137 research outputs found
Satire and sympathy : some consequences of intrusive narration in Tom Jones and other comic novels
No full textThis thesis aims to reinterpret Tom Jones by putting it into
some previously untried comparative contexts. As well as using
the traditional points of reference such as Lucian, Swift and
Sterne, I compare Fielding's satire with Flaubert's; his narrative
poetics with Dickens's and Beckett's; his strategy of intrusion
with George Eliot's; and his literary politics with Brecht's.
I start by assuming the ambivalence of Tom Jones, but rather
than seeing this as a conscious ironic duality, I argue that it
derives from literary, moral and political uncertainty. The
intrusive narrator is seen as an index of vacillation between
first- and third-person narration, while conservative satiric
influences are shown to complicate rather than strengthen the
book's moral decisiveness. Its form, moreover, is shown to be
dialogic, and unable to keep at bay either the reader's
subjectivity or the flux of historical reality. But Fielding's
achievement, I finally suggest, is to have put these factors
into the service of his awareness of the always judgmental
nature of literature.
The thesis therefore takes on several previously uncovered areas:
it is very specific about the nature and extent of the narrator's
presence in Tom Jones; it draws new analogies between social and
literary forms (in the sections on conversation) and political
and literary structures (in the section on Fielding's plays).
It thereby reveals new areas of Fielding's writings which can be
treated as literary theory; finds detailed affinities between
Fielding and writers not normally associated with him; and
eventually constitutes a reading of Tom Jones as an inconclusive
and open-ended text which implies not a denial but a redefinition
of its historical importance
“The Pevsner Way of Seeing”: A paper on contriving the “timelessness” of architectural photography for Sir Nikolaus Pevsner’s “Buildings of England” series of books
No full textThis paper explores the challenges of using a specific photographic style as seen within a series of books about architecture which have been published over the last 70 years and subsequently revised throughout that period. A commercial architectural photographer and academic at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, Martine Hamilton Knight was commissioned to provide the illustrations for Nottinghamshire, one of the recently updated titles in the “Buildings of England” series begun by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in 1951. In her 30-year career documenting the built environment for the British architectural press, there has always been an emphasis on capturing buildings in their everyday use. The approach required to showcase structures dating from early Norman times to the present day threw up a number of challenges for Hamilton Knight concerned with context and representation. With reference to the historic writings of Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes, together with contemporary views from photographic critics including Liz Wells, Steve Edwards and architectural specialists including Kate Bush, Tom Picton and Robert Elwall, the author explores what she defines as the “Pevsner Way of Seeing”. With a new body of images prepared using modern photographic methods for a digitally produced print publication, it calls into question the legitimacy of utilising a visual narrative established shortly after World War II. This is set against the parameters of creating a body of images which are not for immediate discard, but instead have an anticipated shelf life in excess of three or four decades, thus requiring them to maintain currency at all times
Porous Becomings:Anthropological Engagements with Michel Serres
No full textOne of the foremost intellectuals of his generation, French philosopher of science Michel Serres (1930–2019) broke free from disciplinary dogmas. His reflections on science, culture, technology, art, and religion have proved foundational to scholars across the humanities. The contributors to Porous Becomings bring the inspirational and enigmatic world of Serres to the attention of anthropology. Through ethnographic encounters as diverse as angels and religious conversion in Ethiopia, the percolation of war in Bosnia, and incarcerated bodies crossing the Atlantic, the contributors showcase how Serres’s interrogation of the fundamentals of human existence opens new pathways for anthropological knowledge. Proposing the notion of "porosity" to characterize permeability across boundaries of time, space, literary genre, and academic discipline, they draw on Serres to map the constellations that connect humans, time, technology, and planet Earth. The volume concludes with a conversation between the editors and Vibrant Matter author Jane Bennett.Contributors. Andreas Bandak, Jane Bennett, Tom Boylston, Steven D. Brown, Matei Candea, Alberto Corsín Jiménez, David Henig, Michael Jackson, Daniel M. Knight, Celia Lowe, Morten Nielsen, Stavroula Pipyrou, Elizabeth Povinelli, Andrew Shryock, Arpad Szakolcza
Thesis Proposal: Design and Evaluation of the Hamal Parallel Computer
No full textWe wish to investigate design principles for general-purpose shared memory computers. Specific areas of interest are silicon efficiency, scalability, and RAM integration. Experiments will be performed using a cycle accurate simulator for the Hamal parallel computer. In this proposal we present an overview of the Hamal architecture and our plans for evaluating various mechanisms.
The 'true use of reading' : Sarah Fielding and mid eighteenth-century literary strategies.
No full textPhDThe aim of this thesis is to explore, by examining her life and
works, how Sarah Fielding (1710-68) established her identity as an author.
The definition of her role involves her notions of the functions of
writing and reading.
Sarah Fielding attempts to invite readers to form a sense of ties
by tacit understanding of her messages. As she believes that a work
of literature is produced through collaboration between the writer and
the reader, it is an important task in her view to show her attentiveness
toward reading practice. In her consideration of reading, she has two
distinct, even opposite views of her audience: on the one hand a familiar
and limited circle of readers with shared moral and cultural values and
on the other potential readers among the unknown mass of people. The
dual targets direct her to devise various strategies. She tries to
appeal to those who can endorse and appreciate her moral values as well
as her learning. Her writings and letters testify that she is sensitive
to the demands of the literary market, trying to lead the taste of readers
by inventing new forms.
The thesis opens with an overview of Sarah Fielding's career,
followed by a consideration of her critical attention to the roles of
reading. I go on to examine the narrative structures and strategies
she deploys, with a particular emphasis on her use of the epistolary
method. The following chapter deals with her attention to the reading
of the moral message tangibly embodied in her educational writing. It
is followed by an analysis of the activity which earned her a reputation
as a learned woman. Various as the forms of her works are, they invariably
reflect her attempt to balance herself between the two demands of
inventiveness and familiarity
George Müller: The Knight of Faith
No full textI have observed that contemporary Christian believers and churches often have distorted views of the meaning of faith as they seek to live out their Christian life. Such distorted views can translate into a variety of forms. For example, the phrase “the faith” may collectively denote a set of doctrines or theological beliefs. It is also adopted by the prosperity gospel movement to attain health and wealth. So, how does one learn the true meaning of faith as expressed in the New Testament and avoid the distortions in today’s Christendom?This thesis looks at the lived-out definition of faith as expressed in the book Fear and Trembling, written by Søren Kierkegaard under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio. In this book, the author uses the narrative of Abraham and Isaac in the Akedah to define the concept of faith, and he states that he has never met a person with the kind of faith that Abraham possessed. However, across the North Sea, in Bristol (England), there was a contemporary of Kierkegaard whose name was George Müller. His autobiography and the annual reports published to document the donations in support of his orphanages, schools, and missionary efforts that he had received through the power of his prayers describe well his life of faith. Last year, I published a novel featuring a fictionalized George Müller set in the twenty-first century. This contemporary setting makes this exceptional character accessible to today’s culture and society while preserving the original meaning of his mission and his faith in God. My novel was positively received and “inspired” a film that is currently being developed for release in 2023.
The methodology that I employ to communicate the meaning of faith to Christians consists of a teaching model for small groups known as generational mentoring. Gregory Scott Massey developed this model in his 2019 dissertation Generational Mentoring: Using Past Saints as Present Examples. As the title suggests, the author uses small groups as a setting where Christians can learn specific character qualities from the model of Christians from the past who exemplified such qualities. I have included five chapters of an original workbook designed for small groups which help leaders teach the meaning of faith: (i) as defined by Søren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling through the life of Abraham, and (ii) as was lived out by George Müller, both the real nineteenth-century man and the contemporary fictional character from my novel.
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Sarah Fielding: Satire and Subversion in the Eighteenth-Century Novel
No full textThis study of Sarah Fielding (1710―68) is an original contribution to Fielding scholarship that has a dual purpose: to support those who are striving to re-introduce her to the modern literary landscape in an effort to restore her eighteenth-century literary standing, and to firmly establish Fielding as an early feminist writer. It is argued here that throughout her oeuvre Fielding challenged prevailing traditions that denied women a choice, particularly in education, employment and marriage. These themes are also considered in the political treatises of Mary Astell (1666―1731) and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759―97), who are now widely recognised as feminist writers.
It is further argued that Fielding’s subversion in fiction of the English patriarchal system is underscored by her unorthodox performance in the literary arena. This is fully explored alongside her use of sentimentalism as a literary tool with which she challenges her seemingly inhumane society. Fielding’s interest in ‘the Labyrinths of the Mind’ (in modern terms, human psychology) will also be addressed as will her placement in the history of feminism and her placement in the sentimental novel tradition. Fielding’s performance as a literary critic will be compared with the few female authors who, like her, dared to publish literary criticism during her writing career. Accordingly, extracts from Fielding’s novels and her two critical pamphlets will be thoroughly examined.
An updated biography of Fielding that is also included here will provide evidence for a further claim, that her fiction is autobiographical in part. A comprehensive account of Fielding’s performance as a literary critic forms the final chapter of this work. It is the first full-length examination of her contribution to the genre and includes an appraisal of her recently unearthed critical pamphlet entitled A Comparison Between the Horace of Corneille and The Roman Father of Mr. Whitehead (1750) that is yet to be formerly attributed to her. Ultimately this study of Fielding will go far beyond what has previously been written about this remarkable eighteenth-century author, particularly regarding her feminist activity
The Ophelia versions : representations of a dramatic type, 1600-1633
No full text‘The Ophelia Versions: Representations of a Dramatic Type from 1600-1633’ interrogates early modern drama’s use of the Ophelia type, which is defined in reference to Hamlet’s Ophelia and the behavioural patterns she exhibits: abandonment, derangement and suicide.
Chapter one investigates Shakespeare’s Ophelia in Hamlet, finding that Ophelia is strongly identified with the ballad corpus. I argue that the popular ballad medium that Shakespeare imports into the play via Ophelia is a subversive force that contends with and destabilizes the linear trajectory of Hamlet’s revenge tragedy narrative. The alternative space of Ophelia’s ballad narrative is, however, shut down by her suicide which, I argue, is influenced by the models of classical theatre. This ending conspires with the repressive legal and social restrictions placed upon early modern unmarried women and sets up a dangerous precedent by killing off the unassimilated abandoned woman.
Chapter two argues that Shakespeare and Fletcher’s The Two Noble Kinsmen amplifies Ophelia’s folk and ballad associations in their portrayal of the Jailer’s Daughter. Her comedic marital ending is enabled by a collaborative, communal, folk-cure. The play nevertheless registers a proto-feminist awareness of the peculiar losses suffered by early modern women in marriage and this knowledge deeply troubles the Jailer’s Daughter’s happy ending.
Chapter three explores the role of Lucibella in The Tragedy of Hoffman arguing that the play is a direct response to Hamlet’s treatment of revenge and that Lucibella is caught up in an authorial project of disambiguation which attempts to return the revenge plot to its morality roots. Chapters four and five explore the narratives of Aspatia in The Maid’s Tragedy and Penthea in The Broken Heart, finding in their very conformism to the behaviours prescribed for them, both by the Ophelia type itself and by early modern society in general, a radical protest against the limitations and repressions of those roles.
This thesis is consistently invested in the competing dialectics and authorities of oral and textual mediums in these plays. The Ophelia type, perhaps because of Hamlet’s Ophelia’s identification with the ballad corpus, proves an interesting gauge of each play’s engagement with emergent notions of textual authority in the early modern period
Price Discovery in Real Estate Auctions: The Story of Unsuccessful Attempts
No full textLittle is known of the effects of the auction mechanism in relation to post-auction market sales. This empirical study of unsuccessful auctions shows that approximately half of these properties were eventually sold via private negotiations, at higher prices relative to last bids. The probability of a subsequent post-auction transaction is significantly higher for apartments and terrace houses and when auction turnout is high; and lower in the absence of any bid and in some years. In addition, downward revisions to the opening bid improve the probability of subsequent sale. Prices of subsequent re-auctioned and privately negotiated sales decline with time to sale, consistent with the search process explanation.
Soul Recreation: Spiritual Marriage and Ravishment in the Contemplative-Mystical Piety of Isaac Ambrose
No full textABSTRACT
Tom Schwanda
Soul Recreation: Spiritual Marriage and Ravishment in the Contemplative-Mystical Piety of Isaac Ambrose
This thesis examines the theology and piety of Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664), a moderate Lancashire Puritan minister. More specifically it raises the question about the nature of his spiritual practices and whether they reflect what Bernard McGinn calls the “mystical element” of Christianity? This research is distinctive since Ambrose has never been the primary focus of research. There are six chapters to this thesis.
Chapter 1 examines the definition of three key terms: “mysticism”, “Puritanism”, and “Puritan mysticism” and then substitutes “contemplative-mystical piety” for McGinn’s mystical element since this language is more familiar to the Reformed community. A review of the literature reveals the prevalence of contemplative-mystical piety within mainstream Puritanism. Chapter 2 explores the biblical and theological foundations of union with Christ, which the Puritans often called spiritual marriage. Contrary to common perception, the Puritans encouraged intimacy and sexual enjoyment in their godly marriage that they often perceived as a reciprocal relationship with their spiritual marriage. The third chapter creates a contemplative biography of Ambrose through his diary entries and examines his relationship with God and his neighbor through his annual retreats, the struggles of his soul, serving as a physician of the soul, times of public fasting and worship, and the significance of specific places or environment to his piety. Chapter 4 narrows the focus to Ambrose’s teaching on meditation and contemplation. The influence of Bernard of Clairvaux is clearly evident as Ambrose contemplatively looks at Jesus throughout all the manifestations of Jesus’ life. The fifth chapter considers Ambrose’s use of ravishment and examines the nature, dynamics and benefits of this ambiguous term of delight and enjoyment. The final chapter moves from the seventeenth-century to the present and inquires whether Ambrose’s contemplative-mystical piety can guide contemporary Reformed Christians. That requires an examination into the resistance of Karl Barth as well as the more receptive possibility of retrieval through Herman Bavinck. This work concludes with seven principles from Ambrose to encourage those who are members of the Reformed tradition
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