Monsters, myths, and masculinities in Boscán's Respuesta a Don Diego de Mendoza

Renowned for its portrayal of conjugal love, Juan Boscán’s Respuesta a Don Diego de Mendoza also makes use of lesser-studied mythological references to the androgyne, harpies, and King Phineus. Through a consideration of these references in context, namely the poetic voice’s description of the couple’s union and the rewrite of Petrarch’s “Passer mai solitario in alcun tetto”, I expose hitherto unexplored tensions resulting from the complex and often contradictory strands of contemporary masculinity that fed into the radical reshaping of gender constructs among the nobility due to the rise of the courtier. In particular, I show how Boscán’s social commentary and originality in advocating for a conjugal model also had the potential to spark masculinity-related anxieties, which take the form of monstrosities, among his noble readership during this period of transition.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Figuring Vittoria Colonna’s Desirous Widow in Francisco de Aldana’s ‘Pues cabe tanto en vos del bien del cielo’

The sonnet ‘Pues cabe tanto en vos del bien del cielo’ by Spanish-Neapolitan poet Francisco de Aldana (1537-78) challenges interpretation through its genre-defying mix of consolatory, philosophic, and amatory elements; in particular, its inclusion of an enigmatic statement by a ventriloquized female figure alien to contemporary Hispanic courtly poetry. In this study, I offer an interpretation through a comparative study with the Rime amorose (1538) of Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547), in which she popularized the Petrarchan voice of the desiring widow in Italian poetry. After establishing a link between the Aldana and Colonna families by virtue of the fragment ‘Aunque a la alta región del alegría’, which addresses the death of Colonna’s niece, I explain how the yearning contained within Colonna’s lyric, noted to possess an erotic potential, may have led Aldana to incorporate this voice in his own poetic exploration of a combinatory spiritual and physical philosophy of love. Additionally, given the absence of the Colonnaesque tradition in Spain, I consider how expressions of desire by female voices in the arte menor and pastoral traditions potentially could have led to a similar interpretation for Hispanic readers.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Sources, Syncretism, and Significance in Calderón’s El divino Orfeo (c. 1634)

Calderón de la Barca’s El divino Orfeo (c.1634), first published by Pablo Cabañas in 1948, makes use of a mytho-allegorical narrative to tell the story of the creation, fall, and redemption of humankind. This study offers fresh insights into Calderón’s handling of the mythological sources used in the creation of his Christian allegorical play beyond the eponymous Orpheus and Eurydice. Specifically, I focus upon Calderón’s interaction with four additional mythological episodes: creation from Book 1 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Orpheus in the Garden of the Hesperides, the abduction of Proserpina, and the entry of Aeneas and the Sibyl of Cumae into the Underworld in Book 6 of Virgil’s Aeneid. These myths are shown to form part of a syncretic a lo divino allegorical drama that recognises the importance of select pagan texts as valuable contributors to our comprehension of key issues in Christianity, such as the immortal soul, the culpability of humankind for Original Sin, and Christ’s dual nature as mortal and divine. Within this syncretic narrative, I explore Calderón’s use of symbols common to both traditions as a means to engineer challenging new perspectives from which an educated courtly audience could explore the mysteries at the heart of this religious drama.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Comediantes

Rhizomatic stories of representational faithfulness, decision making and control

There is a tendency in accounting theory, both external reporting and management accounting, to express a representational ideal. This to be understood in the sense that accounting information, independent on whether it is reported externally or used for control purposes internally, ought to represent something underlying, whether this is revenue, costs, performance or other things inscribed in the accounting information. In some cases the underlying is not an object, but a procedure which is developed with the purpose of standardising the calculations as to become comparable (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 1980a). In the beginning of the 1970’s in the accounting information literature, simultaneously with the foundation of the American Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), an academic discussion regarding which qualitative characteristics accounting information ought to have, emerges (e.g. Ijiri, 1975, Hines, 1988 og Ingram and Rayburn, 1989). This was caused by FASB’s work on a conceptual framework Standard of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC), which was meant as a guide to the standard setters in the development of new accounting standards/principles. A new notion, representational faithfulness, was introduced in SFAC no. 2. The discussion about representational faithfulness is equivocal and no unambiguous definition of what representational faithfulness actually is. This has occasioned a range of dialogues about the representativity of accounting information, the accounting setters’ roles and effects of disclosure of accounting information..

Optical Design of the Camera for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

The optical design of the wide field of view refractive camera, 34 degrees diagonal field, for the TESS payload is described. This fast f/1.4 cryogenic camera, operating at -75 C, has no vignetting for maximum light gathering within the size and weight constraints. Four of these cameras capture full frames of star images for photometric searches of planet crossings. The optical design evolution, from the initial Petzval design, took advantage of Forbes aspheres to develop a hybrid design form. This maximized the correction from the two aspherics resulting in a reduction of average spot size by sixty percent in the final design. An external long wavelength pass filter was replaced by an internal filter coating on a lens to save weight, and has been fabricated to meet the specifications. The stray light requirements were met by an extended lens hood baffle design, giving the necessary off-axis attenuation

Engagementets tælling og fortælling: Et studie af brugen af medarbejderengagementsundersøgelser som dialogskabende og beslutnings-faciliterende præstationsmålingsinformation

Måling af medarbejderengagement er en efterhånden udbredt praksis i mange virksomheder. Denne artikel undersøger og beskriver brugen af information fra medarbejderengagements (EE) modeller i organisationer, med henblik på at forbedre medarbejderengagement og organisationens præstation. Undersøgelsen er baseret på interviews med ledere fra organisationer, der bruger EE-undersøgelser og konsulenter, der leverer EE-undersøgelser. Undersøgelsen viser, at information fra medarbejderengagementsmodeller bruges som et resultatstyringsværktøj med det formål at 1) evaluere engagementets præstationer og 2) give nyttige oplysninger til beslutningstagning vedrørende forbedringer af medarbejderengagement. Begge dele understøtter formålet med at gennemføre medarbejderengagementsundersøgelser, som handler om at forbedre organisationens præstation gennem præstations-drivere. Hvor en del af litteraturen stiller sig kritisk overfor sådanne målinger og deres evne til at gøre engagementet tælleligt og generelt indfange de objekter, de påstår at repræsentere, hævder en anden del af litteraturen, at problemstillinger af en sådan karakter bør håndteres ved at forbedre det tekniske måleapparat.  Snarere end at be- eller afkræfte disse standpunkter argumenterer vi for, at det afgørende ligger i, hvorledes information om medarbejderengagement bruges for at opnå organisatoriske effekter af målingerne. I et forsøg på at bidrage konstruktivt til dette viser vi specifikt, hvordan en kontekstualisering af Armstrong (2000) 's præstationsledelsesmodel i forhold til mobilisering af medarbejderengagementsmålinger kan bruges til at strukturere måden, hvorpå organisationer kan skabe effekter af EE-informationer med henblik på at forbedre organisationens præstation

Optical Design of Camera for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

No abstract availabl