsey," is a measure of his intangible role in the drama of the First Labour Government.Angell's involvement in the personal lives as well as the political careers of these two antagonists predated the First World War. This is significant for several reasons. For one, Angell was instrumental in bringing these strange bedfellows together in 1914 through their co-founding of the Union of Democratic Control. Secondly, it contradicts the current notion that Angell was never greatly interested in politics. Thirdly, it shows that Angell was never completely satisfied with the nonpolitical peace movement which his Great Illusion fostered.Historians have so completely equated "Norman Angellism" with Ralph Norman Angell Lane that this study takes on an added dimension. It offers a perspective from which to view Angell if any future biography is to do justice to the man. Contrary to current thinking Angell was a politician; he eagerly sought a political identity and wanted political power. This study also shows that Angell, although often a man of great vision, should not be remembered as a prophet of the contemporary experience, but rather, as a spokesman for the nineteenth century. Angell was and even saw himself more as a product of the nineteenth century British liberal tradition than as a twentieth century man. Although he held twentieth century economic views, he actually mirrored the social, political, and cultural philosophy of the nineteenth century English middle class. He never altered his greater conception of English society even in the face of new economic and political realities.The tragedy of Angell's being remembered as the author of The Great Illusion is therefore twofold. It not only hides the historical significance of his political career but reflects adversely on the real thrust of his life. Internationalism and pacifism, the two "isms" most often referred to in conjunction with his seminal work, mask his most basic instincts. Norman Angell might have been an internationalist and a pacifist, but, Ralph Lane was a Nationalist and a British patriot of the first rank.Thesis (Ph. D.
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