Showing papers on "Theme (narrative) published in 1986"

Quicksand and Passing

Abstract: ""Quicksand" and "Passing" are novels I will never forget. They open up a whole world of experience and struggle that seemed to me, when I first read them years ago, absolutely absorbing, fascinating, and indispensable."-Alice Walker"A tantalizing mix of moral fable and sensuous colorful narrative, exploring female sexuality and racial solidarity."-"Women's Studies International Forum"Nella Larsen's novels "Quicksand" (1928) and "Passing" (1929) document the historical realities of Harlem in the 1920s and shed a bright light on the social world of the black bourgeoisie. The novels' greatest appeal and achievement, however, is not sociological, but psychological. As noted in the editor's comprehensive introduction, Larsen takes the theme of psychic dualism, so popular in Harlem Renaissance fiction, to a higher and more complex level, displaying a sophisticated understanding and penetrating analysis of black female psychology.

Towards a Critical Theory of Reflective Inquiry: Theme

Abstract: Although reflective inquiry has been pro moted for many years as a progressive and effective method of teaching the social studies, its incorporation into classroom practice remains question able

Reflections on the theory and practice of supervision

Abstract: SUMMARY Various facets and parameters of styles in supervision of psychoanalytic psychotherapy are discussed. The emerging theme favoured by the author is of a facilitatory style. This has links with many of Winnicott's ideas and particularly draws on the tradition and influence of Michael Balint.

Billy Budd, sailor and other stories

Abstract: If Melville had never written "Moby Dick," his place in world literature would be assured by his short tales. "Billy Budd, Sailor, " his last work, is the masterpiece in which he delivers the final summation in his "quarrel with God." It is a brilliant study of the tragic clash between social authority and individual freedom, human justice and abstract good. Melville also explores this theme in "Bartelby the Scrivener, " his famous story about a Wall Street law clerk who takes passive resistance to a comic--and ultimately disastrous--extreme; and in "Benito Cereno, " his dazzling account of oppression and rebellion on a nineteenth-century slave ship. Completing this collection of great tales are the eerie "The Encantados, " the beautiful, romantic "The Piazza, " and Melville's chilling science fiction parable, "The Bell-Tower."

Middle English Literature

Abstract: Virtually all of Bennett's chapter on Gower (pp. 407-29) is devoted to "Confessio Amantis," and it is for the most part an expanded version of the introduction to his "Selections from John Gower" (1968): one will find very much the same characterizations of Gower's relationship with Chaucer, of his narrative style, of his poetic achievement, of his general themes, and of the roles of the various characters in his poem, fleshed out with considerably more explanation and illustration. Bennett's Gower is a skilled poet and storyteller who is underestimated because of the unobtrusiveness of his art and a man of broad sympathy and insight, characteristics that Bennett illustrates with discussions of "Ceix and Alcione" and "Florent" and with brief quotations from other tales. Gower's most important model and predecessor is Ovid, not only for the tales that he borrowed but also for the topical references and philosophical statements with which his poem begins and ends. His confession frame derives from "Roman de la Rose" and "De Planctu Naturae" but it would also have been seen as a literary adaptation of sacramental penance, and the "therapeutic" function of the sacrament provided the "point of contact" to the treatment of love as a sickness in contemporary love-literature. The general theme of the poem is love: Bennett is not persuaded by attempts to see it as an expression of political or social doctrine, nor is he moved by the efforts to construct a precise moral underpinning for all of the various elements that it contains. Gower's "honeste love" links courtesy, charity, and the practical aims of marriage and the begetting of children. Genius does not represent a single point of view or value but carries out a composite and in some ways ambivalent role. And the unity of the poem is provided loosely by a group of five "distinctly Gowerian" concepts or themes: "Love and Charite as opposed to Lust and Will . . . ; Peace and Rest as opposed to War and Discord; Reason and Wit as against 'unreason'--folly and passion; Nature or Kind, and Mortality; Fortune and Necessity (but with Providence guiding them)" (p. 425). Bennett's view of CA is firmly rooted in a literal reading of Gower's "lessons" but it is also broad and generous and sensitive to the expressive qualities of Gower's verse. Review by A.J. Minnis in TLS, 6 February 1987, p. 140. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society: JGN 6.1]

Essays in the history of liberty

Abstract: The unifying theme of these essays is Lord Acton's concept of liberty. Included are his two famous essays on the history of freedom (The History of Freedom in Antiquity; and The History of Freedom in Christianity) as are writings on the tradition of liberty in England, America, and Europe.

Pakistan Society: Islam, Ethnicity and Leadership in South Asia

Abstract: The central theme of this structured study revolves around the complexity and diversity of Pakistan society, illustrated by case studies from Pakistan. Drawing upon anthropological and historical evidence and the extensive personal field experience of the writer, the book highlights the complex relationship between ethnicity, political and leadership issues in South Asia.

Oral—Formulaic Research in Old English Studies: II

Abstract: The present study consists of nine sections, of which the first four appear in this issue. Section I, "Oral and Written," considers the questions of whether Old English poetry was composed orally or in writing and whether it was presented to a listening audience or to an audience of readers. It also examines questions of lay literacy during the Old English period and of the nature of the reaction of a listening audience to traditional poetry. Section II, "The Oral-Formulaic Theory," reviews the origin and development of the study of oral composition in Old English, including nineteenth-century Higher Criticism, the study of formulaic structure in Homeric and Serbo-Croatian epic, and the application of the oral-formulaic theory to Old English literature beginning with the work of Albert B. Lord and Francis P. Magoun, Jr. Section III, "The Formula," reviews definitions that have been proposed for the basic units of oral composition, the formula and the formulaic system, and treats metrics and the study of particular formulas and formulaic systems. Section IV, "Themes and Type-Scenes," studies the level of oral composition above the formula, discussing the definitions that have been proposed for the terms "theme" and "type-scene" and reviewing the literature that has identified and described various Old English themes and type-scenes.--Page 549.

Writing To Learn in Teacher Education: Theme

Abstract: Stover develops a research-based rationale for using writing as a teaching strategy in teacher education. She specifies categories of uses for writing as well as principles for developing as signme...

Doctors and Slaves: A Medical and Demographic History of Slavery in the British West Indies, 1680-1834

Abstract: This is a severely flawed work. It represents considerable scholarly effort, the author having consulted primary sources in several countries and reviewed an extensive body of secondary works on the topic, but research needs good writing to back it up. The book fails because the work lacks a unifying theme, because the author seems uncomfortable with certain types of evidence (mainly medical), and because his literary style is ponderous. The author's stated purpose is to investigate those facets of slave life affecting health (p xv). These include "culture shock, diet, work loads, punishment, housing, clothing, sanitation, and occupational hazards." This initial sentence, with its peculiar parallel construction (surely, "work loads" and "occupational hazards" ought to come nearer one another) and the use of an essentially slang expression like "culture shock" in a scholarly work, is no accident. The entire book sets out practically randomly ordered essays on topics as diverse

Travel, tourism, and marine affairs

Abstract: Over the last decades, travel and tourism have become a trillion dollar industry transforming coastal societies and environments. This article discusses tourism development policies and stresses the opportunity for coastal tourism planning. A first section introduces some of the outstanding business facts of marine tourism. A second section profiles the management of tourism. A third section presents a framework for understanding the role of leisure, work, and tourism in modern life. A final section remarks on the other six articles constituting this Theme Issue.

Epic Hero and Epic Fable

Abstract: HE EPIC HERO occupies a secure niche in modern criticism. His reassuring presence guarantees the unity of an epic poem and directs our scrutiny when we search for theme. If he is not easy to pick out, there ensues a quarrel over his identity, with a list of candidates for the post; the poem in question, especially if it is an ancient epic, is either disparaged as formless and episodic, or else praised for bold independence, held together on other and more interesting principles. Modern critics evidently see it as the norm for ancient and modern epics alike to be organized around an individual, who will embody the meaning of the poem. Scholes and Kellogg describe the nucleus of the epic as "the chronicle of the deeds of the hero"; by their account, "the epic plot is to a certain extent bespoken by epic characterization. The plot is inherent in the concept of the protagonist."' According to Northrop Frye, "In literary fictions the plot consists of somebody doing something. The somebody, if an individual, is the hero ... Fictions ... may be classified, not morally, but by the hero's power of action, which may be greater than ours, less, or roughly the same."" Of Frye's five classifications, the epic hero belongs to number three, the hero of the "high mimetic mode," "superior in degree to other men but not to his natural environment" (pp. 33-34). Morton W. Bloomfield, after a careful discussion of the meaning of the word "hero," asserts: "Whatever term be used for the major personage or personages of narrative or drama, that these genres have always been presented around such figures cannot be doubted."3

Research on Teaching Physical Education: New Knowledge and Cautious Optimism: Theme

Abstract: Researchers who study the teaching of physical education have examined teacher and student behavior using sys tematic observation, teacher feedback to students, the application of principles of mot...

The Question of Character and Personality in Greek Tragedy

Abstract: There has been a good deal of debate recently on this question, at least on one aspect of it. Critics have discussed repeatedly the question of the relationship between character and the other components of tragic drama, such as action, theme and image. Underlying these discussions, in Classical as well as English literary critical circles, has been a gradual reaction against the "Bradleyan" assumption that tragic drama (like the novel) is organized around a central character or personality, whose distinctive consciousness interpenetrates the language of the play and determines its action. Critics have tended to stress the subordinate re-

The Poetry of Friendship: Horace Epistles I

Abstract: In Ross Kilpatrick's study of the First Book of Horace's Epistles, the controlling ethical theme that emerges is friendship. According to Kilpatrick, Horace systematically explores and applies, with affection, tact, sincerity, and a kindly sense of humour, the duties of amicitia.

Blade Runner and Genre: Film Noir and Science Fiction

Abstract: Blade Runner makes an excellent example by which to study certain aspects of genre theory because it combines conventions of more than one genre - those of film noir and science fiction. Other recent films which do the same include Outland (western and science fiction). Pennies From Heaven (musical and film noir), Streets of Fire (film noir, musical and western), Gremlins (horror and comedy), and The Terminator (science fiction and film noir). For convenience sake, we label these films "multigeneric," a term referring to the mixture of genres in a particular film that precludes a simple, single, or predominant generic classification. Genre functions through a set of codes that are recognized and understood by both the spectator and the filmmakers via a "common cultural consensus" or a "collective cultural expression." The strongest mutually shared traits or codes - that is, the most easily identifiable - exist as both pretext (subject matter, content, and theme) and text (i.e. style - setting, decor, lighting, mise-en-scene, editing, and music). Genre also functions semantically (as an autonomous system of conventions), and by syntax (narrative systems). After conventions are recognized as belonging to a specific genre, certain expectations of narrative patterns, character, and ultimately specific meanings, arise. By extension, these meanings are often connected to deep-rooted human or societal fears and concerns. We realize the potential for any film to employ conventions of more than one genre, but these films are not necessarily what we would consider multi-generic because their various stylistic and narrative characteristics seem homogenized so that only one culturally recognized genre dominates. Multi-generic films, on the other hand, do not homogenize their various conventions, thus failing to emphasize one particular genre and perhaps causing problematic generic classification for the spectator. We will analyze Blade Runner as a multi-generic film, as a combination of film noir and science fiction. These individual genres will be highlighted, as will certain aspects of genre theory. Though this mixture of film noir and science fiction undoubtedly contributed to Blade Runner's critical dismissal, it provides a key for appreciating the complexity of the film. A brief synopsis of the film is necessary for later discussion. Blade Runner is set in Los Angeles in the year 2019. The city has become a dark, rain-drenched megalopolis, over-populated by a myriad of racial groups who speak a street jargon composed of a conglomeration of languages known as "cityspeak." The story concerns a group of four replicants (androids) who escape from an off- world colony and return to Earth searching for the genetic genius, Tyrell, who designed them. The replicants, two females (Zhora and Pris) and two males (Roy and Leon), are seeking a way to extend their four-year life span. This limitation is an automatic fail-safe device that serves as protection against the replicants' increasing penchant for developing human emotions and desires. Replicants are forbidden on Earth because of their potential for becoming "too human." When escapes to Earth do occur, a special unit of the police force is employed to hunt and destroy the renegade replicants. These officers, known as "blade runners," use the Voight-Kampf test (VK test) to isolate replicants from the general populace since they are superficially indistinguishable from their human creators. The most experienced blade runner. Rick Deckard, is dispatched to "retire" (kill) the four escaped replicants. During an investigation at the Tyrell Corporation, he meets an experimental female replicant model named Rachael, who not only does not know she is a replicant, but has even been programmed with memories from a non-existent childhood. After discovering the truth, Rachael flees the corporation and begins a relationship with Deckard. Throughout the film, comparisons are drawn between Deckard's emotionless, bitter, and disillusioned existence and the replicants' desperate search for more life at whatever cost. …

Myth, methaphor amd syntax in Soyinka's poetry

Abstract: Soyinka's poetry is a great divider of the critics. The spectrum of their verdicts is very wide. At one extreme it is grudgingly admitted that some of his verse just manages to escape the gaudy incoherence which is its normal element, while at the other it is claimed that his poetry is a uniquely coherent embodiment of Yoruba myth. Some critics irascibly tug at the intricacies of Soyinka's individual phrases, while others, winged with quotations from Myth, Litera? ture and the African World,l soar into realms of metaphysical ab? straction, leaving the words on the page far below them. Then there are others who compromise, conceding that there is an ele? ment of stylistic mystification in Soyinka's poetry, but finding it either an unfortunate blemish or, alternatively, a source of poetic interest in itself. That the critics of Soyinka's poetry are so deeply and sometimes so passionately divided seems to me the inevitable consequence of the particular qualities of his rhetoric It is the poet's attitude towards his medium of language which brings out the pro? found ideological and aesthetic differences in his readers. I propose therefore in this essay to examine the responses of the various critics as a means of focusing more clearly on Soyinka's qualities as a poet. "Dawn," the first poem in the Idanre volume, has been given the most extensive critical attention among his poems to date and will provide a convenient focus for comparisons. It will be useful to distinguish two main strands in the criticism of Soyinka's poetry, although they are not always clearly separable from each other. One strand is represented in a particularly forcible form by Roderick Wilson's essay "Complexity and Confusion in Soyinka's Shorter Poems."2 With a rigor reminiscent of F. R. Leavis, Wilson distinguishes the fifteen poems in the Idanre volume which he considers "almost wholly successful"3 (note the "almost"). The rest, in his view, exhibit, in varying degrees, "inadequate working out of images and metaphors, slightness of theme, and insufficiently full presentation ofthe theme or experience involved."4 He offers incisive verdicts on the expressiveness and coherence of Soyinka's use of words, employing a critical vocabulary which seems exact and judicious. One poem is "annoyingly bardic," another shows "a parade of verbal fireworks," another a preference for "sound at the expense of sense."5 Many readers, punch-drunk and reeling from Soyinka's verbal assaults, must have felt that Wilson's authoritative, unintimidated judgments have given them courage to fight back against the poet's rhetoric. A less acerbic version of this first critical strand, which we may call "traditional practical criticism" is provided by Ken Goodwin in his book Understanding African

Lacan and the Ethics of Modernity

Abstract: THE STATUS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS is ethical.' This remark made during the course of the Eleventh Seminar formulates a central theme in Lacan's project from start to finish. An entire seminar is devoted to it. Even the school that Lacan founded (only later to dissolve) was patterned, not on a professional medical association, but on an ancient school of ethics, with its master, his teachings, and his initiatory language. But Lacan's reflections on ethics involve a rethinking of the very nature of ethics; the unconscious is ethical in an unfamiliar sense. I read Lacan's remark about the ethical status of the unconscious as saying that the "theory of the subject" he reconstituted out of Freud is an ethical theory. It belongs not to a science of prediction and control but to an ethic of self-analysis and association with others. Ethics is at stake in Lacan's recasting of Freud's metapsychology in terms of the positions and structures of the "talking cure." It is his way of extracting Freud's theory from its sources in a normalizing nineteenth-century psychiatric medicine and reformulating it as an ethic of language. Psychoanalysis is not a medical treatment any more than the unconscious is a medical disorder-a dysfunction or maladaptation. Rather the unconscious is a "structural" or constitutive fact about ourselves as speaking subjects, and analysis is the work through which one comes to terms with this fact. Analysis does not consist in diagnosis and prescription. It is made possible by a certain "ethical" position: a sort of suspension or epoche of the analyst in the face of the madness of another's desire, combined with a neutral "listening." This stance makes possible the transference that structures the analytic process of articulating this madness in speech. Lacan says it was hysterics who taught Freud about the unconscious: Freud chose to analyze what they said rather than to fit them into medical categories. He removed the very concept of "symptom" from medical classification by making it a property of the idiosyncratic ways the hysteric masked and articulated her desire in language. He then in effect elaborated a theory about what the subject must be for this kind of symptom-formation to be possible. In thus linking

The Outsider in Science: A Selective Review of Evidence, with Special Reference to the Nobel Prize

Abstract: The aim of this chapter is to gather together threads from related fields of research. These fields are all concerned, in one way or another, with science: the condition of being a scientist and the activity of doing science — and the activity, particularly, of doing it well. The accumulation of evidence that bears on this topic is now substantial, of course. Only a handful of the studies undertaken will be mentioned here, many excellent pieces of research either being touched on in passing or altogether ignored. This choice may at first sight seem idiosyncratic, even captious. It is guided, though, by an interpretative hypothesis or theme. Familiar enough in its own right, this hypothesis none the less has merits that have been overlooked. When geared to the topic of science and the scientist, it casts the familiar in a new light, and encourages us to articulate questions previously ignored.

Kant and Fine Art: An Essay on Kant and the Philosophy of Fine Art and Culture

Abstract: This book examines Kant's "Critique of Judgement", providing an examination of the central theme of aesthetic necessity. To justify the demands made on the basis of experience of beauty, the author draws on the earlier "Critiques" as well as Kant's historical and political writings, and establishes an association between fine art, community and morality.

Dramatic Mode and Historical Vision in Henry VIII

Abstract: IN HER RECENT BOOK Biographical Truth: The Representation of Historical Persons in Tudor-Stuart Writing, Judith H. Anderson includes a chapter on Henry VIII in which she neatly observes, "Divorce is more than an historical problem and event in Henry VIII. It is a theme in a broader and more conceptual way, involving the disjunction of inner and outer and private and public lives. " 1 Indeed, the two problems which have dominated modern criticism of the playits authorship and the exact nature of its genre-are both also, in a sense, problems of divorce: Shakespeare versus Fletcher, History versus Romance. A temporary settlement of the first case seems to have been reached, and in the rest of this essay I will refer to the author(s), without prejudice, as "Shakespeare." The second, generic, argument is less accommodating.2 Here both disputants could, equally well, be called "History," since what is at issue is not whether the play is a history play but what kind of history play it is. "Romance" and "History" are not, after all, mutually exclusive terms: the use of "history" as a synonym for "chronicle history" has blinkered our understanding of Shakespeare's earliest essays in the genre, the Henry VI trilogy,3 and it may do the same for Henry VIII. Thanks to the equating of "Romance" with "Last Play," and to the neglect of romance history as a form, it has been possible for Henry VIII to be disparaged by one party for not being like Cymbeline4 and by another for not being like Henry V.5