published_or_final_version / abstract / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

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Literary criticism has traditionally associated the work of Albert Camus with a very specific conception of literature. His more "philosphical" works (namely, his essays) are thus seen as demonstrations of the "message" that his truly literary works seek to transmit. As such, Le Mythe de Sisyphe and L'Homme revolte are considered to provide the driving themes (l'Absurde and la Revolte) of the author's fictive writings. This image (that of the "romancier a message") becomes problematic, however, in face of Camus' intransigent refusal to surrender to any form of dogma. Indeed, for the author, this possibility of surrender constitutes the greatest threat to la Revolte, representing its potential capitulation into Revolution and Terror. We believe that this notion of literature as a vehicle for philosophical beliefs is precisely the concept against which Camus was fighting. / Through the theme of "le juste", or more specifically the question of how we know what is just, Camus challenges this idea of literature and the act of writing. By exposing the mechanisms of self-justification underlying all universal values (and hence of all transcendental "truths" upon which they are necessarily based) the writer reveals them to be social and discursive constructs which permit and perpetuate the imposition of norms in a given domaine, including that of literature. This study proposes to examine Camus' rapport with this element of self-justification in literature, and the ways in which he calls the latter into question.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

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In this submission I explore the role played by discourse in the development of pupils' understanding of school-subject knowledge in secondary school classrooms in England, following changes to GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) specifications in 2015. Changes to the structure, the subject content, and the assessment of GCSEs were made in an effort to focus on 'powerful knowledge' during the Key Stage (KS) 4 curriculum (for pupils aged 14 - 16 years old) and in order to promote an emphasis on knowledge that is based on academic disciplines. My research looks at the concept of powerful knowledge, based in a critical realist epistemology and a social realist theory of knowledge, and the extent to which all young people are likely to access knowledge that is powerful in the classroom. I argue that access for all pupils to the means by which to judge knowledge claims and thereby challenge and change society - the transformational power of knowledge - underpins a social justice agenda. My research explores a less-developed aspect of the social realist debate on powerful knowledge, a pedagogic discourse to enable a move away from merely teaching factual or content knowledge. I propose that for knowledge to be powerful teachers and pupils need to be 'epistemologically aware'. My case-study research contributes new empirical findings to the literature on pedagogic discourse for a powerful knowledge curriculum. I discuss the learning trajectories of 15 pupils (including five from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds) from two Year 10 'case' classes observed over a 12-week period, during which they studied a novel as part of their GCSE English literature course. 'Thinking notes' and concept mapping were introduced as innovative data-gathering and analytical tools with which to gain a unique and detailed analysis of pupils' learning over the series of lessons given during the 12-week period. I discuss the teachers' conceptual framing of their discipline and the role that this, together with pupils' experiences and backgrounds, has in the re-contextualisation of discipline-based knowledge in the classroom. I conclude that pedagogic discourse that makes the epistemic logic and related concepts of a subject explicit - an epistemological awareness - may enable pupils from both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to build systems of meaning that transcend their everyday understanding of the world and the context in which they view it to access powerful knowledge. I present a conceptualisation of a powerful knowledge pedagogic discourse for the study of a novel in the KS4 English literature classroom.

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Spectacles of justice preoccupy contemporary American culture. Legal culture---including the Watergate trials, the Lewinsky scandal, and OJ Simpson's trial for alleged murder---assumes a central place in the American imaginary. Configurations of the law are not limited to media reportage and televised docudramas. Nor are arbitrations confined to law faculties and the spaces of formal courts. Working through depictions of due process in different ways and in different zones, contemporary American writers point up the prevalence of legality in everyday life. Whether on college campuses, in TV studios and suburban homes, or at theatres and racetracks, justice mediates interpersonal relations. Personal narratives proliferate as modes of self-justification. Everyone has a right to represent her side of a story. As interpretations of reality, however, none of these stories can claim absolute justness. No one has a monopoly on the law or victimhood. / This dissertation inspects how Jonathan Franzen, Don DeLillo, and Jane Smiley present the inconsistencies of the law. These American novelists emplot global escapes into their work as a means to inform notions of liberty and jurisprudence. For these writers, freedom requires the recognition of contradictory---and unanticipated---narratives. "Justice Theory" emerges where media, gambling, performance, and suburban studies intersect with ethics, globalism, and narratology. In Franzen's novel The Corrections and essay collection How to Be Alone, self-validation requires the appreciation of the stories of others. In DeLillo's later works, particularly the plays The Day Room and Valparaiso, justice materializes in terms of isolation and the will to alter personal stories. For Smiley, as construed in her long novels The Greenlanders and Horse Heaven, dynamic responsive actions attend risky, unpredictable encounters in competitive milieus like the racetrack. These authors reveal that executions of justice and the perpetration of injustice involve varied consequences. The law is not only about punishment and recompense. Rather, legality directs the consequences of its applications toward the ideal of justice, which evolves alongside the subjects that it serves and the stories that they relate.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed April 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75).

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75).