This Master of Arts project comprises a novel, Severance Packages, written for electronic and digital publication, and an accompanying exegesis that contextualises the novel in relation to its genre and to the emerging field of electronic and digital publication in Australia.

This research project in performance studies is anchored around the writing, devising and performing of a series of three solo performance works entitled Rapture, Rapture II, and Rapture III. Rapture III was examined in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This written document, including annotated scripts for each of the performances, and one three hour video tape, is submitted in further partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree. The written document, examined performance of Rapture III, and video documentation constitute the 'thesis' submitted in total fulfilment of those requirements. This thesis draws on tropes of 'tyrannies and lies', 'defying gravity', 'presence and absence', 'subjectivity', 'knowledge and truth', and 'discourse' itself. These tropes are heuristically derived from the author's professional performance training experience ' with Monika Pagneux, Philippe Gaulier, Anzu Furukawa, Theatre de Complicite and Pantheatre ' and from wide readings 'around' performance making. The thesis engages with James Hillman's writings in imaginal psychology, the theories of Jean Baudrillard, Deleuze-Guattari, Roland Barthes, Adam Phillips, Helne Cixous, and Italo Calvino. The 'movement' of the thesis ' between the inception of ideas, through writing of scripts and devising and performing the solo works, to writing as a continuation of performance, and exegeses of the solos and their processes -is conceived as 'dialogical'. Each of the elements is seen to be in critical 'conversation' with the others, and not (necessarily) prescriptive or descriptive of them. The performative 'action' of the thesis is framed as a series of 'excursions' and is related within the written document to 'dis-coursing'. Both in the writing and performance making (including video), the thesis interrogates 'subjectivity' and processes of subjectification by means of performance. It contends that subjectivity is the 'stuff' of performance, and vice versa. Fictional, artificial, and imaginal, the language of performance re-doubles itself as the 'real' in the postulate that what is 'real', always and already - in philosophy, psychoanalysis, and discourses of 'identity' and the 'self' - is performance itself. More than 'performative', these are some of the sites, the 'stuff', the very phenomena of performance: the 'thing' of performance, what it is.

Open Silence: An Application of the Perennial Philosophy to Literary Creation is a dissertation that combines a creative component, which is a long, narrative poem, with a framing essay that is an exegesis on the creative component. The poem, entitled The Silence Inside the World, tells the story of four characters, an albino woman in a coma, an immortal wizard, a dead painter, and an unborn soul, as they strive to comprehend the bizarre, dream-like realm in which they find themselves. The narrative utilizes various metaphysical elements of the Perennial Philosophy for the creation of character, event and setting, and also uses the concept of Imagination as the power and place of creative endeavour. The poem comprises 8,170 lines of blank verse arranged in three-line stanzas, for a total of 62,816 words. The exegesis accompanying The Silence Inside the World explains the creative value to the writer of the philosophy underlying the work. It does this by examining the artistic and critical experiences arising out of the writing of the poem. The first half of the exegesis, entitled 'Intentions: Tzimtzum', explores the biographical background of the author, those influences not only on the motivation to write such a creative text, but also on the original desire to investigate such creativity and spirituality in the first place. It also examines those elements of the Perennial Philosophy felt necessary for incorporation into the creative component. The section then delineates the factors Harold Bloom considers necessary for the creation of strong work and considers how the intended creative project may fulfil these requirements. Finally, 'Intentions' presents those creative, mythic and symbolic 2 Word count includes title page and chapter titles. materials gleaned from the critical process that are likely to be prove useful for the creative component. The shorter, second half of the essay, entitled 'Reflections: Tikkun', examines the intricacies of the drafting process for the poem and for the thesis as a whole, as well as the lessons gathered from the project and its overall success. The section ends with suggestions for further work not only for the present author, but also for others, writers and critics alike. The full exegesis, which comprises the segments 'Introduction', 'Intentions: Tzimtzum', 'Reflections: Tikkun', and 'Conclusion', totals 37,077 words.

This study focuses on the development of the English for Architecture Program for architecture students at Chulalongkorn University. The research is set in the context of significant of change being made to the English for Architecture Program at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. The study is based on a needs assessment within the Proactive Form of Evaluation as categorised by Owen, with Rogers (1999) and Owen (2006). The research was conducted in two phases: a research review and a needs assessment. Following an analysis of these phases, a policy for revised English for Architecture Program was developed. A research review was undertaken to determine current best practice in self-directed English language programs. The needs assessment, involving questionnaire surveys, consisted of three steps, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The first involved determining the perceived needs of students prior to undertaking the English for Architecture Program; the second involved determining the desired needs of students following their exposure to an introductory English for Architecture Program; the third involved identifying the desired needs of teachers who teach the English for Architecture Program. A comparison of the quantitative outcomes of the surveys, using descriptive statistics, was undertaken in order to make a comparison between the three sets of responses. The issues that emerged – the role of students, learning style, materials, and assessment – were further investigated, using qualitative methods, by a series of semi-structured interviews undertaken with representative samples of students, and with experienced staff teaching the English for Architecture Program. The three sets of responses to the questionnaire, together with the issues that were discussed in the interviews, were used to determine the needs of a revised program. Finally, the needs were matched with the outcomes of the research review in order to provide the basis for a complete course revision. The findings of this study were validated by means of triangulation of the outcomes of the research: the needs assessment and semi-structured interviews undertaken with architecture students and teachers; the outcomes of the research review. The findings in the study indicate that teachers and students agreed that self-directed learning is an appropriate alternative way of teaching that can change the teaching and learning situation in the Thai context, and that such a change might help improve the efficiency in learning. The research has three significant outcomes: the development of a policy for revised English for Architecture Program for architecture students; a demonstration of the effectiveness of Proactive Evaluation in developing such policy; identification of key elements that are required for change in organisations.

This thesis is divided into two volumes, the creative work and the exegesis. The creative work, My ornament, is an Australian novel set in India. It explores - from a feminist perspective - issues of desire, subjectivity, agency and connection among three women and their moving, sexual bodies across time and space. In so doing, its aim is to place women at the centre of literary/critical discourse, emphasising connection rather than differences across cultures. The voices of the two main characters, Rachel and Muddupalani, alternate, cross over, merge and pull apart in the narrative that moves between the 18th and 20th centuries, Australia and India, with the third mythic woman, Radha, a textual presence in the poetry written by Muddupalani. The exegesis constructs an intellectual and fictional genealogy for the novel, situating it in a 21st century discursive space. While it is a work of Australian fiction - with an Australian author and protagonist - I suggest that it contributes to the following writing traditions: South Indian poetics and 18th century culture; Francophone women’s literary theory, in particular ecriture feminine; and notions of 'dancing desire'. This account of choreographing a fiction (of the self within a text) moves along intersecting planes through the liberatory spatio-temporal territory available in cultural nomadism and transnational feminist practice. Together, these two volumes create a new discursive space by linking seemingly disparate elements and fictional characters to create a region in which women - writing and dancing women - can connect and move freely across cultural and time zones; as heterosexual erotic beings, they articulate their desire and reflect it back through their art. It is recommended that the novel be read before the exegesis.

This thesis investigates the English versions of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen (= KHM) published between the years 1823 and 1884, i.e. from the first translation by Edgar Taylor and David Jardine, German Popular Stories (1823 and 1826), to the first complete edition of the Grimms’ collection of stories and notes by Margaret Hunt, Grimm’s Household Tales (1884). Each of the first eleven chapters deals with a specific English edition and gives an analysis of one or more stories from that edition together with the texts of the German original. The two versions, German and English, are placed alongside each other in parallel columns to facilitate comparison. The twelfth chapter takes the final paragraph of one story, ‘Sneewittchen’ (KHM 53), and examines the seven different English versions of it in the editions discussed in the previous chapters. The final chapter compares the quality of English translations of the KHM in the nineteenth century with that of the Grimms’ sole venture in translating tales in the English language into German, viz. Wilhelm Grimm’s Irische Elfenmärchen (1826). Included as an appendix is a tabulated concordance of the contents of the twelve major editions discussed in this thesis. The investigation shows that the areas deemed to be sensitive ones by English translators were those which had to do with what Darton (Children’s Books in England, 1982, p.99) has singled out as ‘a deep-rooted sin-complex’ in England. Any story that touched on the issues of religious belief and superstition, the human body and its physical nature, violence and evil, and the intense emotions felt by human beings which prompt them to commit violent and destructive acts, was inevitably viewed with concern and mistrust, especially by purveyors of children’s literature in the nineteenth century. All these issues, as well as the element of fantasy which so readily admits and entertains them, were prone to considerable revision by successive translators of the KHM. / Also published (in shorter form) as Sutton, Martin James (1996). The sin-complex : a critical study of English versions of the Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen in the nineteenth century. Kassel Germany: Brüder Grimm-Gesellschaft.

Qu’est-ce que la littérature océanienne ? Cette question liminaire et peut-être naïve veut lever tout risque de malentendu, mais aussi indiquer le projet fondateur de cette recherche : écouter et reconnaître les voix du grand « océan d’îles » d’Epeli Hau’ofa1 dans leur pleine originalité. Il est en effet difficile d’imaginer une situation plus paradoxale que celle de la région Pacifique et de ses habitants, qui ont fait couler tant d’encre occidentale depuis le XVIIIe siècle, mais dont la voix propre n’est, aujourd'hui encore, que très rarement entendue en dehors de la région, mais aussi à l’intérieur.2 Le champ littéraire océanien Les corpus littéraires désignés comme « océaniens » varient selon les auteurs : ainsi dans une conférence de 2002 intitulée « Tahiti ou l’atelier d’une invention littéraire »,3 Daniel Margueron utilisait la dénomination « littérature océanienne » pour évoquer les premiers écrits européens sur le Pacifique et plus précisément Tahiti, réservant aux littératures contemporaines produites par des écrivains maohi les dénominations « littérature polynésienne francophone dite d’émergence » ou littérature « tahitianophone » pour les écrits en langue maohi. Cependant, dans la plupart des anthologies, actes de colloques ou articles publiés à ce jour, la dénomination « littérature océanienne » vient plutôt désigner les littératures émergentes produites en Océanie par des auteurs qui y vivent de façon permanente. On observe toutefois des différences notables lorsqu’il s’agit de délimiter le champ exact des littératures océaniennes. Les anthologies disponibles aujourd'hui peuvent fournir des indications précieuses sur les représentations dominantes de ce que sont ces littératures. Elles distinguent de fait, à travers les sélections sur lesquelles elles s’appuient, plusieurs grands ensembles. -- from Introduction

Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s most pre-eminent writers of contemporary literature. He is best known as a literary author who has written the controversial religious satire in The Satanic Verses, which brought him a prolonged death threat imposed by Islamic authorities. The novel Midnight’s Children won the prestigious Booker of Bookers prize in 1993 and the Best of the Booker award in 2008. Throughout his writing career, however, he has exceeded his role as a novelist and shown his commitment to using his fame and cultural authority to open debates and publicize his opinions on social and religious issues and world politics. This thesis analyses the various aspects of controversies surrounding Rushdie, as an elite transnational author, a literary celebrity, a public intellectual and an outspoken critic on sensitive topics. It comes to examine the social significance of public personas and the nature of complexity embedded in their career. Rushdie’s presence draws the media’s attention, and more often than not, instigates international disputes and contentions. By looking at different aspects of Rushdie’s identity, the thesis addresses controversies raised by his diverse roles and his traversing of spaces in the cultural industry – in academia, the book market, public forums, talk shows, celebrity jamborees and even fashion magazine dinner parties. As an elite postcolonial writer, does his iconic status “compromise” him in the literary field by the generation of exotic cultural stereotypes and the exploitation of his Indian upbringing? What can literary and cultural critics do to work beyond condemning this trend? As a literary celebrity and public intellectual, do his involvements in publicity activities and New York’s celebrity circuit make him abandon the professional integrity and the time-honored “disinterested” position of the writer? How should the reader understand the connections between the media and the author, and the novel and popular culture? In addition, given his deeply skeptical position on religious matters, how does the writer understand the world of Islam, and how does this understanding underpin his antagonistic relationship with the fundamentalists? Addressing these questions, the thesis is by no means an account of a single writer’s life and career, but suggests that the complexity of intellectual life in general is made necessary in a cultural landscape saturated with media hype, publicity maneuvers and commoditization. In such contexts, writers exploring their time must, in different degrees, participate actively in what they write against, and be implicated in these processes. Under the influence of the market, the change in social trends and with their aspired career in mind, it seems that there can be no non-involvement for these individuals. Yet, by taking the case of Rushdie, I also argue that implicit in the novelist’s self-conscious manipulation of his diverse roles and the parodic metafiction in his work are important indications about the image construction of controversial public personas, the cultural meaning of the novelist as a public intellectual, and the implicated career that a writer may have at the turn of the century.

This thesis comprises a novel, Disco Apocalypse: Liminal Fictoscapes, and an accompanying exegesis, Hatricks: Where did the White Rabbit Go? which together explore socio-political and aesthetic currents in contemporary culture and literature by means of an authorial journey. The ultimate aim of the thesis is to create a body of work which applies a critical analysis and produces an original and exhilarating cutting edge narrative. Disco Apocalypse is a contemporary novel set in Melbourne, South America and Japan that explores the lives of two sisters, Kit and Suzy G who take a road/air journey to Peru, Brazil and Hiroshima. Kit is a film maker whose observational skills bring a visual acuity to the description of places and events in the cities and towns visited out on the road. In the course of the novel Suzy G disappears when her plane goes down over Bass Strait and no remains of the aircraft are discovered. The exegetical narrative was constructed in a manner resembling a series of reflections or reflective surfaces that highlight the images displayed in each segment. This process hovers in liminality, the second stage in a ritual event, where we are caught 'betwixt and between' the world of the novel and the world of the exegesis. PLEASE NOTE: Volume 1 of this thesis, the novel, is not available online.

This thesis explores the popularity in India of a contemporary prime time television serial, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Because Mother-in-law was Once a Daughter-in-law) which is now the longest running serial in India. Locating the emergence of this new genre of ‘family serial melodrama’ in light of the commercialisation, fragmentation and diversification of the Indian television marketplace, the thesis outlines public concerns about this generic development, and analyses the textual hybridity of this serial. In the context of these interrelated industrial, social and textual developments in television, the thesis then drawing on ethnographic perspectives illuminates the micro-social dynamics involved in the appeal of Kyunki, especially within a broad understanding of the nature of family viewing. Through its case study of the serial, the thesis quite explicitly demonstrates that appeal of even the apparently most ‘trivial’ television lies in the ways in which television contributes to political constructions of society through the discursive space it forms for viewers to forge social meanings and negotiate structures of social power. The ‘multidimensional’ approach the thesis appropriates and develops upon in pursuing this investigation, contributes significantly also to the emergent and evolving field of ‘third generation’ audience studies, particularly in its focus on family, more so in its observations of family dynamics and discourses. In addressing questions specifically about audiences’ relationship with the serial, the thesis drawing on the ethnographic interviews with viewers and their families, argues that for audiences the serial offers a representation of India simultaneously in notions of family and transcendent ideas of womanhood. Analysis of these notions further reveal how realms of the ideal, real and unreal form an important conceptual spectrum through viewers make sense and negotiate meanings, and contribute in politically constructing society. In this way demonstrating that appeal of this seemingly ‘trivial’ television programme is also in the space it provides for political negotiations, the thesis conclusively suggests that study of popular narratives, especially feminine narratives, must invariably be considered within the frame of ‘politics’ while also customarily with ‘pleasure’.