STORRE Collection: Electronic theses from legacy departments related to the eTheses from Faculty of Arts and Humanities legacy departmentsElectronic theses from legacy departments related to the eTheses from Faculty of Arts and Humanities legacy departmentshttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/26762024-03-28T19:12:11Z2024-03-28T19:12:11ZAn examination of public and private worlds in modern American literatureRoss, Maryhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/351222023-05-26T13:45:18Z1975-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: An examination of public and private worlds in modern American literature
Author(s): Ross, Mary
Abstract: This thesis examines American novels written between 1890 and 1975 from the point of view of their formal and structural aspects and considers the implications arising from the manner in which they are deployed within the context of individual works. The phrase ’public and private worlds' was formulated to describe these aspects. The ’public world’ of a novel is the environment in which the characters have their existence and comprises places, physical objects and that area of tacitly agreed norms, society. Where groups of characters are instrumental in translating these norms into pressures upon the individual, then they too are considered as a part of the public world. 'Private worlds' are defined as those aspects of the fiction seen as belonging to a specific character) his words, thoughts, actions and emotions, and all these taken together as his consciousness, are considered as the private world. The phrase public and private worlds is a dichotomy only in the sense that it refers to two defined components of the novel; the 'worlds' are not assumed to be diametrically opposed. Indeed, this thesis is largely about the varied ways in which authors relate them.
The weighting given to each side of the dichotomy in individual novels is considered and the resultant 'balance' described as the 'overall fictional reality’, a term which takes into account the effect which the combination of public and private worlds has upon the reader. Whilst the aim of this thesis is primarily analytic, the overall fictional reality is evaluated on the grounds of its coherence, subtlety and artistic merit, all factors which emerge naturally from the application of the dichotomy.
The dichotomy may, of course, be used to analyse novels of any period or culture. American novels written over the past nine decades present a considerable challenge to its validity as a critical tool, for they vary widely in style, content and artistic worth and provide a 'fictional' mirror of the vast social changes occurring during this period. In order to present a further challenge to the dichotomy and to give the discussion extended scope, each chapter deals with different configurations of books, ranging from the works of a single author to those sharing nothing more than a coincidence of setting. Thus, it is the intention of this thesis both to test the worth of 'public and private worlds' as an aid to analysis and to show that this particular, formal relationship is crucial to American fiction.1975-01-01T00:00:00ZFree poetry: a systemic approachHaynes, Johnhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/343022022-05-11T14:21:13Z1982-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Free poetry: a systemic approach
Author(s): Haynes, John
Abstract: This study deals with poetic language from the point of view of systemic linguistics. The focus of attention is on poetry in free rhythms ('free verse'), but the wider aim is to provide a description of poetic communication which will cover all types of poetry, metrical as well as non-metrical. All poetry, it is argued, is characterised by the kind of attention the reader has to pay to the linguistic medium itself. In reading poetry we have to bear in mind not only the situation represented by the text, its 'goal-meaning', but also the means through which this meaning is produced, the 'path-meaning', or 'linguisticity'. Linguisticity characterises all kinds of poetry, but is not always a matter of attention gaining linguistic devices such as metre and metaphor; it has to do primarily with the situational context of reading.
The approach adopted in this study differs from comparable studies of poetic language in that it takes tree poetry as its central concern, something very few stylisticians have attempted, none having done so at any length. Analyses of poetry have hitherto dealt overwhelmingly with metrical poems. Another difference is that the present approach provides a mechanism through which details of phonology, grammar, and semantics, can be related to wider social and semiotic meanings. Most approaches to stylistics or poetics emphasise either the linguistic expression (or 'realization') of the poem, or the social semiotic 'codes' it uses, but they fail to show how these are connected. A systemic approach, taking poetry as a matter of meanings of different kinds and levels, can make this connection since the systemic model of language itself provides an account of the relation between context of situation and the linguistic system.
Linguisticity itself is looked at from the point of view of the three semantic meaning components posited by Halliday, the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual. All these components may realize linguisticity and hence characterise poetic language, though different poems show different weightings. It is possible to look at linguisticity from the point of view of the semantic components and to see how each component is realized in the grammar and/or phonology of the poem. The main difference between metrical and non metrical poems is that in the former the textual meaning is realized in certain phonological ways, while this is not so in the latter.
Most of the study is devoted to linguisticity, which is a characteristic of the poetic ' genre'. The relation between genre and subject-matter is described in terms of the 'philosophical meaning' of the poem. The philosophical meaning is thought of as the kinds of wider inference which may be drawn from the contemplation of path-meanings.
The introductory and first chapters are concerned with the systemic view of language and its application to poetry. The next three chapters provide illustrations drawn from strictly metrical, loosely metrical, and free passages of poetry. The next two chapters review the sources of problems dealt with in the study, and compare the present theory with some others. The final chapter relates the theory to wider more literary critical concerns and with the connections between subject-matter and philosophical meaning.1982-01-01T00:00:00ZUninhabitable paradoxes? Existentialism and gender representation in the fiction of William McIlvanneyGibson, Paulhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/342722023-06-30T11:56:43Z1997-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Uninhabitable paradoxes? Existentialism and gender representation in the fiction of William McIlvanney
Author(s): Gibson, Paul
Abstract: First paragraph: "Why Mcllvanney?" This is a question which has constantly recurred during the writing of this thesis. Of all the major contemporary Scottish novelists, Mcllvanney is the one subjected to the least serious critical analysis: added to that, I can think of no other writer in the past thirty years who has maintained a dialogue with Marxism from his earliest work to the present day; who has reinvigorated the detective genre with genuine moral purpose; who has interrogated assumptions about gender and class representation throughout his work; and who has arguably been the most successful author in the past thirty years in making the Scottish novel a genuinely popular and vital part of contemporary Scottish culture.1997-01-01T00:00:00ZThomas Southerne's 'Sir Anthony Love' : A critical editionBowen, Edward Kennethhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/323802021-03-08T11:04:50Z1984-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Thomas Southerne's 'Sir Anthony Love' : A critical edition
Author(s): Bowen, Edward Kenneth
Abstract: The editor has collated 27 copies of the five editions of Sir Anthony Love, published in 1691, 1698, 1713, 1721, and 1774. No authorial revisions or corrections are apparent, but collation has revealed new variants which have been noted, along with complete textual notations of substantive and accidental variations. The intent has been to devise a text accessible to the modern actor and reader, without loss of the original manuscript’s flavour. The first edition has served as the copy text, on the assumption that it best approximates Southerne’s acting text.
Introductory material to the text begins with biographical information on the playwright, including a synopsis and brief analysis of each of his plays, set against a background of contemporary historical events. This combination seeks to provide a clearer picture of Southerne and to trace development of his major themes.
Chapter two gives the play’s production history and explores its theatrical origins, including Aphra Behn’s work and Mrs. Behn herself as a possible model for its protagonist. Sources for other characters may be perceived in the biographical information given each member of the original cast.
The third chapter is devoted to analysis of the play, including historical/biographical backgrounc, contributory philosophical trends and plot synopsis. The final section deals with the central theme of Sir Anthony Love - the conflict between appearance and reality – and explores Southerne’s use of Restoration theatrical conventions to underscore philosophical and social commentary.
The critical view of Sir Anthony Love as a minor, and poorly constructed example of the comedy of intrigue results from lack of careful examination, understandable, based on its conventional appearance. In reality, it is a remarkable example of structural unity: its glossy surface conceals a meticulous sceptical examination of contemporary values, a metaphorical expression of its central theme.1984-01-01T00:00:00Z