Femme des lumières, Françoise de Graffigny (1695-1758) a une culture éclectique et occupe une place singulière dans la société de son temps. Autodidacte, lectrice infatigable, salonnière, auteure entre autres des "Lettres d'une Péruvienne", de "Cénie" et de plusieurs petites pièces, elle est admirée par ses contemporains. Membre de la République des Lettres, elle accueille dans son salon une élite culturelle.Dans une première partie, nous analysons et commentons ses références culturelles et ses lectures privilégiées qui ont pu lui servir de source de formation et/ou d'inspiration. Nous découvrons dans les milliers de pages de la correspondance un manuscrit clandestin, qui semble bien annoncer le "Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville" de Diderot. Dans une deuxième partie, nous déchiffrons et annotons les lettres manuscrites inédites de son correspondant François-Antoine Devaux, complétant ainsi l'analyse de la correspondance de Mme de Graffigny en saisissant sur le vif le débat des deux correspondants sur leurs lectures et sur la vie sociale de leur temps. Enfin, dans une troisième partie, nous étudions les idées maitresses de Françoise de Graffigny, féministe, éducatrice, faisant le procès de la jalousie intellectuelle par le biais du portrait sarcastique de Voltaire. Sa correspondance est néanmoins imprégnée par une part d'ombre, par une angoisse existentielle teintée d'ennui, qu'elle parvient à convertir en une affirmation ardente de la joie de vivre qui anticipe sur les idéaux de Rousseau, et cela par delà le désenchantement qui l'oppresse et les ridicules du monde qui l'entoure, c'est le dernier mot de la sagesse de Françoise de Graffigny. / A woman of the Enlightenments, Françoise de Graffigny (1695-1758) had an eclectic culture and occupied a singular situation in the society of her time. Self-taught, indefatigable reader, "salonnière", author among other works of the "Lettres d'une Péruvienne", "Cénie" and severa small plays. She was admirated by her contemporaries. Member of the Republic of Letters, she welcomed the cultural elite in her salon. In the first part, we analyse and comment upon her cultural references and her favourite authors which could serve as a source of education and/or inspiration. We discover in the thousands of pages of the correspondence a clandestine manuscript wich seems announce the Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville" of Diderot. In the second part, we deciphe the unpublished manuscript letters from her correspondent François-Antoine Devaux, thus completing the analysis of Mme de Graffigny's correspondence by commenting on the frame discussions between the two correspondents on their reading and on the social life of their time.Finally, in the third part, we study Françoise de Graffigny's main ideas, her feminist convictions and pedagogical methids, pleading against intellectual jealousy through the sarcastics portrait of Voltaire. Her correspondence ar nevertheless marked by a shadow, by an existential anxiety tinged with boredom that she succeeds in converting into a burning assertion of the joy of life which anticipates Rousseau's ideals and dominates the opressing disenchantment and ridiculousness of the world around her, this joy is the last word of the wisdom of Françoise de Graffigny.

A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375–1650 Lisa Kaborycha, A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375–1650, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2016; 320 pp.; 9780199342433, £19.99 (pbk)

Thesis (M.Th. (New Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Feature-based attention refers to the phenomenon that attending to a feature value (e.g., a specific shade of red) enhances the detection of similar feature values (e.g., the same shade of red or other shades of red similar to the attended shade) relative to different feature values (e.g., green) that belong to a different object, and that this facilitation effect can be found across the visual field. In previous studies, the participants’ task was primarily the detection or discrimination of simple features such as orientation, colour or motion. The experiments reported in this thesis investigated whether feature-based attention could also influence the speed and/or accuracy of discriminating alphanumeric stimuli such as letters and numbers. In three experiments, participants saw displays that consisted of a series of stimulus patterns at a central location followed by the appearance of an alphanumeric stimulus at one of two peripheral locations. Experiment 1 tested whether paying attention to a specific orientation in a central stimulus would affect the speed and/or accuracy of identifying a peripheral letter whose principal axis was either the same as or different from the attended orientation of the central stimulus. Experiment 2 changed the peripheral stimulus from a letter to a number. In Experiment 3, a peripheral stimulus occurred randomly on 50% of the trials instead of on 100% of the trials. The results showed that attending to a specific orientation of a central stimulus could affect the processing efficiency of both letters and numbers at a peripheral location when the alphanumeric stimulus occurred on every trial (Experiments 1 and 2), but not when it appeared on 50% of the trials. These results suggest that feature-based attention could influence the identification of alphanumeric stimuli. However, the effect may be quite short-lived.

The aim of this study is to determine how the metaphor 'being crucified with Christ influences the ethics in Paul's letters. The approach is exegetical. The first purpose was to construct the socio-historical context of the phrase 'being crucified with Christ'. The cross, the modes of crucifixion and the phrase "with" are studied from a socio-historical perspective. It became clear that the cross was reserved as punishment for the lowest classes and the worst criminals. The cross was one of the cruellest and inhuman ways to kill someone. The shame and pain that accompany it was too much to bear. Any person in those times who heard they must be crucified with Jesus, would have been shocked to the core. Detailed exegesis has been done of two Scripture passages. Romans 6:1-14 and Galatians 2: 15-21. The two portions contain the phrase “being crucified with Christ”. The grammatical-historical method of exegesis has been used in the research. The phrase "being crucified with Christ” has then been studied against the background of the whole New Testament, using Scripture to enlighten Scripture, so as to establish the revelation historical development in the Bible. The phrase “being crucified with Christ” has also been studied in the light of the reformed confessions. It has been established that the rest of the scriptural revelation of God and the reformed confessions support the results of the exegesis. The influence of the phrase “being crucified with Christ” on the ethics of Paul has then been established. Three analytical categories were used, namely identity, ethics and ethos. It became clear that the fact that the believer died with Christ should have a great effect on the lie of the believer. His lie can never be the same again. Because God has liberated the believer from the power of sin, the believer should transfer all his allegiance to the one who has set him free. The believer is dead to sin and alive to God. He is no longer a slave to sin. The last chapter explored how these ethical implications of the phrase “being crucified with Christ” should be actualized in the life of the believer. It became clear that by faith the believer lives the new lie, with Christ actually living in him. Through his union with Christ, the believer undergoes transformation that should cause him to walk in newness of life. The Holy Spirit is at work through faith and the fruit of the Spirit should be manifest in the lie of the believer. The fact that the believer has been “crucified with Christ” is a metaphor that Paul uses to shock the believer to the realization that the new life in Christ has a complete impact on every area of the his lie. / Thesis (M.Th. (New Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

My dissertation expands on recent work in literary studies that has emphasized the significance of autobiographical narratives of disability for both identity construction and the establishment of narrative authority. It adds to this recent scholarship with the critical understanding that letters are often a significant part of the stories that persons with disabilities tell about themselves. I concentrate on the letters of three Victorian writers—Harriet Martineau, John Kitto, and Helen Keller—whose deafness or hearing impairment have been subjects of much scholarship, but whose familiar letters have not been completely recognized as vital resources for insight into their disability narratives. I examine how each author uses the implied or imagined community inherent in the exchange of familiar letters in specific yet different ways to write their disability narrative and I explore the ways that conceptions of disabled embodiment are constructed, deconstructed, and re-written. I explore ways in which Harriet Martineau uses letters to blur the lines between the private and the public and to publish an illness/disability narrative that allowed her to maintain both personal and public authority over her illness and disability; I examine Helen Keller’s early letters and the ways in which writing about her body enabled her, through a significant epistolary community, to explore her own existence and to develop a concern with philanthropic work; and I consider John Kitto’s familiar letters in comparison with his work The Lost Senses and I explore his self-construction in that work as a solitary “overcomer” and the manner in which these letters contradict this construction to provide a fuller picture of his life leading up to the book’s publication. I also discuss several of Kitto’s poems as critical additions to his disability narrative. Building on the work of my previous chapters, I conclude this dissertation with an examination of the familiar letters and poetry of Amy Levy. My inclusion of Levy’s letters and poetry builds on and complicates my work in the preceding chapters and makes a case for the recognition that disability narratives are multifaceted and cannot always be restricted to a single concern.

No description available.

This thesis addresses the perceived problems in the utilisation of letters of credit. The jurisdictions treated are: U.K., U.S., the Sudan and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In carrying out this task, it reviews and analyses the arguments advanced to resolve these problems and attempts to furnish some solutions to them. It is divided into ten chapters. Chapter One explains the nature of the letter of credit transaction and its efficacy as a financial device, then proceeds to identify the problems which will be examined in the thesis. Chapter Two focuses on the development of letters of credit from ancient times and the factors that contributed to their emergence in their present form. Chapter Three deals with classification of letters of credit. It investigates problem areas surrounding some types of credits particularly the irrevocable credit. Chapter Four examines the documents required under the credit; highlights the legal and technical aspects of these documents; argues and offers suggestions as to disputed issues such as notation on a bill of lading, customary disclaimers and additional cost clauses etc. Chapter Five examines the problems relating to interpretation of the strict compliance rule. It examines the controversy the strict compliance rule has spawned among commentators and offers practical solutions which may minimize the practical difficulties involved. Chapter Six considers the problem of fraud in letters of credit transactions. It identifies the bounds of the fraud exceptions in documentary letters of credit and standby letters of credits, analyses the rationale behind the fraud exception and offers suggestions as to allocation of loss when innocent parties are evenly situated. Chapter Seven deals with problem areas in letter of credit transfer and assignment. It reviews modes of transfer, provides a discussion of the mechanism of transfer, offers an analysis as to the banker's obligation; investigates and challenges the current reservations against credit transferability; examines the fundamental issues involved in assignment of proceeds of the credit and offers an overview of al-hawala <i>i.e.</i> transfer of a debt under Islamic law. Chapter eight deals with the bankers' security over the goods. It illustrates forms of documents of title, the security devices utilised by bankers such as the pledge, the letter of hypothecation and the trust receipt, and examines the position of the banker <i>vis a vis</i> third parties. Complex priority problems are discussed and some solutions are offered to maintain the predominant security interest of the banker against other rival claimants in case of the debtor's insolvency. Chapter Nine focuses on Islamic Law concepts fundamental to understanding why Islamic banks' operations as to documentary credits differ from conventional banks. Islamic law theories of riba <i>i.e.</i> interest and gharar <i>i.e.</i> risk or uncertainty are briefly dealt with. Chapter Ten examines the al-murabaha device which is utilised by Islamic banks to finance documentary credits. The practical issues are reviewed and analysed, namely how Islamic banks deal in foreign exchange transactions, discounting of bills of exchange, confirmations of credits and service charges. It suggests particular areas where cooperation between the two types of banks may be developed.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, April 2007.