38,431 research outputs found
Threads of influence: Greek tragedy and its relevance to the contemporary novel, with specific reference to Donna Tartt's 'The secret history', and my novel, 'The first seven years'
This MPhil concerns the contemporary literary novel and how it has been influenced by
the Golden Age of Greek tragedy. It comprises of three parts: the thesis and the novel,
hereby presented, and the journal of creative experiences, which was observed at viva.
My thesis examines the historical development of Greek tragedy and its structure. It
further explores how tragedy has influenced writers through the ages, culminating in the
literary tragedy of today. The methodology of tragic form is investigated in the works of
writers educated in Greek tragic structure, and also those with no classical background.
This thesis aims to show how novelists without a classical education have accessed the
tragic form, via threads of literary influence, and utilised it successfully, albeit often
unconsciously.
My novel, The First Seven Years, is a work of contemporary tragic fiction. It tells the
story of one womanâs attempts to do the best for her child. Trapped between raising her
young son, Alfie, and caring for an increasingly frail elderly relative, Kate becomes
emotionally and physically stretched. When she discovers Alfie has been badly bullied in
his failing state school, her attempts to change schools have tragic consequences.
Finally, my journal, presented at viva, compiles my creative thoughts, notes and
research for both novel and thesis in one portfolio. My original notebooks show much of
my novelâs planning and I have included visual images used of characters, buildings,
locations, Kateâs photography and Marthaâs pottery. Factual research is also integrated;
investigating peripheral neuropathy, school league tables and admissions criteria. Thesis
research includes relevant newspaper cuttings, programmes to Oedipus Rex and PhĂšdre,
readings by DBC Pierre & Jeanette Winterson, and an interview with David Guterson.
This journal has proved invaluable throughout my MPhil, both as an inspiration and an aide-mémoire
Thematic Shifts in Contemporary Vietnamese American Novels
This article examines the thematic shifts in three contemporary Vietnamese American novels published since 2003: Monique Truong\u27s The Book of Salt, Dao Strom\u27s Grass Roof, Tin Roof, and Bich Minh Nguyen\u27s Short Girls. I argue that by concentrating on the themes of inferiority and invisibility and issues related to ethnic and racial relationships in U.S. culture (instead of concentrating on the Vietnam War and the refugee experiences), some contemporary Vietnamese American authors are attempting to merge their voices into the corpus of ethnic American literature, which usually is thematically characterized by identity, displacement, alienation, and cultural conflict, etc. Each author explores the problems confronted by individuals caught up in various phases of the Vietnamese diaspora of the twentieth century. These important works are treated primarily thematically, even as the theoretical approaches of various critics are employed to examine those themes. All three novels take Vietnamese American literature in new thematic directions, which signals great promise for future developments. Key words: contemporary Vietnamese American novels, Monique Truong\u27s The Book of Salt, Dao Strom\u27s Grass Roof, Tin Roof, Bich Minh Nguyen\u27s Short Girls, invisible identity
Masculine crusaders, effeminate Greeks, and the female historian: relations of power in Sir Walter Scott's Count Robert of Paris
Gender employed as a methodological lens in the analysis of historical
fiction can help to reveal implicit or explicit evaluative statements. It is deployed
here to examine hierarchies in the military, political and cultural context
of the encounter between âvirileâ Westerners and âeffeminateâ Greeks in Sir
Walter Scottâs last novel, Count Robert of Paris (1831), which is set in Constantinople
at the start of the First Crusade (1096-7). Scottâs depiction of Westerners
and Orientalized Greeks is set against the geopolitical concerns of the authorâs
own time. The gendered perspective through which Scott constructs relationships
in Count Robert makes it clear that the ancestors of modern Britain
and France must control the East, represented here by the Byzantine Greeks.
On the other hand, Scottâs ambivalent and fluctuating portrayal of the twelfthcentury
historiographer Anna Comnena as a fictional character in the novel
reveals his own uncertain stance between rejection and admiration of the female
historian, as well as a more complex approach to gender dynamics in times of
change
Existential angst: a reading of Saul Bellow's Seize the Day
TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e ExpressĂŁo, Curso de Graduação em LĂngua e Literatura Estrangeira.RESUMO: Existencialismo Ă© uma doutrina filosĂłfica focada no ser humano em face da realidade, que vem atraindo muitos escritores hĂĄ dĂ©cadas. Muitos estudiosos vĂȘm discutindo a possibilidade de Saul Bellow poder ser considerado um escritor Existencialista. A presente pesquisa analisa o livro do autor Estadunidense Seize the Day atravĂ©s de uma revisĂŁo bibliogrĂĄfica. Aplicando os pressupostos defendidos por Jean-Paul Sartre ao livro foi possĂvel encontrar conexĂ”es com o que defende o pensador FrancĂȘs, embora falte certa densidade ao livro de Bellow quando comparado aos de outros trabalhos Existencialistas.ABSTRACT: Existentialism is a philophical doctrine focused on the human being inface of reality that has been attracting many writers for decades. Many scholars have been discussing the Existentialism in Saul Bellow's production. This work analysis the American author's novel Seize the Day through a bibliographical review. Applying presupposes defended by Jean-Paul Sartre to the novel it was possible to find connections with the French thinker's ideas though the novel lacks some density when compared to other Existentialist works
The unruly rules of the game : writing game and writing practice in George Gissing's New Grub Street
In The Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes likens the reader-writer relationship to a game, the play of which is made possible by the writer's imaginative seeking out of his reader, and the reader's openness to being found. If each does his or her partâif neither bores the otherââthere can still be a gameâ. This model of writing and reading as exploratory, amorous gamesmanship is troubled by the literary equivalent of spectator sports, literature for a mass audience. According to this new model, described by Marshall McLuhan, âWithout the audience, there is no game. It would be a practiceâ, a rehearsal without a play. Within mass culture, then, the game is determined not by the players' mutual efforts to defer the rules, but by the presence of an anonymous public, well-versed in rule and convention before first pitch is thrown or first sentence is read. How one writes, or fails to write, in the context of this new configuration of the game is the main question posed in George Gissing's New Grub Street (1891). I contend that, while the novelâs successful writers play to audience demand, their counterparts yearn for a proper writing practice. Boredom marks the lattersâ refusal of the new rules of the game, flagging the novelâs construction and allocation of artistic authenticity.peer-reviewe
Film Adaption and Transnational Cultures or Production: The Case of Guillermo Arriaga
The circulation of Latin American cinema in a transnational context has widened the options that actors and directors from the region have regarding their involvement in the different aspects of film production. In order to analyze Guillermo Arriagaâs transnational career as a writer of novels and screenplays I contrast his work with that of other writers and filmmakers who have participated in both the cinematic and literary fields. The fact that Arriaga has crossed the lines between writing, adapting, and directing his own works in Spanish and English leads me to review the current relations of film and literature in general. Finally, by comparing Arriagaâs novels and films, I propose that the contemporary practice of film adaptation contributes to the âflexibilizationâ in the roles writers, actors, and directors play in filmmaking and in the circulation of cultural capital between film and literature in the current media markets
The Temple of Morality: Thomas Holcroft and the Swerve of Melodrama
Roll 43a. Repository (Col.Ch.) / Tre Ore (Col.Ch.). Image 12 of 59. (2 April, 1953; 3 April, 1953) [PHO 1.43a.13]The Boleslaus Lukaszewski (Father Luke) Photographs contain more than 28,000 images of Saint Louis University people, activities, and events between 1951 and 1970. The photographs were taken by Boleslaus Lukaszewski (Father Luke), a Jesuit priest and member of the University's Philosophy Department faculty
Sideshadow views : narrative possibilities in Charles Dickens's late novels
Cet essai discute du rĂŽle de lâhypothĂ©tique (ce qui ne peut ĂȘtre proposĂ© que comme une hypothĂšse) dans les huit derniers romans de Charles Dickens et de la variĂ©tĂ© des moyens littĂ©raires utilisĂ©s pour lâinvoquer. Dans toute communication fondĂ©e sur le langage, les mots sont Ă©noncĂ©s (et entendus) ou Ă©crits (et lus), lâun aprĂšs lâautre, dans lâordre quâexige la grammaire. La linĂ©aritĂ© et lâordre de telles sĂ©quences semblent reflĂ©ter naturellement une temporalitĂ© et une causalitĂ© rĂ©gissant les Ă©vĂšnements reprĂ©sentĂ©s. En fait, ceci ne peut rendre compte que de leur nĂ©cessitĂ© et de leur chronologie. Je soutiens que les romans considĂ©rĂ©s recourent Ă des actions, des idĂ©es, des Ă©vĂšnements, des perspectives, des voix, etc. hypothĂ©tiques, pour dĂ©passer les limites imposĂ©es par le dĂ©terminisme apparemment inhĂ©rent aux structures narratives.
Dans les mondes fictionnels de Dickens, le prĂ©sent nâest pas la simple consĂ©quence du passĂ© et ce qui arrive nâest pas seulement la consĂ©quence nĂ©cessaire dâune cause suffisante. Ce qui se produit est souvent sans nĂ©cessitĂ© et aurait aussi bien pu ne pas se produire. Un tel Ă©vĂšnement, quand il nâĂ©tait encore quâune possibilitĂ©, a Ă©tĂ© en concurrence avec dâautres possibilitĂ©s jusquâĂ ce que la chance dĂ©cide de lâactualiser. Cette rĂ©alitĂ© contingente -- avec sa « charge » Ă©thique, Ă©pistĂ©mologique et ontologique -- ne peut ĂȘtre reprĂ©sentĂ©e par le discours linĂ©aire et chronologique de la tĂ©lĂ©ologie. La reprĂ©sentation de la contingence exige lâinsertion du rĂ©el et du spĂ©culatif dans un tissu narratif composĂ© de dĂ©veloppements et dâĂ©vĂšnements actuels et virtuels.
Câest pourquoi, dans les romans de Dickens, lâinvisible peut ĂȘtre montrĂ©, le silence peut ĂȘtre Ă©loquent et ce qui est en pleine vue peut demeurer secret. Dâautres histoires possibles contribuent toujours Ă lâintrigue. Ă diverses jonctions du rĂ©cit, les chemins non empruntĂ©s
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pourraient avoir menĂ© ailleurs. Des directions hypothĂ©tiques et des mises en intrigues imprĂ©cises dĂ©finissent lâhistoire aussi puissamment que les dĂ©veloppements poursuivis.
Pour produire un monde de possibilitĂ©s aussi complexe, Dickens, non seulement ne sâen remet pas Ă une supposĂ©e qualitĂ© mimĂ©tique du langage, mais il envisage aussi la rĂ©alitĂ© quâil reprĂ©sente comme un fait naturellement littĂ©raire. Il ne cache pas son art ; bien au contraire, avec une crĂ©ativitĂ© et une fertilitĂ© Ă©tonnante, il dĂ©ploie avec flamboyance son habiletĂ© Ă jouer avec le langage, avec une rhĂ©torique luxuriante et avec une profusion dâintrigues potentielles. Tout ce qui constitue lâextravagante Ă©conomie narrative de Dickens est exposĂ© en permanence et est partie inhĂ©rente du plaisir procurĂ© Ă ses lecteurs.
En introduction, je discute du recours de Dickens Ă lâhypothĂ©tique dans son interaction avec un important conflit idĂ©ologique de son Ă©poque, la confrontation de la tĂ©lĂ©ologie crĂ©ationniste avec lâindĂ©terminisme existentiel de la thĂ©orie de lâĂ©volution de Darwin. Dans les trois chapitres suivants, jâadresse la fonction de lâhypothĂ©tique dans les incipit de David Copperfied, A Tale of Two Cities et The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Jâexamine ensuite comment, maintenant lâangoisse Ă©pistĂ©mique sur la rĂ©alitĂ© engendrĂ©e dans lâincipit, lâhypothĂ©tique se propage au travers du roman, soulevant les questions sans souvent y rĂ©pondre. Je conclus que dans les huit derniers romans de Dickens -- et je suggĂšre que cela est sans doute le cas pour le roman moderne en gĂ©nĂ©ral -- le recours Ă lâhypothĂ©tique participe Ă lâacquisition dâune vĂ©ritĂ© littĂ©raire, parce que, aprĂšs tout, la littĂ©rature -- comme la science et la philosophie -- est une forme dâexpĂ©rimentation avec la rĂ©alitĂ©.This essay discusses the role of the hypothetical â that which can be proposed only as a hypothesis -- in Charles Dickensâs last eight novels and the variety of literary means used to invoke it. In any language-based communication, words are uttered (and heard) or written (and read), one after the other, in the order that grammar demands. The linearity and order of such sequences seem to reflect naturally a temporality and a causality governing the represented events. In fact, this can only account for their necessity and their chronology. I argue that the novels under consideration make use of hypothetical and counterfactual actions, thoughts, events, perspectives, voices, etc., in order to overcome the limits imposed by the determinism apparently inherent to narrative structures.
In Dickensâs fictional worlds, the present is not the simple consequence of the past and what happens is not only the necessary consequence of a sufficient cause. What happens is often without necessity and could as well not have happened. Such an event, when it was still only a possibility, competed with other unnecessary possibilities until chance decided its actualization. This contingent reality -- with its ethical, epistemological and ontological âpayloadâ -- cannot be represented by the linear discourse of teleology. The representation of contingency demands the insertion of the real and the speculative in a narrative fabric woven out of virtual and actual developments and events.
That is why, in Dickensâs novels, the unseen can be shown, silence can be eloquent, and what is in plain view can remain secret. Other possible stories always contribute to the plot. At various forks in the narrative, paths not taken could have led elsewhere. Hypothetical directions and indistinct emplotments define the narrative as powerfully as the developments that are pursued.
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To produce such a complex world of possibilities, Dickens not only refuses to rely upon a supposed mimetic quality of language, but he also contemplates the reality that he represents as a natural literary fact. He does not conceal his art. On the contrary, with an amazing fertility and inventiveness, he makes a lavish display of his capacity to play with language, with rhetorical flourish and with potential lines of emplotment. Everything that constitutes Dickensâs wild narrative economy is always on permanent display and is an inherent part of the pleasure procured for his readership.
In the introduction, I discuss Dickensâs recourse to the hypothetical in its interaction with an important ideological conflict of his time -- the confrontation of the creationist teleology with the existential indeterminism of broadly Darwinian evolution theory. In the next three chapters, I address the function of the hypothetical in the incipits of David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I then examine how, by sustaining the epistemic anxiety generated in the incipit, the hypothetical propagates across the novel, raising questions without often answering them. I conclude that in Dickensâs last eight novels -- and, I suggest that this may also be the case in the modern novel in general -- the recourse to the hypothetical participates in the acquisition of a literary truth, because, after all, literature -- like science and philosophy -- is just another way to experiment with reality
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