San Francisco 1987. Kerry O’Brien, a brilliant high school senior and social deviant, believes the Zodiac serial killer, long quiet after years of terrorizing the Bay Area, is trying to communicate with him. When the Zodiac appears to Kerry one evening, and conscripts Kerry to kill for him in exchange for Kerry’s beloved ex-nanny’s life, Kerry must decide whether to embrace his deviant nature or suffer the consequences. The lives of six other Bay Area dwellers intersect with Kerry’s: Sal Palmieri, a Catholic priest disillusioned by the origins of his faith; Joan Evenhouse, a Sister who longs for a human touch; Ellen Fischer, a jilted wife and painter determined to reclaim her art; Harry Fischer, a public finance attorney caught between Ellen and a beguiling young associate; Gabriel Fischer, a teenage obsessive-compulsive who has lost the will to live in the wake of a homosexual romance gone wrong; and Janet Fischer, a professional photographer on the brink of a career breakthrough whose life becomes complicated when an eccentric treasure seeker unexpectedly intrudes. THE BEAUTIFUL ONES GO FIRST explores the question of who watches over us, and if we are ever truly safe, even in our own skin.

<p>This dissertation argues that the boundaries between capitalism and criminality have become increasingly blurred over the past two centuries, and it traces this development through the Victorian era into American modernity. Operating on the premise that popular literature reflects wide-spread concerns and anxieties of a common audience, each chapter focuses on one primary text as a cite for analysis through which we gain a window of insight into the popular perception of criminals and the role of criminality in developing capitalism. In an attempt to provide relevant context and establish a solid foundation on which to work, the dissertation begins with an introduction that outlines major developments in the British literary field, with a particular eye toward bourgeoning popular mediums, beginning in the eighteenth century and leading into the Victorian era. This foundational work establishes urban compression and rapid industrial development as major concerns for a Victorian audience and figures them as the backdrop on which the discourse of criminality will play itself out.</p> <p>The first half of the dissertation focuses on the Victorian era, whereas the latter half analyzes works of American literature in the early-twentieth century. Chapter one looks to <i>Oliver Twist</i> as the preeminent example of Victorian criminality, with particular emphasis on middle-class complicity in reinforcing the social structures and environmental determinism that Dickens identified as major causes of Victorian crime. Chapter two progresses to the late-Victorian era and discusses Anthony Trollope’s <i>The Way We Live Now</i>. Doing so allows approaching Victorian criminality from the opposite vantage point, seeing the advent of white-collar crime and fraud as now more significant than the formerly dominant concern of petty crimes as seen in <i>Oliver Twist</i>. These early chapters mark a progression of criminality that gradually enmeshes itself in the habits of ambitious capitalists, which I argue is paramount to the construction of the discourse of criminality and capitalism. Rather than isolated incidents, I forward these texts as representative of thematic shifts in the literary field and public consciousness.</p> <p>Such a progression is carried over into American modernism, which constitutes the focus of chapters three and four. In chapter three, systemic violence inherent in laissez-faire capitalism and cronyism become the focus of the discussion, as presented in Upton Sinclair’s <i>The Jungle</i>. This chapter presents Sinclair’s didacticism as a necessary and significant progression in popular social-critique literature, and it contends that the gradual shift away from the personalized narrative of Jurgis to the heightened awareness of his political awakening marks an important development that figures criminality as not only part of, but indeed integral to, capitalism and its smooth functioning. This is contrasted with chapter four which presents <i>The Great Gatsby</i> as a misinterpretation of the lessons presented in <i>The Jungle</i> and reverts back to individualism as a flawed solution to capitalism’s ills. Whereas <i>The Jungle</i> was critiqued based on socialist didacticism and so-called lack of artistry, <i>The Great Gatsby </i>experienced immense success for its artistry, despite the fact that it falls back into the trap of individualism, romanticizing the criminal and capitalistic success of its protagonist while ultimately slating him for sacrifice to reinforce the status quo.</p> <p>These four chapters, I argue, constitute four major stages in progression of the discourse on criminality and capitalism, but leave many questions still unanswered, particularly as regards how society should appropriately and adequately engage the issues contained within these texts. An epilogue is included at the end of this project as an attempt to look forward to expansion of this research and continue to trace this progression up to present-day texts of popular culture. In doing so, my research will engage the development of the criminally-capitalist antihero in popular culture and argue that such figures are representative of the crisis of contemporary capitalism that sees no legitimate (nor illegitimate) ways of succeeding in capitalism.</p>

Storywall follows the journey of Shagun Mathur from his dysfunctional family to his life as an itinerant actor in a street theater troupe. Abused sexually in high school and playing the roles of both men and women, Shagun is ill-at-odds with his own body, a discomfort that comes strongly to the fore when he meets, and falls in love with Marc Wyndham, an Anglo-Indian musician.

Changing Lines is a collection of five short stories that focus on pairings of opposites. In the title story, a boy in split custody chooses whether to live with his fundamentalist Christian father or his occult mother. In "Diminishing Returns," a gifted girl is paired with an incompetent girl for a badminton tournament in her high school gym class. In "Invisible Orbits," a talented guitarist in poverty joins the band of a wealthy and well-connected singer. In "Unable to Die," an older therapist confronts her past as she consoles a grieving student facing his uncertain future. The collection closes on "The Color in Your Cheeks," the story of a successful game developer who finds out his younger brother has run away from home to make adult videos with their childhood next-door neighbor. The stories all center on the tension and change liable to occur when heavily contrasting individuals are forced to interact, portraying how these worldviews are formed with an aim at psychological and sociological nuance. While each story is told in a traditional linear narrative style, the collection is varied in its use of point of view and vantage point. Questioning truisms serves as the main driving force of the collection, while the themes of how neuroses are formed in childhood, spirituality, projection of one's own weakness onto others, coping mechanisms, the psychological effects of demographical status, and internalized contempt are all explored in varying degrees.

Inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s metafiction novel Pale Fire and with Joseph Campbell’s research in comparative mythology and religion in mind, I explore the act of mythmaking and the composition of metafictional text in this work of fiction. The myth aspect combines elements of Classical, biblical, medieval, Romantic, and original materials to form a product that should strike readers as both familiar and alien, demonstrating Campbell’s notion of the monomyth as well as the ongoing tradition of mythmaking that continues to captivate both readers and writers. The metafictional portion of the text emphasizes a reader’s relationship to a work of fiction, a scholar’s relationship to his or her scholarly work, and a subtext’s relationship to its primary text. Combining the texts encourages the reader to read critically and reevaluate his or her conceptions of genre in order to piece together the greater story of tyranny and rebellion.

Over the past 14 years, working independently and with other original thinkers, I have produced works that have on two fronts contributed to the evolving understanding of ethnic relations in contemporary Britain. The first is around social/community cohesion, media and representation as well as counter-terrorism policy as explored through the social sciences. The second domain covering the same themes is couched within the humanities, in particular, the production of literary fiction.

This text is an investigative study that, under the interpretative lens of psychoanalysis method, puts in question the concepts of psychoanalytic interpretation and psychic reality, which is made from an analogy established between the creation movements in Nelson Rodrigues Literature and those from the psychoanalytic productions. The reading of A vida como ela é..., series of tales written by Nelson Rodrigues to Última Hora newspaper, between 1951 and 1961, turned out to be a strong theoretical and affective experience. When he produces, Nelson creates realities and a particular form of man the Brazilian. He presents tragedies and dramas, to which, untangles the ululant obvious which sustain them. In this sense, I deducted that he would fulfill, with methodological rigour, the interpretative method demands by disrupting the course, as proposed by Fabio Herrman, which means the creation of a meaning that goes beyond the established routinely. Shocked by the possibility of a writer/artist fulfilling the demands of the psychoanalytic method, I presumed if Nelson Rodrigues was not an exemplary psychoanalyst. In the face of this agony and the position taken to see/read Nelson Rodrigues production as psychoanalytic, I needed dialogues with Science, Arts, in a deeper way with Literature, to illuminate the field and place of Psychoanalysis in my universe, and answer the nodal points which were imposed to the investigation: what Nelson Rodrigues produces of knowledge about the human condition can be equivalent to the knowledge coming from the psychoanalytic lens?; what is the difference between the analytical process and the creative writers process, considering the fictional character which unfold from them?; and Would Nelson Rodrigues be a psychoanalyst to be followed on the basis of his creation way and the disruption promoted by his action? More than an exercise of theoretical construction, this investigation, organized in narratives which store the seal of processed search way, which is, questioner and interpretative or as I call investicrativa, brings the movement of particular reinvention to Psychoanalysis. Looking to the keyhole, I encountered the character of mistake and uncertainness which constitutes life and also the psychoanalytic art. Facing the uncertain, it was necessary to be tragic and artist to dare a draft of my invention as a psychoanalyst and, from this place, produce a man and reality, in the transferencial dialogue with Nelson Rodrigues in A Carta, in the theories articulated in O Texto, or yet, in the appropriation of a clinical case through the tale A Deprimida, path which made it possible for me the suspension and expression of desire. In this way, two points are apprehended in this investigation, which ratify the analogy between Psychoanalysis and Literature, as suggested in Theory of the analogous, once both create meanings, not real, but possibilities of meanings, and the place that writing assumes in both fields. / Trata-se de um estudo investigativo que, sob a lente interpretante do método psicanalítico, coloca em questão os conceitos de interpretação psicanalítica e realidade psíquica, a partir de uma analogia estabelecida entre os movimentos de criação na Literatura de Nelson Rodrigues e aqueles oriundos das produções psicanalíticas. A leitura de A vida como ela é..., série de contos escrita por Nelson Rodrigues, para o jornal Última Hora, entre os anos de 1951 e 1961, caracterizou-se como uma forte experiência teoricafetiva. Ao produzir, Nelson, cria realidades e uma forma particular de homem o brasileiro. Apresenta tragédias e dramas, para os quais, destrincha o óbvio ululante que as sustentam. Neste sentido deduzi que ele cumpriria, com rigor metodológico, as exigências do método interpretativo por ruptura de campo, tal como propõe Fabio Herrmann, a saber, a criação de um sentido, para além ou aquém, do já estabelecido rotineiramente. Estremecido pela possibilidade de um escritor/artista atender as exigências do método psicanalítico, hipotetizei se não seria Nelson Rodrigues um psicanalista exemplar. Diante desta agonia sentida e da postura assumida de ver/ler a produção rodrigueana como psicanalítica, necessitei de diálogos com a Ciência, Arte, de modo aprofundado com a Literatura, para iluminar o próprio campo e lugar da Psicanálise no meu universo, e, responder as questões nodais que à investigação se impunham: o que Nelson Rodrigues produz de saber sobre a condição humana pode ser equivalente ao saber advindo da chamada lente psicanalítica?; qual é a diferenciação entre o fazer analítico e o dos escritores criativos, tendo-se em vista o caráter ficcional que deles se desdobra?; e seria Nelson Rodrigues um psicanalista, a ser seguido, com base na sua forma de criar e pela ruptura que sua ação promove? Mais que o exercício de uma construção teórica, esta investigação, organizada em narrativas que guardam o selo da forma de busca processada, qual seja, interrogante-interpretante ou investicrativa, traz o movimento de reinvenção particular à Psicanálise. Ao olhar pelo buraco da fechadura deparei-me com o caráter do engano e da incerteza que constitui tanto a vida, como o próprio ofício psicanalítico. Diante do incerto foi preciso ser trágico e artista para ousar um esboço de minha invenção como psicanalista e, desse lugar, produzir homem e realidade, seja no diálogo transferencial com Nelson Rodrigues presente em A Carta, nas prototeorias articuladas em O Texto, ou ainda, na apropriação de um caso clínico por meio do conto A Deprimida, via que me possibilitou suspensão e expressão do desejo. Dessa forma, apreende-se nesta investigação dois pontos que ratificam a analogia entre Psicanálise e Literatura, como proposto pela Teoria do Análogo, quer seja por ambas criarem sentidos, não de verdade, mas de possibilidades de sentidos, ou pelo lugar que a escrita assume nesses dois campos. / Mestre em Psicologia Aplicada

Syftet med studien var att öka kunskapen om hur grundlärare i årskurs 4–6 resonerar om valet av skönlitteratur i sin undervisning och vad dessa val grundar sig på. Frågeställningarna i studien är följande:  ·       Hur beskriver lärarna skönlitteraturens betydelse och funktion i sin undervisning?  ·       Vilka faktorer tar lärarna hänsyn till i sina val av skönlitterära böcker?  Som metod för att besvara studiens syfte har kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer använts. Intervjuerna har genomförts med fyra grundlärare från tre olika län som har ett särskilt intresse för skönlitteraturen i sin undervisning.  I resultatet framgår att det som påverkar lärarnas litteraturval allra mest är deras elever. Dock upplever lärarna att det kan vara svårt att hitta skönlitteratur som passar alla elever och poängterar därför vikten av att ha tillgång till en variation av skönlitterära böcker. En annan aspekt som lärarna uppmärksammade som betydelsefull var att själva vara pålästa om boken för att kunna diskutera innehållet och svara på elevernas frågor. För tankar skall aldrig lämnas åt sitt öde menade lärarna. / The aim of this study was to increase the understanding of the selection process used by elementary school teachers for literary fiction and their reasoning behind it. The following questions are included in this study: ·       How do teachers describe the meaning and function of literature in their teaching? ·       What factors do teachers consider in their choice of fiction?  Semi-structured interviews have been used as a research method. The interviews were conducted with four elementary school teachers from three different schooling districts in Sweden. The teachers selected were responsible for choosing the literary fiction.   The results show that the teacher’s choices are made for the benefit of the students. However, teachers experienced difficulties finding literature that suits every student. It is important that the reading selection is varied. Another important aspect that was highlighted during this study was that teachers themselves are knowledgeable and well-read on the subject. This enhances their ability to answer student’s questions and to further academical discussions. Like the teachers said, thoughts should never be left to their fate.

Finding Sundays: A Collection of Stories is a collection that explores the lives of people in the fictional town of Hickory Springs, Virginia. The title story "Finding Sundays" follows the life of Deacon Taylor and connects him to the characters around him in the proceeding pieces. These stories explore the lives of Deacon, his family, and his childhood friend, Sandra. The focus of this collection is not meant to be about spirituality or religion in general, although these exist as themes in the background of the stories. Instead, it is meant to look at how the lives of people connected through a church and a small town setting can affect them and lead them on different paths through the choices they make. Their personal struggles and challenges help them to either discover who they are or lose a piece of themselves in the process, which is especially true for Deacon. He is the character who appears as a child, as an adolescent, and as an adult. Self-discovery is not always peaceful or satisfying for him or any of the characters around him, and their individual journeys show this process and the different events that come from the choices they make. This collection focuses on how religious roots, friendships, and familial connections, or the lack of such bonds, affect the characters' own personal views and decisions as well as how they relate to those around them

Over the past 14 years, working independently and with other original thinkers, I have produced works that have on two fronts contributed to the evolving understanding of ethnic relations in contemporary Britain. The first is around social/community cohesion, media and representation as well as counter-terrorism policy as explored through the social sciences. The second domain covering the same themes is couched within the humanities, in particular, the production of literary fiction.