Myth-Making - Or Just Taking the Myth? The Dangers of Myth Becoming Fact in Lewis's Narnia Series

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Papering over the Cracks? Paperhouse as a 'Make-over' of Catherine Storr's Marianne Dreams

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Willy Wonka, Dahl’s chickens and heavenly visions

This article reconsiders Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 50 years after its initial UK publication, and over a hundred years since Dahl’s birth. It suggests that the book has often been misinterpreted, in that the work is more critical of modern capitalism than is often recognised, capturing a post-World War II shift in sensibilities from a culture of hard work and deferred gratification to one that celebrated consumerism and instant enjoyment. The article explores this idea by taking a psychoanalytical perspective, drawing largely on the work of Jacques Lacan, especially his notions of the superego, enjoyment and desire. It suggests that Dahl was one of a number of writers (Anthony Burgess and Marshall McLuhan are also discussed) who responded to this shift in capitalist relations, not simply in terms of the content of his work but in the way in which he wrote

An eye for an I: Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Questions of Identity

This paper sees Neil Gaiman's Coraline as following a darker tradition in children's literature, most commonly found in the fairy tale. It explores some of the existential issues that concern us all: to do with identity, sex, death, ontology, evil, desire and violence. The article takes a largely psychoanalytical approach, showing how Freud's concept of the Uncanny is particularly helpful in explaining both the text's appeal, and its creepy uneasiness. Namely, our fears about existence and identity as separate beings: our worry that we will either not be noticed (being invisible and isolated), or we will be completely consumed by the attention of another. Lacan's concepts of the Symbolic and the Real provide the theoretical underpinning for this reading, together with Kristeva's notion of the abject

Shirley, the Bathwater, and Definitions of Children's Literature

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Education Versus Athletics: What Will Division I Football and Basketball Players Choose?

For many years the desire for money and winning in Division I athletics,  particularly in the sports of football (Football Bowl Subdivision) and men’s basketball, have encouraged colleges and universities to provide special admission for athletes with exceptional athletic ability, who in turn, often are less prepared to succeed academically. This has resulted in the widespread occurrence of unethical academic support practices (e.g., taking classes and writing papers for students and providing answers to exams) in order to maintain athletes’ eligibility and increase graduation rates to appease the public and to present the case that intercollegiate athletic are about education first. As one means of curbing academic misconduct, the authors recommend providing Division I football and basketball the option of playing their sport only without any academic eligibility requirement. Athletes who are struggling academically or lack academic commitment would no longer need to be bolstered by illegitimate academic support or less than accurate metrics. The present exploratory study sought to determine how many Division I football and basketball players would choose the option of playing their sport only versus playing and pursuing their degree under current National Collegiate Athletic Association Guidelines (NCAA) guidelines. The results showed that the majority would still choose to play and pursue their degree. Overall, the belief that one can play professionally did not diminish athletes’ desire to play and earn their degree.  However, there were also a percentage of athletes that believed they can play professionally and also desired to play their sport only

The Type 45 Daring-Class Destroyer

In 1998, the British government led by Prime Minister Tony Blair released the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), in which it identified a requirement for twelve state-of-the-art warships for the Royal Navy (RN) to be configured for antiair warfare.1 This new naval platform was conceived as a replacement for the Type 42 destroyers, which had first entered service in 1978; its development was initially associated with the Anglo-French-Italian Horizon project that had replaced the NATO Frigate Replacement, from which Britain withdrew in 1989. That vision, however, had a very short shelf life. Some months after the SDR’s release, Britain withdrew from the Horizon project and launched an indigenous Type 45 destroyer program. Production of the first ship, HMS Daring, began in 2003

Asymptotic statistical characterizations of p-harmonic functions of two variables

Generalizing the well-known mean-value property of harmonic functions, we prove that a p-harmonic function of two variables satisfies, in a viscosity sense, two asymptotic formulas involving its local statistics. Moreover, we show that these asymptotic formulas characterize p-harmonic functions when 1 < p < \infty. An example demonstrates that, in general, these formulas do not hold in a non-asymptotic sense.Comment: Minor changes from published version: updated author info., one updated referenc

Archaeological Mapping Project

In light of the earthquake in Christchurch, as well as the recent ones in Wellington, the need to know the location and types of archaeological sites/themes in Wellington is important. NZHPT, combined with the Wellington Archaeological Group, Wellington Tenths Trust/Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, are working on a Wellington City archaeological mapping project that will have two purposes, the first being a tool that can be used in an emergency event to guide heritage experts, council, NZHPT and the equivalent of CERA, with a systematic and practical map showing the areas of high, medium, low or no archaeological risk. The second tool that will come out of this project is a mapping tool that can be used by consultants, Wellington City Council, tangata whenua, developers and other groups, on a daily basis to help identify the archaeological potential of an area in respect to proposed development or research.The project will pull together local archaeological consultants' knowledge, tangata whenua knowledge, Wellington City Council and archival information as well as information on previous archaeological authorities and registrations held at NZHPT. We are seeking information and knowledge from people within the heritage community who can help in developing the project