The Girl without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel By Melissa Jane Ashley Abstract The major component of the thesis is an extract from the manuscript, The Girl without Hands, a novelised interpretation of the folktale and fairy tale, The Maiden without Hands. The novel is composed of three books, with point of view structured as shifting third person; most of the story is narrated by the central character, Marina Fischer. The manuscript deploys a variety of fairy tale and folktale related literary techniques, including magic realism, intertextuality, framing, and fantasy. Events span a period of eight years, the action set in rural and urban parts of Queensland and Victoria. On an unsupervised picnic with friends, fourteen year old Marina Fischer’s twin sister Sonia suffers a fatal head injury. Grief-stricken and self-blaming, Marina reacts to the trauma by losing all feeling and movement in her hands. Six months following the accident, Marina seems on the verge of recovery; she attends regular therapy and is protected by her loyal friends, siblings Amelia and Sammy Jones. However, the patina of stability begins to crack when Marina is confronted at the year ten formal by Sonia’s former associates, Kylie Bates and Jody Cutter, also present at her death. Distraught and upset, Marina flees the dance in Jody’s older brother’s car. Seven years later Marina meets Matt Soverign, a gifted hypnotist, who tries to help her regain movement in her hands. They sleep together and Marina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Their son Tristram is born while Matt attends an interstate conference. Thinking a child would help her hands to heal, Marina becomes depressed when she continues to suffer from paralysis. She begins to dwell on memories of her sexual assault the night of the school dance, slowly losing touch with reality. But a phone call from her estranged friend, Amelia Jones, shakes Marina out of her stasis. Her close mate Sammy, who now lives in Melbourne, has fallen dangerously ill. With her relationship in pieces, Marina purchases train tickets for herself and Tristram and embarks upon a spontaneous—though much delayed—journey to reconcile the past. The critical component of the thesis is an essay entitled “The Maiden without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel”. Chapter one, “The Tale is Not Beautiful if Nothing is Added to It,” is a literary survey of cross-cultural folktale and fairy tale variants of the 1200 year old narrative, The Maiden without Hands. I explore academic debate regarding the literary fairy tale’s indebtedness to the oral folktale, discussing Susan Stewart’s notion of the ‘distressed text’ and Lewis Seifert’s theory of ‘nostalgic recuperation.’ Chapter two, “Then the Devil Will Take Me Away,” undertakes a close reading of the Grimm Brothers’ influential but controversial 1857 re-write of The Maiden without Hands narrative. I suggest that Wilhelm Grimm’s suppression of the ‘unnatural father’ episode, found in the traditional folktale, aided the story’s survival in and beyond the nineteenth century, when such themes became taboo. I explore how the Grimms’ aesthetic revisions of folk material—to make them appeal to a middle class audience, including children—helped proliferate stereotyped representations of females and femininity in classic fairy tales. These depictions, I argue, often cause ambivalence in contemporary female readers, however they also instigate creative revisionary projects (such as my own), which seek to explore the residual energy contained in fairy tale texts, while at the same time destabilising their sexual stereotyping. In the last chapter, “The Only Thing She Doesn’t Have is Arms,” I discuss how extensive research into the many incarnations of The Maiden without Hands altered my understanding of the narrative’s symbols, tropes and metaphors, leading to significant changes to the plot of my novel. Citing examples from my text, The Girl without Hands, and comparing and contrasting them with excerpts from variants of the folktale and fairy tale, I analyse my creative interpretation of The Maiden without Hands’ major themes: loss and lack; sexual assault and violation; creativity and writing; and, finally, healing and wholeness.

This dissertation is comprised of two distinct but related components. The larger component is a short novel, titled A Cop, a Thief and a Priest. This is the story of three very different men, the woman they all want, her daughter who gets in the way, the secrets they all try to hide, and a few bedtime stories. Plus a Canadian Native or two. And maybe a bomb, as well. This work of fiction is written with a shifting perspective and varying degrees of adherence to the rules of grammar, depending on the narrator and characters in the scene. The story focuses on seriously flawed people in potentially harmful, though ceaselessly humorous, relationships and how they try to choose the best out of the poor options in front of them. In the course of the novel several Native Canadian/First Nations characters appear. Some are characters within the story, and others are cast members of several bedtime stories told by the three primary male characters. As I am not Canadian First Nations, I had concerns over writing dialogue and characterization of Canadian Native characters. In response to these misgivings, the accompanying critical essay component of this dissertation deals with the issue of a non-Native author writing Native characters. The thesis essay explores this question in the fiction of three Canadian authors who are not Canadian First Nations. I examine specifically their use of grammatical errors in the dialogue of their Native characters as a device to present diction as an element of the character’s status, education, gender, age, race or culture. The three authors chosen are W.P Kinsella, Anne Cameron, and Thomas King. These writers use diction variously, and each is scrutinized according to guidelines drawn from writing theory texts, commercial writing guides, and writing practice prescriptions from successful authors. The conclusions are considered in the crafting of my own First Nations characters.

Smart film, a term coined by Jeffrey Sconce in his 2002 Screen article, “Irony, Nihilism and the New American ‘Smart’ Film”, refers to a wave of controversial, contemporary American films characterised by irony, quirky black humour, deadpan performance and an observational, blank style. Apart from Sconce, there has been little theorisation on smart cinema within the field of American screen studies. This thesis redresses this gap by providing the first extended study on smart film. It draws on, and adds to, the framework provided by Sconce, via the examination of a particular ‘subset’ of smart films concerned with the representation of youth and adolescence. These specifically target a more adult, ‘smart’ niche audience, who derive pleasure from their ironic ‘cleverness’, and ‘arty’ sensibility. In particular, this project focuses on the way these films are differentiated from more mainstream narrative cinema by their generic, affective and ethical structures. Following Sconce, this thesis analyses the constituents of the ‘art of the smart’—of the aesthetic strategies that differentiate the smart youth film, and the modes of address that may encourage, or discourage, particular experiences of affectivity and ethical engagement in the films’ portrayals of their youthful, anti-heroic protagonists. This includes a discussion of their cinematic origins, their production contexts with specific reference to institutional shifts in American independent cinema, and the way their reception is particularly aligned to the cultural tastes and consumption patterns of ‘Generation X.’ This thesis argues that smart film necessitates the development of more far-reaching ways of theorising the intersection between cinema, genre and youth. It extends the current theorisation on melodrama and the teenpic by arguing that smart film incorporates stylistic and thematic features, which both intersect with these established generic modes for representing youth and the family, and, at the same time, reflect a paradigm shift away from them as a result of their emphasis on irony and black comedy. It explores the cultural significance of their representations of youth, and their familial relationships, and the way this relates to social and cinematic constructions of youth and the family over time. This draws particular attention to their engagement with more serious, socially relevant, and taboo acts of sexual transgression, and how this is problematically mediated by what may appear as an ‘inappropriate’ aesthetic of black comedy. Much of the distinction of smart youth films lies in the way they challenge normative modes of cinematic representation via their portrayals of youth, which combine psychological realism with blank, ironic affect. This has specific implications in terms of their spectatorship and reception, and leads to a central concern in this thesis to determine the ways in which irony and distanciation create ambivalent modes of engagement in these films. This is specifically examined in relation to character, drawing on the cognitive framework provided by Murray Smith’s “structure of sympathy”, and the analysis of their ironic, anti-naturalistic strategies of performance, which complicate a realist construction of character subjectivity, authenticity, and allegiance. However, this thesis also argues that an astute examination of smart film’s formal content and narrative construction often reveals key moments of sincerity, character authenticity, and avenues of empathy that may allow for a momentary emotional connection with character and the filmic world. The final chapter focuses on the ethical dimension of these films, their relationship with nihilism, and the question of whether youth films have a responsibility to offer positive role models and ethical guidance. It discusses the way that irony functions as a strategic gesture, which can offer incisive moral and social criticisms, but is complicated by the lack of cues for how to morally judge, or emotionally relate to, characters and their actions. Overall, smart films’ ambivalence suggests that the spectator may be required to extend their paradigms of response, particularly in the way these films articulate their ‘taboo’ content. This necessitates an examination of the dialogic, intersubjective process of the way the materiality of the film intersects with the socialised, contextual body of the spectator to embrace the possibility of a more active, intellectual spectatorship. Specifically, this incorporates an evaluation of the social cognitions, epistemology, and pleasures derived from the contemporary circulation and comprehension of irony, and how this can generate an understanding of smart film in relation to their affective and ethical regimes. Finally, this thesis concludes with an examination of the influence of smart film on television and current post-ironic trends in American cinema.

The Girl without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel By Melissa Jane Ashley Abstract The major component of the thesis is an extract from the manuscript, The Girl without Hands, a novelised interpretation of the folktale and fairy tale, The Maiden without Hands. The novel is composed of three books, with point of view structured as shifting third person; most of the story is narrated by the central character, Marina Fischer. The manuscript deploys a variety of fairy tale and folktale related literary techniques, including magic realism, intertextuality, framing, and fantasy. Events span a period of eight years, the action set in rural and urban parts of Queensland and Victoria. On an unsupervised picnic with friends, fourteen year old Marina Fischer’s twin sister Sonia suffers a fatal head injury. Grief-stricken and self-blaming, Marina reacts to the trauma by losing all feeling and movement in her hands. Six months following the accident, Marina seems on the verge of recovery; she attends regular therapy and is protected by her loyal friends, siblings Amelia and Sammy Jones. However, the patina of stability begins to crack when Marina is confronted at the year ten formal by Sonia’s former associates, Kylie Bates and Jody Cutter, also present at her death. Distraught and upset, Marina flees the dance in Jody’s older brother’s car. Seven years later Marina meets Matt Soverign, a gifted hypnotist, who tries to help her regain movement in her hands. They sleep together and Marina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Their son Tristram is born while Matt attends an interstate conference. Thinking a child would help her hands to heal, Marina becomes depressed when she continues to suffer from paralysis. She begins to dwell on memories of her sexual assault the night of the school dance, slowly losing touch with reality. But a phone call from her estranged friend, Amelia Jones, shakes Marina out of her stasis. Her close mate Sammy, who now lives in Melbourne, has fallen dangerously ill. With her relationship in pieces, Marina purchases train tickets for herself and Tristram and embarks upon a spontaneous—though much delayed—journey to reconcile the past. The critical component of the thesis is an essay entitled “The Maiden without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel”. Chapter one, “The Tale is Not Beautiful if Nothing is Added to It,” is a literary survey of cross-cultural folktale and fairy tale variants of the 1200 year old narrative, The Maiden without Hands. I explore academic debate regarding the literary fairy tale’s indebtedness to the oral folktale, discussing Susan Stewart’s notion of the ‘distressed text’ and Lewis Seifert’s theory of ‘nostalgic recuperation.’ Chapter two, “Then the Devil Will Take Me Away,” undertakes a close reading of the Grimm Brothers’ influential but controversial 1857 re-write of The Maiden without Hands narrative. I suggest that Wilhelm Grimm’s suppression of the ‘unnatural father’ episode, found in the traditional folktale, aided the story’s survival in and beyond the nineteenth century, when such themes became taboo. I explore how the Grimms’ aesthetic revisions of folk material—to make them appeal to a middle class audience, including children—helped proliferate stereotyped representations of females and femininity in classic fairy tales. These depictions, I argue, often cause ambivalence in contemporary female readers, however they also instigate creative revisionary projects (such as my own), which seek to explore the residual energy contained in fairy tale texts, while at the same time destabilising their sexual stereotyping. In the last chapter, “The Only Thing She Doesn’t Have is Arms,” I discuss how extensive research into the many incarnations of The Maiden without Hands altered my understanding of the narrative’s symbols, tropes and metaphors, leading to significant changes to the plot of my novel. Citing examples from my text, The Girl without Hands, and comparing and contrasting them with excerpts from variants of the folktale and fairy tale, I analyse my creative interpretation of The Maiden without Hands’ major themes: loss and lack; sexual assault and violation; creativity and writing; and, finally, healing and wholeness.

No description available.

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of this study is a reflection by an educational psychologist of a five year old girl and her use of art media during her therapy sessions. The rational behind art therapy is that underlying feelings and problems are brought to the surface through the interaction with art media and art production (Oster & Crone, 2004). This enables the client to perceive the problem visually and learn how to process it. Educational psychologists are not necessarily trained to do art therapy. However the use of creative media can form part of their practice. A principle of art therapy – to create a safe environment for the person to work uninterrupted, was used in this study. A qualitative ex post facto study was used to complete this research. This entails a study of an occurrence (a child‟s use of art media in therapy) after it has been observed by the researcher. The aim of this research was to study, by means of a case study, a five year old girl‟s interaction with art media such as paint, clay and felt-tip pens throughout her therapy process. The amount of time spent with media, techniques and colours used, symbols made, as well as verbal and non-verbal behavior was observed. The participant‟s therapy sessions and informal interviews with her mother were recorded on video. The videotapes were studied and field notes of these, together with personal records and the artistic products that resulted from her sessions were used for data-collection. In addition and to enrich the study the possible meaning of the symbols depicted were also discussed. Inductive data-analyses (bottom to top) were used to process the data. The researcher‟s perspective during the study was of a reflective practitioner. The description of the participant‟s interaction with art media showed that she became more involved with it as time passed. There were noticeable changes in her use of colour, techniques and media. A positive change in her verbal and nonverbal behaviour was observed towards the end of her therapy-process.

As rodas de artesanato são uma modalidade de atendimento psicológico baseada nos grupos vivenciais de orientação junguiana. Os aviamentos e outros materiais úteis para a prática artesanal são compreendidos como recursos expressivos, maleáveis e convidativos à imersão num clima psicológico de relaxamento, ludicidade, acolhimento, apaziguamento e partilha, propício à imaginação e transformação criativa. A interação das participantes com os recursos expressivos, com o grupo, com o contexto institucional e com sua realidade de vida mais ampla é compreendida como simbólica, comunicando algo sobre o self grupal. O estabelecimento de um enquadre terapêutico vivencial prioriza mais a convivência do grupo com os símbolos expressos, do que a interpretação verbal e a racionalização. Deste modo, as queixas, experiências, conflitos ou fantasias devem sobrepairar ao centro da roda, sendo respeitosa e democraticamente autenticadas como reais e relevantes. Nesta pesquisa, as rodas de artesanato foram formadas por mulheres que acompanhavam crianças e jovens com deficiências físicas em atividades numa escola de educação especial, inserida num centro de reabilitação física. Devido às especifidades do contexto, suas rotinas implicavam em aguardar o período de aulas no pátio, muitas vezes ociosas ou envoltas em conflitos interpessoais. Além disso, devido às limitações no desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor dos filhos, à sobrecarga de tarefas e ao excesso de recomendações terapêuticas e pedagógicas, muitas viviam a inflação da identificação do ego com a persona em sua faceta de cuidadora. As rodas de artesanato foram propostas a fim de ampliar o enfoque terapêutico interdisciplinar ainda influenciado pela perspectiva médico-científica, revelando-se uma proposta maleável e sensível à identificação das necessidades da população atendida e aberta para a constelação de símbolos naturalmente indicativos de caminhos terapêuticos. Entre março de 2009 e março de 2010, foram realizados encontros semanais de uma hora e meia de duração, sendo o conteúdo transcrito para posterior confecção de narrativas. A discussão dos resultados visou à interlocução com a comunidade científica entremeando autores junguianos e estudos publicados em áreas afins como historiografia, ciências sociais, metodologia da pesquisa qualitativa participante e práticas em reabilitação. Os processos vivenciados nas rodas de artesanto indicaram que o respeito às preferências, escolhas, modos e tempos de agir, incentivam a busca por maior autonomia e a integração de potencialidades e habilidades negligenciadas, processos tão preconizados na prática clínica junguiana como no âmbito da reabilitação física / Arts and crafts activities may be used as a modality of psychological treatment based on Jungian-oriented experiential groups. Ornaments and other materials used in arts and crafts are understood as malleable and inviting expression resources for ones immersion in a psychological environment of relaxation, playfulness, acceptance, peacefulness and sharing, which is extremely valid for imagination and creative transformation purposes. Participants interaction with the expression resources, with the group, the institutional context and with their own reality, from a broader perspective, is understood as a symbol which provides indications on the group self. The establishment of an experiential therapeutic setting is more focused on the groups experience with the expressed symbols than on verbal interpretation and rationalization. The arts and crafts activities, developed in groups of people organized in a circle, will be hence permeated by each individuals complaints, experiences, conflicts or fantasies, which shall be respectfully and democratically authenticated as real and significant. In this study, these arts and crafts circles were comprised of women who accompany physically disabled children and teenagers during their activities at a special education school located in a physical rehabilitation center. Given the specificities inherent to the context, their routines implied waiting for the youngsters during class time, which was often spent either idly or amidst interpersonal conflicts. In addition, because of the limitations to their childrens neurological and psychomotor development, the overwhelming number of tasks and excessive therapeutic and pedagogical recommendations, many of these women experienced the inflation of the ego identification with the persona, as a caregiver. The arts and crafts circles were suggested in order to broaden the interdisciplinary therapeutic focus, still influenced by the medical-scientific perspective, and actually proved to be a flexible proposal which is open to the identification of the needs of the treated individuals and to the wide array of symbols that naturally indicate therapeutic pathways. Weekly sessions were held during one hour and a half from March 2009 to March 2010; the content thereof was transcribed for the further preparation of narratives. The discussion of the results was aimed at providing for the interlocution with the scientific community, using Jungian authors and studies published in correlated fields of knowledge such as historiography, social sciences, participant, qualitative result methodology and rehabilitation practices. The processes experiences in arts and crafts circles revealed that the respectful treatment given to preferences, choices, methods and time of action encourage the pursuit for greater autonomy and integration of potentialities and neglected skills, processes largely implemented both in Jungian clinical praxis and in physical rehabilitation

As rodas de artesanato são uma modalidade de atendimento psicológico baseada nos grupos vivenciais de orientação junguiana. Os aviamentos e outros materiais úteis para a prática artesanal são compreendidos como recursos expressivos, maleáveis e convidativos à imersão num clima psicológico de relaxamento, ludicidade, acolhimento, apaziguamento e partilha, propício à imaginação e transformação criativa. A interação das participantes com os recursos expressivos, com o grupo, com o contexto institucional e com sua realidade de vida mais ampla é compreendida como simbólica, comunicando algo sobre o self grupal. O estabelecimento de um enquadre terapêutico vivencial prioriza mais a convivência do grupo com os símbolos expressos, do que a interpretação verbal e a racionalização. Deste modo, as queixas, experiências, conflitos ou fantasias devem sobrepairar ao centro da roda, sendo respeitosa e democraticamente autenticadas como reais e relevantes. Nesta pesquisa, as rodas de artesanato foram formadas por mulheres que acompanhavam crianças e jovens com deficiências físicas em atividades numa escola de educação especial, inserida num centro de reabilitação física. Devido às especifidades do contexto, suas rotinas implicavam em aguardar o período de aulas no pátio, muitas vezes ociosas ou envoltas em conflitos interpessoais. Além disso, devido às limitações no desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor dos filhos, à sobrecarga de tarefas e ao excesso de recomendações terapêuticas e pedagógicas, muitas viviam a inflação da identificação do ego com a persona em sua faceta de cuidadora. As rodas de artesanato foram propostas a fim de ampliar o enfoque terapêutico interdisciplinar ainda influenciado pela perspectiva médico-científica, revelando-se uma proposta maleável e sensível à identificação das necessidades da população atendida e aberta para a constelação de símbolos naturalmente indicativos de caminhos terapêuticos. Entre março de 2009 e março de 2010, foram realizados encontros semanais de uma hora e meia de duração, sendo o conteúdo transcrito para posterior confecção de narrativas. A discussão dos resultados visou à interlocução com a comunidade científica entremeando autores junguianos e estudos publicados em áreas afins como historiografia, ciências sociais, metodologia da pesquisa qualitativa participante e práticas em reabilitação. Os processos vivenciados nas rodas de artesanto indicaram que o respeito às preferências, escolhas, modos e tempos de agir, incentivam a busca por maior autonomia e a integração de potencialidades e habilidades negligenciadas, processos tão preconizados na prática clínica junguiana como no âmbito da reabilitação física / Arts and crafts activities may be used as a modality of psychological treatment based on Jungian-oriented experiential groups. Ornaments and other materials used in arts and crafts are understood as malleable and inviting expression resources for ones immersion in a psychological environment of relaxation, playfulness, acceptance, peacefulness and sharing, which is extremely valid for imagination and creative transformation purposes. Participants interaction with the expression resources, with the group, the institutional context and with their own reality, from a broader perspective, is understood as a symbol which provides indications on the group self. The establishment of an experiential therapeutic setting is more focused on the groups experience with the expressed symbols than on verbal interpretation and rationalization. The arts and crafts activities, developed in groups of people organized in a circle, will be hence permeated by each individuals complaints, experiences, conflicts or fantasies, which shall be respectfully and democratically authenticated as real and significant. In this study, these arts and crafts circles were comprised of women who accompany physically disabled children and teenagers during their activities at a special education school located in a physical rehabilitation center. Given the specificities inherent to the context, their routines implied waiting for the youngsters during class time, which was often spent either idly or amidst interpersonal conflicts. In addition, because of the limitations to their childrens neurological and psychomotor development, the overwhelming number of tasks and excessive therapeutic and pedagogical recommendations, many of these women experienced the inflation of the ego identification with the persona, as a caregiver. The arts and crafts circles were suggested in order to broaden the interdisciplinary therapeutic focus, still influenced by the medical-scientific perspective, and actually proved to be a flexible proposal which is open to the identification of the needs of the treated individuals and to the wide array of symbols that naturally indicate therapeutic pathways. Weekly sessions were held during one hour and a half from March 2009 to March 2010; the content thereof was transcribed for the further preparation of narratives. The discussion of the results was aimed at providing for the interlocution with the scientific community, using Jungian authors and studies published in correlated fields of knowledge such as historiography, social sciences, participant, qualitative result methodology and rehabilitation practices. The processes experiences in arts and crafts circles revealed that the respectful treatment given to preferences, choices, methods and time of action encourage the pursuit for greater autonomy and integration of potentialities and neglected skills, processes largely implemented both in Jungian clinical praxis and in physical rehabilitation

<p>This research uses the composition practices of three experienced letterpress typesetters as a case study for the development of a methodology for studying human-technology interaction. This methodology tries to take seriously the implications that theories of materiality have for empirical research in writing and technology.</p> <p>Data was collected from three experienced typesetters, each of whom was observed setting type for two hours, then interviewed for 1 ½ to 2 hours, using observation footage to inform interview questions. Interview transcripts and observation footage were then coded for observable material intra-actions and the influences that characterized those actions and brought them into being.</p> <p>Data analysis produced six desiderata, or desires for design, that emerged as driving the composition process: 1) a desire to use the technology, 2) a desire for efficiency, 3) a desire to imitate/defer to historical practices, 4) a desire for letter-level correctness, 5) attention to aesthetics, and 6) a desire to communicate.</p>

<p>This paper presents Theopoetics, a theo-philosophical aesthetic movement that arose from the 1960’s Death of God theology, as a hermeneutical framework that accounts for both embodiment and the numinous in poetry. Through an examination of the life and poetic works of the disenfranchised religious poet, Thomas Merton, and a more religiously nebulous poet, Denise Levertov. This paper will present two different perspectives from these poets who encountered the need to qualify the numinous in their poetry and subverted that qualification through a theopoetic process. </p>