Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in Sociology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 386-407). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ39297.

In early and mid-Victorian Britain, men and women from all classes demonstrated a strong fascination with, and sympathy for, seduced and dying women. Though such women were unchaste or “fallen” women, they did not excite the same anxiety and condemnation as did other sexually transgressive women like prostitutes and adulteresses. This thesis demonstrates that the sympathetic trope of the seduced and dying woman in British culture from 1820 to 1870 was a combination of (and an interplay between) fiction and reality. Through a study of melodrama – a largely working-class genre – and “expert” literature – a predominantly middle-class genre, comprised of medical, social, religious and prescriptive writings – this thesis shows how the seduced and dying woman inspired sympathy both across and along class lines. Finally, an analysis of nineteenth-century newspaper accounts of “Seduction and Suicide” illustrates that, while this popular trope inspired sympathy for a certain kind of fallen woman – the feminine, passive and (most importantly) suffering and dying victim of seduction – it also distorted the reality of sexual fall, reinforced patriarchal understandings, and created an exclusive and unattainable standard of sympathy which normalized suicide for fallen women. / Graduate / 2019-08-24

This research paper examines the implications of a feminist appropriation of the fetish and the use of the theory of abjection, as a disruption of phallocentric binary labelling and its notion of idealised femininity. The paper is divided into two sections. The first section includes an analysis of Emily Apter's articles 'Fetishism and Visual Seduction in Mary Kelly's Interim' and an analysis of Janine Antoni's installation 'Gnaw' which form a contextualisation of the issues on which my own visual research is based. These issues revolve around the creation of multiple subject positions for women as both artist and spectator, the recuperation of the seductive image without creating the same power relations apparent in the male gaze and the deployment of an abstract visual femininity to scopically seduce the viewer. In section two, part one, Praveen Adams' article 'The art of analysis: Mary Kelly's Interim and the discourse of the analyst is examined. In this article Adams uses Lacan's theory of discourse to hypothesise that the space of production in Interim is an analogue to the space of production in pyschoanalysis. Part two consists of an examination of the application of the same structural analysis to Antoni's 'Gnaw' and my own 'Compulsive Beauty,' and explores the possibility of a new contextual analysis of feminist art / Master of Arts (Hons)

This research paper examines the implications of a feminist appropriation of the fetish and the use of the theory of abjection, as a disruption of phallocentric binary labelling and its notion of idealised femininity. The paper is divided into two sections. The first section includes an analysis of Emily Apter's articles 'Fetishism and Visual Seduction in Mary Kelly's Interim' and an analysis of Janine Antoni's installation 'Gnaw' which form a contextualisation of the issues on which my own visual research is based. These issues revolve around the creation of multiple subject positions for women as both artist and spectator, the recuperation of the seductive image without creating the same power relations apparent in the male gaze and the deployment of an abstract visual femininity to scopically seduce the viewer. In section two, part one, Praveen Adams' article 'The art of analysis: Mary Kelly's Interim and the discourse of the analyst is examined. In this article Adams uses Lacan's theory of discourse to hypothesise that the space of production in Interim is an analogue to the space of production in pyschoanalysis. Part two consists of an examination of the application of the same structural analysis to Antoni's 'Gnaw' and my own 'Compulsive Beauty,' and explores the possibility of a new contextual analysis of feminist art / Master of Arts (Hons)

Thesis (Doctoral)--Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1996. / At head of title: Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), U.F.R . de littérature française. Includes bibliographical references (p. [577]-593) and index.

Thesis (Doctoral)--Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1996. / At head of title: Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), U.F.R . de littérature française. Includes bibliographical references (p. [577]-593) and index.

Accompanying the high prevalence of rape among college women is a high prevalence of unacknowledged rape, or women who have been raped who do not label it as such. The current studies explore one theory which may help account for unacknowledged rape, script theory. Specifically, it may be that individuals have scripts for rape and seduction which overlap on a number dimensions, which may lead certain incidents of rape to be labeled seduction. Three studies were conducted to test the possible role of scripts in labeling an incident rape or not. In study 1, unique and overlapping elements of undergraduates' rape and seduction scripts were identified using a free-writing task and a questionnaire. In study 2, an ambiguous sexual scenario was developed. In study 3, script salience was manipulated by labeling the ambiguous scenario as either rape or seduction. This manipulation had little effect on participants' characterization of the scenario. However, results of internal analyses suggested that what script was activated affected participants' beliefs about the outcome of the scenario for the woman as well as their recall for the elements of the scenario. Implications of the results for the phenomenon of unacknowledged rape are discussed. / Master of Science

The thesis is composed of two major parts: part one includes a statement, images and a reflection on a body of work entitled "The Ocean Is What I Meant By." These works are constructed of layers of cut tulle mounted in painted wooden frames, in which words cut out of the fabric interact to create abstract pictorial spaces. The second part of the thesis examines of the historical role of theory in the conceptualization and production of art. I argue that theory has historically occupied itself with art in categories properly connected to action, considering the end, virtues and vices associated with works of art. I consider the end of contemplation as it is advanced by Paulinus of Nola and evidenced in a sixth-century Roman mosaic, the vice of seduction as identified by Bernard of Clairvaux (against Abbot Suger of St.-Dénis), the virtue of reserve as present in Michelangelo Merisis da Caravaggio's canvases containing self-portraits. With these concepts in view, I proceed to consider the paintings of John Sloan in ethical categories--the categories most appropriate to considerations of action. I conclude by examining a disagreement between Robert Storr and Benjamin Buchloh over the interpretation of Gerhard Richter's "October 18, 1977," suggesting that the role of theory in art is returning to the more time-worn categories I associate with early Western writing about art.

This thesis attempts to illuminate new approaches to the thought of Jean Baudrillard, by understanding his unique phenomenological approach and radical affirmation of experience. This will be considered through an exploration of some interesting distinctions between his work and Friedrich Nietzsche’s. Where Nietzsche attempts to fall out of exchange with the world, it will be found that Baudrillard’s work is attempting to enact a kind of tension with things. This aspect of Baudrillard’s work will be examined through some interesting connections to the later work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, specifically through the concept of reversibility. These connections and distinctions will gather in some important insights on Baudrillard’s approach to the topics of void, the hyperreal and relationality. Moreover, through exploring the intricacies of his phenomenological approach, I hope to understand more clearly what it means to sink into appearances, and to locate the subject wholly within the tensions of relations and forces enigmatic to it. / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Comparative Literature, December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-189). Also available on the Internet.