796 research outputs found

    Writing and the rights of reality: usurpation and potentiality in Derrida, Plato, Nietzsche, and Beckett

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    The thesis critically evaluates Jacques Derrida's conferral of the rights of reality on writing, focussing on his theory of an arche-text in light of the speculative nature of this theory. The theory is initially considered in the context of Derrida's elucidation of the usurpatory status of writing within the Platonic and Nietzschean texts. This consideration reveals an admission of writing's usurpatory status by both writers while at the same time demonstrating their awareness of the intrinsically speculative nature of this view, the significance of writing lying in its ability to exteriorise the radically indeterminate status of consciousness m relation to reality rather than its ability to displace consciousness or reality The analyses, therefore, not only bring the Derridean hypothesis of a repressive or phonocentric metaphysical episteme into question but also exhibit the historical and philosophical role of potentiality in relation to writing, writing's ultimate significance lying in its capacity to exteriorise our existence as a mode of potentiality. Accordingly, in the second half of the thesis the Derridean theory of writing is countered with a specifically Aristotelian theory of the text as it is exhibited in the prose of Samuel Beckett, an author whose significance lies in his close alignment with Derridean theory within contemporary criticism. It is demonstrated that this identification has obviated an awareness of the significance of potentiality within the Beckettian text, his work consequently being appraised in the previously neglected context of Aristotelian metaphysics

    Samuel Beckett and the Writers of Port-Royal

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    It has been observed that ‘the literary influences on Beckett have been far more important than has been acknowledged, and more important indeed, than the philosophical influences’ (Smith 2002: 3). The truth of this statement is evidenced by the description that scholars have given of Samuel Beckett’s relationship to seventeenth century French classicism. To date, critical interest has been limited for the most part to the figure of the philosopher René Descartes on the (fragile) grounds that Beckett was exclusively concerned with the Cartesian imperative of clarity and order, the fundamental dualism between body and mind, and Nominalism. Together with the assumption that Beckett’s vision was essentially Cartesian, his literary filiation with Pascal was suggested by critics, but only in terms of Beckett’s formal approach to the theatre. In his short article on En attendant Godot in 1953, the playwright Jean Anouilh was among the first reviewers to suggest that Beckett’s drama synthesizes the encounter between ‘classicism’ and a ‘modern’ form of art. It is well known that Beckett retained a lifelong admiration for Pascal – indeed, Pascal was one of his ‘old chestnuts’ (Knowlson 1997: 653). Little attention has been paid, however, to the originality of Pascal’s thought, the specific nature of his prose, and the impact these might have had upon Beckett’s mature work, especially the trilogy and the subsequent short prose. Yet, in the literary and philosophical context of post-war France, Beckett’s filiation with Pascal, their corresponding preoccupations, were evident to his contemporaries, who identified Pascal as an underlying presence in his works

    Fear of fiction: the authorial response to realism in selected works by Swift, Defoe, and Richardson

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    If Mrs. Whitehouse produced a pornographic play, it would arouse enormous interest, mainly because of Mrs. Whitehouse’s well known views on pornography. It is an ancient fact of English Literature that two of the best known pioneers of the English realistic novel, Daniel Defoe and Samuel Richardson, were Puritans. And there is an almost equally ancient critical tradition which traces the easy path of Puritan literature, in combination with other cultural forces, towards the production of realistic fiction. The central argument of this thesis is that there was no such easy path. Puritan autobiography was unrealistic in its very nature, while Puritan feeling towards fiction was hostile, with realistic, or verisimilar fiction provoking most hostility because the most deceitful. Thus the writing of a realistic novel was a radical departure for the Puritan, and one that was fraught with tension. It is this tension, or fear of fiction, and its effects on work of the two Puritan novelists, and that odd Anglican Jonathan Swift, that is the subject of this thesis. Swift joins Defoe and Richardson as an author with a special relationship with Defoe, and himself closer to a fearful anti- mimetic "tradition" than the comic tradition in which he is usually placed alongside Fielding and Sterne. Selected works of the three authors reveal their struggle with the intense problems that realism created for them, and their eventual 'solutions'. Hence by the time that Dr. Johnson made his famous critical statement against the fearful potential of realism in his fourth Rambler [31 March 1750), he was actually formalising material that had been well examined in the fiction under discussion, rather than beating an original critical path in response to Fielding's supposedly 'new' verisimilar form

    Richardson, Barbauld, and the construction of an early modern fan club

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    MPhilMuch has been written about the life and long works of the eighteenth century epistolary novelist, Samuel Richardson, but the prospect of his position as the first celebrity novelist – responsible for courting his own fame as well as initiating his own fan club – has largely been ignored. The body of manuscripts housed at the National Art Library in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London provides the modern scholar with evidence of the skeletal beginnings of an early fan club. This thesis aims to show how these manuscripts were turned into a saleable commodity by the publisher and entrepreneur Richard Phillips, while under the guiding hand of another, slightly later, literary celebrity, Anna Laetitia Barbauld. In order to restore Richardson’s reputation amongst a new nineteenth century audience, Barbauld was required to construct her own idea of him as an eighteenth century celebrity author, and in doing so the insecurities of a self-professed, apparently diffident man, are revealed. Barbauld’s capacious, but heavily edited selection of letters is analyzed in this thesis, providing ample evidence that Richardson’s correspondents were more than just eager letter writers. By using Barbauld’s biography of Richardson this thesis aims to show how she manipulates the genre of life writing in her construction of him. This thesis offers an alternative reading of how the Richardson manuscripts are viewed, redefining them as not simply a collection of letters, but as a collective entity, deliberately selected and archived as evidence of an early modern fan club, and its celebrity managing director

    Culture and economic development: modernisation to globalisation

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    Despite constant post-war efforts to decipher the development process, it appears that little practical progress has been made. Many theories have been proposed (some leading directly to policy), but very few developing countries have succeeded in breaking the bonds of underdevelopment. Social theorists from Karl Marx to Daniel Bell have argued that economic development brings pervasive cultural change. Others, from Max Weber to Samuel Huntington, have claimed that cultural values are an enduring and autonomous influence on society. Empirically we find evidence of both massive cultural change and the persistence of distinctive cultural traditions. The relationship of “culture” and “economic development” during the past fifty years can be, and has been, viewed variably as causal, correlative or relatively autonomous

    Samuel Daniel’s authorial strategies in The Queenes Arcadia (1606)

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    International audienceThis article focuses on Samuel Daniel’s The Queenes Arcadia, performed in 1605 as Arcadia Reformed and first published in 1606. Daniel’s use of the genre of the pastoral drama is quite telling in his construction as an author. He uses self-reflexive devices in the play, and meta-poetic intrusions within the plot, thus confirming that he saw himself as an author. I examine the different poetic styles used in the play as well as the circumstances of the first staging of the play at Oxford on the occasion of a royal visit there in order to define Daniel’s authorial strategies.Dans cet article, j’examine la manière dont le poète et dramaturge Samuel Daniel envisage son statut d’auteur à partir d’une pastorale dramatique, The Queenes Arcadia, d’abord jouée en 1605 sous le titre de Arcadia Reformed puis publiée l’année suivante. Daniel utilise des procédés autoréflexifs et, par des intrusions méta-dramatiques dans la pièce, confirme qu’il avait une vision spécifique de son rôle d’auteur. Les différents styles utilisés dans la pièce sont également analysés, de même que les circonstances de la représentation, à Oxford pendant une visite du roi et de la reine, afin de définir la stratégie auctoriale de Daniel

    La lectura política de la Biblia y una aplicación a Thomas Hobbes y su interpretación del Libro de Samuel

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    The article is an introduction to the political reading of the Bible. Jewish federalism is shown as the paradigm of modern contractualism. The author refers to the right interpretation of the Bible onthe basis of the works of Daniel J. Elazar, Max Kadushin y Eric Voegelin. At the end, as an example, the author critizes Hobbes’s interpretation of the Books of Samuel, which is controversial for not taking into account essential aspects of Biblical hermeneutics.El artículo es una introducción a la lectura política de la Biblia. Se destaca que el federalismo judío es el paradigma del contractualismo moderno. El autor se refiere a la interpretación correcta de la Biblia sobre la base de la obras de Daniel J. Elazar, Max Kadushin y Eric Voegelin. Al final, como un ejemplo, el autor realiza una crítica a la interpretación de Thomas Hobbes del Libro de Samuel, que es controversial por no tomar en cuenta aspectos esenciales de la hermenéutica bíblica

    The ancestry of Elisha Goodwin of sixth generation of Goodwin family of Kittery, York County, Maine, and his descendants.

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    "The author ... has copied from 'The Goodwins of Kittery, Me"," by John Samuel Goodwin "the ancestry of Elisha (of the sixth generation from Daniel the emigrant)"Mode of access: Internet

    Incidence of adverse events and comparative tolerability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors for the treatment of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and stress disorders: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

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    Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) show similar efficacy as treatments for anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and stress-related disorders. Hence, comparisons of adverse event rates across medications are an essential component of clinical decision-making. We aimed to compare patterns of adverse events associated with SSRIs and SNRIs in the treatment of children and adults diagnosed with these disorders through a network meta-analysis. We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, Cochrane, websites of regulatory agencies, and international registers from inception to 09 September 2022, for randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy of SSRIs or SNRIs. We analyzed the proportion of participants experiencing at least one adverse event and incidence rates of 17 specific adverse events. We estimated incidence rates and odds ratios through network meta-analysis with random effects and three-level models. We analyzed 799 outcome measures from 80 studies (n = 21 338). Participants in medication groups presented higher rates of adverse events (80.22%, 95% CI 76.13-83.76) when compared to placebo groups (71.21%, 67.00-75.09). Nausea was the most common adverse event (25.71%, CI 23.96-27.54), while weight change was the least common (3.56%, 1.68-7.37). We found higher rates of adverse events of medications over placebo for most medications, except sertraline and fluoxetine. We found significant differences between medications for overall tolerability and for autonomic, gastrointestinal, and sleep-related symptoms. Adverse events are a common reason that patients discontinue SSRIs and SNRIs. Results presented here guide clinical decision-making when clinicians weigh one medication over another. This might improve treatment acceptability and compliance.</p

    The Political Reading of the Bible and an Application to Thomas Hobbes’s Interpretation of the Book of Samuel

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    The article is an introduction to the political reading of the Bible. Jewish federalism is shown as the paradigm of modern contractualism. The author refers to the right interpretation of the Bible onthe basis of the works of Daniel J. Elazar, Max Kadushin y Eric Voegelin. At the end, as an example, the author critizes Hobbes’s interpretation of the Books of Samuel, which is controversial for not taking into account essential aspects of Biblical hermeneutics
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