And another thing...dress codes for book people: L- Librarians

A humorous consideration of what librarians wear - and what they should not wear indicating the role and status of the profession

Monstrous words, monstrous bodies: irony and the walking dead in Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium

This article analyses the function of the tales of the walking dead found in Distinction II of Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium (c.1182). Map's sole surviving work, the “Courtiers’ Trifles” is a collection of historical narratives, wonder stories, witty asides and anecdotes collated during his employment at Henry II's court. The satirical nature of the De Nugis has been noted by previous scholars; however, this has yet to be discussed specifically with regard to the tales of the undead. Following a discussion of the twelfth-century traditions of satirical literature and the ways in which medieval authors approached the trope of irony, the second part of the narrative will examine how Map, a master of the “art of lying”, deconstructed the conventions of wonder stories. It will be argued that as well as using these tales to satirise the historiographical function of mirabilia, they were also used to critique the reality of court life and, on a deeper level, the literary function of ambiguity itself. The inherent irony of the walking dead, the dissonance between physical form and metaphysical intent, meant that they could be inscribed with multiple, parallel meanings

Questioni pregiudiziali: una prospettiva epistemologica sui rapporti tra neuroscienze e diritto

In the last few years the problem of the influence of neuroscientific research on the juridical world has enjoyed a huge amount of interest, though the “neuroscience vs law” approach is sometimes unfold without a previous clarification of the conditions and the limits that permit a legitimate comparison between speeches and social practices (those under the general lables “sci-ence” and, respectively, “law”) originated and conducted within theoretical paradigms so dis-tant. In other words, very often the juxtaposition between “neuroscience” and “law”, as well as the speculations built on it, are led leaving unexpressed definitions and theoretical presupposi-tions about the concepts of “law” and “science” employed, trusting on a share of intuitive com-mon places about something which has been considered “essentially contested” instead. Thus, the aim of this paper is twofold: first, I will critically espose some epistemological issues emerged at the turn of the XX century, focusing on some reactions to the relativistic turn based on the (re-)discovery of the importance of the experimental side of every scientific enterprise. In my opinion, those proposals have given important insights that can help the clarification of a le-gitimate “scientific riductionism”; then, on those epistemological grounds, I will try to set the stage for a profitable discussion about the extra-theoretical use of scientific propositions, in par-ticular of those generated within current neuroscience researches to deal with specific juridical problems

“Killing the Angel in the House”: feminism and gender politics in Virginia Woolf

Traballo Fin de Grao en Lingua e Literatura inglesas. Curso 2018-2019The aim of this dissertation is to carry out a feminist approach to the work of Virginia Woolf, exploring the relevance of themes such as gender and feminism in the literary production of this writer. I will focus on the manner in which Woolf conveys her ideas concerning women and literature, and particular attention will be given to those formal and ideological aspects of Woolf’s feminist agenda. In order to serve this purpose, I will depart from a close study of the writer’s work, paying special attention to Woolf’s essayist production, a genre which she conceives (both from a formal and an ideological standpoint) as the expression of personal opinion and subjectivity, thus radically departing from hegemonic views on the essay as scientific prose, as held by most of her male contemporaries, such as TS Elliot or Desmond MacCarthy. Such a deviation from male tradition standards, along with Woolf’s advocation of women’s visibility in the public sphere, may account for the ostracism she experienced in her lifetime, especially after the publication of her seminal essay “A Room of One’s Own” (1929). However, and as this dissertation aims to show, Woolf’s work continues to provide an inspiration for twentieth-first-century writers, who write in her wak

Reading the silences: Trudie Denman and the women’s movement in the first half of the twentieth century

This article discusses the challenges of researching a biography of the personal, professional and political life of Lady Gertrude Denman (1884–1954). ‘Trudie’ as she was familiarly known, took on leading roles in a number of organisations, including the Women’s Institute Movement, the National Birth Control Council and the Women’s Land Army. She also provided financial support to many organisations, including the Liberal party, to which she was politically affiliated. She was a skilled chair of meetings and conferences, with an acute eye for procedure; an enabler, facilitator and motivator who encouraged co-operation and smoothed ruffled feathers as she cajoled self-righteous firebrands with difficult personalities to work together and ensured ordinary working-class people had a voice. We explore her now largely forgotten role in these organisations and argue that, as the ultimate pragmatist, she favoured and getting things done by co-operation over polemics and grandstanding. We also address the many complexities of her personal life, including her relationship with Margaret Pyke. In navigating the many ‘silences’ that surround her personal and professional life, we seek to understand the relationship between her personal experiences and her practical, political and professional roles as an activist in the contemporary women’s movement

Homiletics as mnemonic practice: Collective memory and contemporary Christian preaching, with special reference to the work of Maurice Halbwachs

In his book Twilight Memories Andreas Huyssen (1995) famously described contemporary Western culture as 'a culture of amnesia'. That concern about social memory is evident in many areas of contemporary discourse. Social memory's confabulatory, subjective, and ambiguous nature makes its analysis an arena of conflicting and diverse opinions. Drawing on Maurice Halbwachs' concept of 'collective memory', and its use in more recent sociological studies, this study uses preaching theory and practice as a way of addressing those wider memory concerns in the life of the church. In particular, the profound challenge of memory work to Christianity's insistence on remembrance as the foundation of its authenticity is examined through contemporary homiletic practice. It is argued that, alongside the familiar didactic, cognitive, epistemological and contextual categories employed in preaching practice, the current crisis of memory requires a new emphasis on memory maintenance. Sermons are presented as mnemonic events essential to the ongoing living tradition of the faith