This thesis examines Angus Wilson's novels with particular attention to No Laughing Matter, 1967. The introductory overview of Wilson's first five novels and the examination of No Laughing Matter show that all Wilson's novels are concerned with his protagonists' capacity for self-deception and the ways deception limits freedom of choice. In No Laughing Matter six protagonists try to balance self-deception and freedom both in their lives and in the art forms which interest them. The thesis traces the lives of these six as they fail both as artists and as people. Chapter III of the thesis studies the relationship of fantasy to character in the novel. In No Laughing Matter particularly, the characters reflect the loss of liberty when individuals do not exercise their freedom to choose.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Text in English and Korean. Includes bibliographical references.

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Rembrandt's use of light in his self-portraits has received an abundance of scholarly attention throughout the centuries--and for good reason. His light delights the eye and captivates the mind with its textural quality and dramatic presence. At a time of scientific inquiry and religious reformation that was reshaping the way individuals understood themselves and their relationship to God, Rembrandt's light may carry more intellectual significance than has previously been thought. Looking at Rembrandt's oeuvre of self-portraits chronologically, it is apparent that something happened in his life or in his understanding that caused him to change how he used light. A distinct and consistent shift can be observed in the location and intensity of light to the crown of the forehead. This change indicates that light held particular significance for Rembrandt and that its connection to the head was a signifier with intentional meaning. This meaning could have developed as a result of Rembrandt's exposure to and interest in the contemporary theological and philosophical debates of the seventeenth-century Netherlands, particularly those relating to the physical and eternal nature of the soul stemming from the writings of René Descartes. The relative religious and intellectual freedom of the Dutch Republic provided a safe place for Descartes to publish and defend his metaphysical ideas relating to the nature of the soul and know-ability of God through personal intellectual inquiry. The widespread disturbance to established thought caused by his ideas and methods sped their dissemination into the early seventeenth-century discourse. Rembrandt's associations with the educated elite, particularly Constantijn Huygens and Jan Six, increases the probability that he knew of this new philosophy and had the opportunity to consider its relevance to his own quest for self-knowledge. With his particular emphasis on self-exploration and expression, demonstrated through his prolific oeuvre of self-portraits, and his inclination toward emotive, complex, and interdenominational religious works, it follows that Rembrandt would be eager to embrace Descartes' metaphysics and demonstrate his awareness through his self-portraits. Light on the forehead becomes a metaphor for enlightenment and is the key to reading Rembrandt's late self-portraits through the lens of Cartesian influence.

This dissertation examines Samuel Beckett's powerful legacy and influence on contemporary theater (on plays written and produced since 1980), and it defines this influence in both text and performance as gestures of emptiness and impotence. The plays selected for analysis here have been categorized at times as belonging to a tradition and legacy of the so-called "Theater of the Absurd," but, finding this category to be at once too restrictive and too loose, their relationship to the absurd is defined by their explicit use of and inspiration taken from Beckett's theater. Beckett's intentional and innovative use of emptiness and impotence, both spatially and textually, is decisively paradoxical: while emphasizing blank spaces and powerlessness, his plays find meaning in emptiness and unexpected control in what he called the "exploitation of impotence." In each of the plays analyzed in this dissertation, (Dans la solitude des champs de coton, Koltès; La secreta obscenidad de cada día, de la Parra; Blasted, Kane; and Laughing Wild, Durang), the explicit use of both emptiness and powerlessness are examined, and at the same time, I define what it is about each of these gestures that renders them particularly Beckettian as they relate to these works. In all of the plays examined here, gestures of emptiness and impotence become their opposites: significance and power. Four of Samuel Beckett's plays (Fragment de théâtre I, En attendant Godot, Fin de partie, and Happy Days) are compared and contrasted with the work of Koltès, de la Parra, Kane and Durang respectively. The parallels revealed, made both intentionally and unintentionally by their playwrights, demonstrate not only the certainty of Beckett's continued influence, but also reflect his persistent, widespread impact. What is shown, with broader implications for future study, is that Beckett's use of emptiness and impotence as theatrical, literary and artistic gestures have led to a new kind of hopefulness, and a new kind of artistic inspiration that is unique to our time. / text

Conducting musical analyses over three case studies, Electric, Eclectic, Canadian: Issues of Genre and Identity in the Music of the Guess Who considers issues of genre, culture, and identity in the music of Canadian rock band the Guess Who. The first case study discusses soft rock transformations in the songs “These Eyes” (1968), “Laughing” (1969), and “Undun” (1969). The second case study examines changes in audience identification with the song “American Woman” (1970), performing comparative analyses of the Guess Who original release to Lenny Kravitz’s version (1999). The final case study discusses ideas of authenticity in the folk rock-inspired protest songs “Hand Me Down World” (1970), “Share the Land” (1970), and “Guns, Guns, Guns” (1972), comparing them to the iconic songs “For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield, 1967), “Big Yellow Taxi” (1970), “Ohio” (Neil Young, 1970 and “Southern Man” (Young, 1970). The conclusions summarise various musical and socio-political aspects of the Guess Who’s output and places it in relation to questions of national identity.

Text in German / Die gesellschaftliche Situation ändert sich stetig. Während früher alte Menschen zu Hause von ihren Familien gepflegt wurden, übernehmen heutzutage oft Altenpfleger diese schwere Aufgabe. Betrachtet man die Altenpflege, so lässt sich erkennen, dass die Pflege alter, kranker oder im Sterben liegender Menschen für die Mitarbeiter physisch und psychisch sehr belastend ist. Angesichts dieser Tatsache, besteht die Notwendigkeit ein differenziertes Personalentwicklungskonzept, das biblisch diakonische Grundprinzipien widerspiegelt, zu formulieren. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt deren Möglichkeiten und Potentiale auf. Sie untersucht und beschreibt entsprechende Prinzipien, unter anderem anhand des Ansatzes H.U.M.O.R. und des Modells „Pflege den Pflegenden". Diese Konzepte wurden im „Luise-Schleppe-Haus und Schloss", einer der traditionsreichsten Altenhilfeeinrichtungen Baden-Württembergs entwickelt. Die Darstellung und Untersuchung dieser Konzepte, sowie die Sichtung weiterführender Literatur eröffnet neue Perspektiven für die Personalentwicklung in der Altenhilfe. Der christlich ethische Aspekt von Führung wird berücksichtigt. Auf der Basis der erarbeiteten Prinzipien der Mitarbeiterentwicklung gibt die Masterarbeit Anregungen für die Praxis. Formerly elderly people were taken care of at home by their families. Nowadays this difficult task is often assigned to professional nurses. In closer analysis of their task it becomes evident that helping the very old, ill and dying people constitutes a physical and mental strain. This necessitates the development a differentiated concept of human resource development that reflects the fundamental Biblical diaconal principles. This dissertation analyses the opportunities and potentials of such a concept. It researches and describes appropriate principles, amongst others the approach of H.U.M.O.R. and the model of Care for Caregivers (Pflege den Pflegenden). These concepts were developed in the "Luise-Schleppe-Haus und Schloss", a geriatric facilities in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, of long standing. The analysis combined with further literature opens up new perspectives for the human resource development in the care for the elderly and the ethical aspects of leaderhship in this context. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M. Th. (Christian Leadership in Context)

Text in German / Die gesellschaftliche Situation ändert sich stetig. Während früher alte Menschen zu Hause von ihren Familien gepflegt wurden, übernehmen heutzutage oft Altenpfleger diese schwere Aufgabe. Betrachtet man die Altenpflege, so lässt sich erkennen, dass die Pflege alter, kranker oder im Sterben liegender Menschen für die Mitarbeiter physisch und psychisch sehr belastend ist. Angesichts dieser Tatsache, besteht die Notwendigkeit ein differenziertes Personalentwicklungskonzept, das biblisch diakonische Grundprinzipien widerspiegelt, zu formulieren. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt deren Möglichkeiten und Potentiale auf. Sie untersucht und beschreibt entsprechende Prinzipien, unter anderem anhand des Ansatzes H.U.M.O.R. und des Modells „Pflege den Pflegenden". Diese Konzepte wurden im „Luise-Schleppe-Haus und Schloss", einer der traditionsreichsten Altenhilfeeinrichtungen Baden-Württembergs entwickelt. Die Darstellung und Untersuchung dieser Konzepte, sowie die Sichtung weiterführender Literatur eröffnet neue Perspektiven für die Personalentwicklung in der Altenhilfe. Der christlich ethische Aspekt von Führung wird berücksichtigt. Auf der Basis der erarbeiteten Prinzipien der Mitarbeiterentwicklung gibt die Masterarbeit Anregungen für die Praxis. Formerly elderly people were taken care of at home by their families. Nowadays this difficult task is often assigned to professional nurses. In closer analysis of their task it becomes evident that helping the very old, ill and dying people constitutes a physical and mental strain. This necessitates the development a differentiated concept of human resource development that reflects the fundamental Biblical diaconal principles. This dissertation analyses the opportunities and potentials of such a concept. It researches and describes appropriate principles, amongst others the approach of H.U.M.O.R. and the model of Care for Caregivers (Pflege den Pflegenden). These concepts were developed in the "Luise-Schleppe-Haus und Schloss", a geriatric facilities in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, of long standing. The analysis combined with further literature opens up new perspectives for the human resource development in the care for the elderly and the ethical aspects of leaderhship in this context. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M. Th. (Christian Leadership in Context)