Arthurian mythology in the twentieth century : T.H. White and John Steinbeck's interpretations of Malory's Morte d'Arthur

This thesis sets out to analyse and evaluate T.H. White's The Once and Future King and John Steinbeck's The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights, two novels based on the Arthurian legend, and to investigate their reliance on Malory's Morte Darthur. A close critical reading of both texts is provided. The thesis begins by setting the novels in the context of the body of twentieth-century literature inspired by the Arthurian legend, and notes that both aspire to provide a fresh interpretation of the Morte Darthur. A broad outline of certain themes in the Morte Darthur which become central concerns in The Once and Future King and The Acts of King Arthur is given. A mythopoetic approach to the Morte Darthur is used, and it is examined as tragic and elegiac mythology in which archetypal characters appear. In the treatment of T.H. White's The Once and Future King, selective use is made of various contextual approaches to literature. In the first volume, The Sword in the Stone, the interaction of the work with the genres of comedy and fantasy is examined, and it is concluded that White makes use of both to create a pastoral idyll. It is suggested that the next three volumes, The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight and The Candle in the Wind, demonstrate a progressively ( tragic vision in which the idealism of the first volume is sorely tried by the relentlessness of fate, and the machinations of human beings. It is indicated that White creates his most successful balance between romantic idealism and pessimistic realism in The Ill-Made Knight. It is also argued that The Candle in the Wind fails to maintain the intensity of Malory's tragedy and that The Book of Merlyn, the author's alternative ending to the saga, provides a more fitting ending to the entire cycle, although marred by White's bitterness and polemic argument. John Steinbeck's The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights is examined in the light of the author's original aims to translate the Morte Darthur. It is suggested that the first chapters in which he does this are flat and sometimes laboured in comparison with the original, but that his last two sections, Gawain, Ewain and Marhalt and The Noble Tale of Sir Lancelot, provide a fresh and inventive approach. It is argued that in The Noble Tale of Sir Lancelot, Steinbeck comes to grips with the drama at the heart of the Morte Darthur as he introduces the eternal triangle in which the central characters are situated, and explores the potential for failure, even chaos, within the Round Table itself. The thesis concludes by drawing parallels between the two works and comparing their respective merits. It is maintained that while Malory's Morte Darthur cannot be improved upon, it is transmuted in the hands of White and Steinbeck into rich, lively and thought-provoking novels

Rewriting Christina Rossetti : cross-gendered sibling rivalry, fraternal intervention and the counter-poetics of dissidence

Bibliography: pages 355-372.Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti, paying especial attention to unravelling the received tradition that as an artist, Rossetti was indebted to Dante Gabriel's patronage. Instead, I argue that she negotiated her career as a poet against a covertly competitive backdrop of sibling rivalry, in which Dante Gabriel made strenuous efforts to direct and control her creative work. This thesis also examines and challenges the myths that William Michael set in motion as his sister's initial editor and biographer, and which still inform our perception of her as a poet and as a sister. I also investigate her standing regarding the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a relation which is more problematic than is generally believed, maintaining that she was excluded from equal membership within this glamorous circle while simultaneously strategically important to them, both as a poet and a model. Clearly, the various misrepresentations of Rossetti's life and works are gendered. I employ the tools of feminist literary practice and new historicism in order to reveal the extent to which the treatment of Rossetti both by her brothers and various critics, has reflected patriarchal pressures and strictures. Primary manuscripts, some unpublished, or published in censored versions, are scrutinised and pieced together in an attempt to present a more accurate view of both Rossetti's relationships with the men in her life, and her own sense of herself as a poet. Close attention is also paid to the singularity of her personal history, which was underscored by her strong sense of poetic vocation. This attempt to rework the traditional picture of Christina Rossetti provides significant new perspectives on and readings of her canon, and her brother's. I trace patterns in her poetry which are related to her struggle for creative agency in the face of fraternal intervention, and propose a model of dialogic interrogation for re-reading significant texts. I conclude that a comparative study of intertextuality between the Rossettis contributes vitally to the further understanding of both poets

Trophoblast organoids as a model for maternal-fetal interactions during human placentation.

The placenta is the extraembryonic organ that supports the fetus during intrauterine life. Although placental dysfunction results in major disorders of pregnancy with immediate and lifelong consequences for the mother and child, our knowledge of the human placenta is limited owing to a lack of functional experimental models1. After implantation, the trophectoderm of the blastocyst rapidly proliferates and generates the trophoblast, the unique cell type of the placenta. In vivo, proliferative villous cytotrophoblast cells differentiate into two main sub-populations: syncytiotrophoblast, the multinucleated epithelium of the villi responsible for nutrient exchange and hormone production, and extravillous trophoblast cells, which anchor the placenta to the maternal decidua and transform the maternal spiral arteries2. Here we describe the generation of long-term, genetically stable organoid cultures of trophoblast that can differentiate into both syncytiotrophoblast and extravillous trophoblast. We used human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing to confirm that the organoids were derived from the fetus, and verified their identities against four trophoblast-specific criteria3. The cultures organize into villous-like structures, and we detected the secretion of placental-specific peptides and hormones, including human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and pregnancy-specific glycoprotein (PSG) by mass spectrometry. The organoids also differentiate into HLA-G+ extravillous trophoblast cells, which vigorously invade in three-dimensional cultures. Analysis of the methylome reveals that the organoids closely resemble normal first trimester placentas. This organoid model will be transformative for studying human placental development and for investigating trophoblast interactions with the local and systemic maternal environment.Centre for Trophoblast Reearch Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowshi

Strange Fruit

Strange Fruit is a courageous debut with a remarkable range in theme and tone, from the nostalgic to the comedic to the bawdy, and to the angry, the melancholic and the steadfast and comforting. It will delight, shock, anger, induce laughter, shock more, delight more. And make you blush. It's a full range. There are poems of brutally honest self-scrutiny - the heart of the collection being a series of poems on the ageing body, loss of love and infertility - and there are poems that capture landscapes with imagist skill and the botanist's detail

Omugati Omwokye

This is a children story book which narrates the burned bread and it is being eaten by children as a delicious one.This is a children story book which narrates the burned bread and it is being eaten by children as a delicious one

Writers Researching: Fact and Fiction

What is the relationship between research and the writing process and between historical ‘truth’ and fictional ‘truth’? Are there boundaries which should not be crossed? In this course writers will talk about the research that resulted in their recent novels. Ron Irwin, author of Flat Water Tuesday, will discuss how he researched people, places and real events and the challenges associated with turning the events of one’s own life into a novel. Helen Moffett, one of the trio behind the Girl Walk In series, will explain how she and her co-authors research and write erotica novels, providing insight into collaboration, champagne and condoms. Award-winning Lauren Beukes will describe how she ‘kinks’ reality in relation to the real-world research that informed The Shining Girls and Zoo City. Angela Makholwa will explore the process of writing the criminal mind, including interviews with a serial killer for Red Ink, and research about women who killed their husbands for Black Widow Society. Readers always assume that everything that happened in your book happened to you, complains Finuala Dowling, so what’s the point of trudging uphill for five hours in search of one sentence? Referring to both Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart and her latest manuscript, The Fetch, she discusses the price of authenticity

Experiential learning: lessons learned from the COVID pandemic

This paper describes some innovative online and simulated solutions that were developed at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) to enable continued provision of experiential learning opportunities for healthcare students during the Covid-19 pandemic. It shows how elements of experiential learning practice are amenable to virtual modes of delivery and considers the possible implications of this for experiential learning practice beyond the realm of health professions education.</div