Writing beyond the pale : literature, literary theory, and the law of genre

It has sometimes been claimed that certain texts written by literary theorists defy categorisation. Neither critique nor fiction, and not even identifiable as a hybrid of both, such texts resist efforts to identify their generic affiliation. These texts might have been allowed to stand merely as indicators of their creators' whimsy were it not for the fact that their content and form, not to mention their problematic relationship with what literary theorists profess elsewhere, represent a provocation to literary criticism's established approaches and procedures. This paper reviews one such text, namely Jacques Derrida 's The Post Card, and more particularly the section entitled "Envois", in the light of his essay "The Law of Genre". It asks whether texts like "Envois" repay critical scrutiny which speaks of a-genericity and multi-genericity, and assesses their implications for the future of literature and literary criticism.peer-reviewe

An unexpected cause for right loin pain

A 49-year-old woman presented with acute onset of persistent, severe right loin pain. This was associated with uncontrolled hypertension. There was no associated fever, haematuria or dysuria. There was no history of trauma. At 17 years of age, she underwent a left nephrectomy for an atrophic kidneypeer-reviewe

Hospital management of community-acquired pneumonia in Malta

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a common diagnosis requiring hospital admission and a leading cause of death worldwide. No local guideline is currently available for the management of CAP. Our aim was to evaluate current practices in the management of CAP at Mater Dei Hospital, Malta. In this prospective study we looked at all adult patients admitted with CAP in winter and summer (105 consecutive days for both seasons). Data collected and analysed included: basic patient demographics; symptoms at presentation; antibiotics prescribed and time of administration; co-morbidities; CURB65; blood oxygenation levels; admission plan; length of stay and follow-up; length of stay, follow-up chest radiography and death within 30 days from hospital admission. Of note the average time to first dose antibiotic was 7 hours 48 minutes (range 2 hours 13 minutes – 14 hours 17 minutes). A total of 178 patients (50.1%) were admitted with CURB65 scores of 0 (n=99) and 1 (n=86). Most of these could have been discharged and managed in the community with significant impact on hospital bed occupancy. Eventual standardisation of acute management of CAP by the set-up of a local guideline will improve outcome and reduce hospital bed occupancy.peer-reviewe

‘One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple’— Rethinking DNACPR at a national level

Evidence has shown a diversity of practices and terminology concerning the implementation and documentation of Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) notices across different hospital Trusts in England and Wales, and the Resuscitation Council (UK) has recently proposed a standard approach for how DNACPR notices can be better incorporated into overall care plans. However, the Council can only make recommendations for good practice. This discussion reviews current practices and suggests that the time has come for a national standardized approach to the process of initiating and documenting DNACPR, along with a dedicated programme to increase public understanding of what is involved. A national policy framework for DNACPR notices would avoid regional and institutional differences, bust current myths, and ensure communication with, and involvement of, the patient remains at the heart of medical practice and decision-making. Importantly, it would both ensure that the respective legal rights and obligations of patients and professionals are respected, as well as providing clear public health benefits. At the very least, a national conversation would help achieve common understandings and expectations

The time of criticalthinkings

An island: there, in smaller times in a timeless sea. Stung by recent events, its people achieve consensus on the need for critical thinking. Improbable. But impossible things had happened, even there. They surprise themselves, but something had to be done. ‘As a nation, we must think more, and we must think more deeply,’ they declare through those who think up this kind of thing. ‘Our thinking must not only go deeper, it has to develop the capacity for critique,’ the people sort of learn to say. Or, as the intoning tells them, you, we, might not survive ourselves. Having got this far, they turn their half a million backs on the political groupings that had previously dulled that capacity with the rewards of loyalty, as well as on the religions that had schooled them in the rewards of faith. They are thrilled by this double emancipation. Some time is needed before the thrill can be worked off. Pragmatism, the greatest of survivors, then asserts itself. So not unreasonably they ask, ‘But who will teach us critical thinking?’peer-reviewe

Reading disability in literature and in film

This is a review-article of two major studies in disability studies, one edited collection, The Problem Body: Projecting Disability on Film, edited by Sally Chivers and Nicole Markotić and one authored volume, Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation by Ato Quayson.peer-reviewe

Infrared studies of classical novae and the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi

This work is concerned with new observations, within the 1-100um infrared wavelength range, of novae and with models to explain these and existing observations of these objects. The first half is concerned with the classical novae. Some of these objects have long been known to be copious producers of dust during outburst. We investigate a possible formation mechanism for this dust - namely nucleation on ions, and we discuss whether such a model can reproduce the observational characteristics of individual novae. IRAS observations of classical novae are also reported. Together with the available ground based observations of these objects the IRAS observations provide valuable information on the nature of such novae. The infrared observations of the nova GQ Mus 1983 are interpreted in terms of free-free radiation from a freely expanding gas shell and a model is constructed in an attempt to reproduce these observations. The second half is concerned with RS Ophiuchi. This star is a recurrent nova that has undergone five recorded outbursts, the most recent in 1985 January. Extensive photometric and spectroscopic infrared observations were taken during this outburst. These are presented and we attempt to model the observations in terms of a gas shell expanding into a preoutburst circumstellar envelope of material, presumably formed by the wind of the secondary star