4,444 research outputs found
Romantic Dialogues: Writing the Self in De Quincey and Woolf
No full textVirginia Woolf has been recognised as a pioneering modernist writer creating a new literary voice. It is not unusual to discover in Woolf’s writings the aesthetic and literary traces of those past traditions and influences which have been woven into her modern narratives. One significant, but often overlooked, influence comes from the Romantic period and the essayist, Thomas De Quincey. De Quincey’s stylish essays inspire Woolf’s art. Both writers’ fascination with representing the self (and their devotion to creating a literary thinking about, and narrative of, the subject) indicates a shared affinity between these two writers in spite of important cultural, historical, and social differences between them. My treatment of the self in De Quincey and Woolf is aware of the aesthetic and literary affinities between them and those cultural and historical differences that divide them. Tracing important connections between these two important writers sheds light on the larger concerns and patterns of both the literary scenes of Romanticism and Modernism.
Six chapters in three sections focus on three main aspects of the self central to De Quincey and Woolf—the art of literature, the representation of time and the question of autobiographical writing. Chapter One and Two investigate De Quincey’s literature of power and Woolf’s art of fiction to examine the relationship between literary representation and the self. Chapter Three and Four discuss issues of time and self in De Quincey and Woolf. The final two chapters contend that De Quincey’s and Woolf’s reflections on literary representation, and time as a philosophical problem are embodied in their writings of the self across their respective literary careers. A project of this kind is alert to and enriches a recent burgeoning critical interest from Romanticists and Modernists alike in the exchanges, interchanges, bequests, and legacies of Romanticism to Modernism
Gesamtkunstwerk as an aesthetic pre-occupation in the novels of Virginia Woolf.
No full textPhDThis thesis aims to show that Wagner's theories of Gesamtkunstwerk were a
pre-occupation in Woolf's work throughout her career. The introduction
explores Gesamtkunstwerk theory, tracing its development in theories
concerning the combination of art forms, I go on to show how Woolf uses the
Voyage Out to explore what the modern novel can learn from musical arts, while
Jacob's Room adds painting to music as a significant field of interest for
Woolf Mrs Dalloway adds to the complexity of combination, for I will
demonstrate that in this novel a Nietzschean interpretation of Wagner's ideas
found in The Birth of Tragedy is detectable, allowing Woolf to compare the
motivation of more extreme avant-garde groups. The chapter on To the
Lighthouse will consider Woolf's evaluation of her parents' cultural
background and the influence of Roger Fry on her developing aesthetic theory
of combination. I shall argue that understanding of these areas allows Woolf to
begin to experiment with her own form of Gesamtkunstwerk. It is in The
Waves that the connection with Wagner is most obvious. Here, I believe
Woolf shifts the focus of attention from Wagnerian theories of
Gesamtkunstwerk to the Modernists' development of such ideas,
demonstrating her knowledge of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Looking closely
at the 1915 Raid Scene in The Years, I intend to show that Woolf's thinking on
the concept of combination is equally radical in this novel which is often
considered to be more conventional. I will go on to suggest that Between the
Acts, widely acknowledged to indicate a crisis in Woolf's confidence in
Modernism, marks a turning point in her thinking about the possibilities of
combining the arts to achieve Gesamtkunstwerk. I will argue that in this piece
Woolf provides us with all the elements used to create unity in the previous
works and yet they are never wholly united. Woolf, however, is not suggesting
that Gesamtkunstwerk is an impossibility, she is rather indicating that the
audience lacks the ability to provide the stage for such a piece to exist
Adrian Caesar speaking at Alex Miller author: A Celebration, held at the National Library, Canberra, 30 October 2011 /
No full textTitle from information supplied by photographer.; Part of the collection: Alex Miller author: A Celebration, held at the National Library of Australia theatre, 30 October 2011.; Mode of access: Online.; Photographed by a staff member of the National Library of Australia
[Letter from Alex Bradford to Lieutenant and Mrs. Ray Starner - November 4, 1940]
No full textLetter from Alex Bradford to Lieutenant and Mrs. Ray Starner describing the the current state of affairs that the author was experiencing, including: the London blitz, the moral of the troops on the ground, and the collective company of men opposing the Nazi regime
The dialectic of self and other in Montaigne, Proust and Woolf
No full textThis thesis investigates the construction of identity in relation to an other. It considers three
writers who, working at moments when the nature of selfhood was an urgent issue, conduct
profound and original enquiries into the question of self- construction, and seeks both to
reassess their contributions to this debate, and, in bringing their preoccupations and methods
to bear upon each other, to open up new ways of approaching and reading their work.
Considering a range of socio-cultural and religious forms of otherness -- the cannibal, the
witch, the Jew, the aristocrat, the woman, the divine -- it embraces material from a number of
important modem critical fields, and suggests how these topics might be combined to offer a
coherent statement about the enduring issue of s elf- fashioning.
The thesis seeks to map out a trajectory of decreasing investment in external communities,
and an increasing perception of the self as a source and agent in the construction of identity.
Looking in turn at the work of Montaigne, Proust and Woolf, it argues that where the Essais
construct complex orders which appropriate the other to reinforce the identity of the self,
Proust and Woolf increasingly, although gradually, and by no means always successfully,
attempt to negotiate a less precisely- engaged relationship between other and self, and to
assign the other a less constitutive role in the realization and expression of identity. The
thesis also considers more briefly contexts in which this trajectory is reversed. To the extent
that they examine modernist subjectivity, Proust and Woolf articulate an anxiety about the
separation of self and world which leads to an attempted recuperation of the integrated orders
depicted by Montaigne
Alex Haley, author
No full textExamines the life and achievements of Alex Haley, celebrated author of "Roots" and other writings, discussing his life and literary career, as well as his obsession with researching his family's history
Description by author Alex Irvine of his recent participation in the San Diego C
No full textDescription by author Alex Irvine of his recent participation in the San Diego Comic-Con, one of the largest conferences of comic/media/book producers and consumers. Irvine was there to promote his new fiction book, One King, One Soldier, published by Del Rey
Change in Northumbria : was Aldfrith of Northumbria's reign a period of innovation or did it merely reflect the development of processes already underway in the late seventh century?
No full textThis thesis looks at a period of Northumbrian history when the king was a part Irish, Iona trained scholar. Some have suggested that Aldfrith was assisted to the kingship by the northern victors of the battle of Nechtansmere. It examines processes in the late seventh century to try to identify changes that might have happened during the reign of this king.
The study begins with a wide overview of previous research to establish a basis from which to look for processes and change and also examines the sources available to us, written and archaeological. It then looks at the kingdoms to the north and west and at Aldfrith and the period of his reign. The suggestion is made that Aldfrith acted, with the Church, to cult saints that were Northumbrian and Romanist, as opposed to other options that might have been available. It proposes that the Northumbrians rejected opportunities to develop links with the north and west that may have been open to them. The following chapters then examine processes underway in Northumbria in three general areas; in the use of power, in society, and in the economy.
It concludes that although many processes continued as before, these sped up and in certain areas such as the production of coins, and the consequential development of trade, it was a period of innovation. There is no evidence of a focus to the north and west during Aldfrith’s reign and this has implications for how Aldfrith got to the throne, suggesting that it was with the support of the Northumbrian elite and not through the military strength of the Dál Riata or the Picts. The evidence is that Northumbria increasingly looked south for its influences and is prepared to absorb and implement processes and approaches from southern England, Gaul and Rome
Recovery through contradiction?
No full textWith this new drug strategy, the circle has turned. It was a Conservative government
that introduced the first drug strategy, Tackling Drugs Together, in 1995. This aimed
to reduce drug related crime, protect young people and reduce health harms by
discouraging drug use. It was criticised at the time for having unrealistic, intangible
aims and for not providing the necessary funding. New Labour’s strategies introduced
increasingly specific targets and massively expanded the funding of treatment. This
new Coalition strategy has no targets and provides no new funding
Alex Miller signing books at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 30 October 2011 /
No full textTitle from information supplied by photographer.; Part of the collection: Alex Miller author: A Celebration, held at the National Library of Australia theatre, 30 October 2011.; Mode of access: Online.; Photographed by a staff member of the National Library of Australia
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