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The Valuation of Literature: Triangulating the Rhetorical with the Economic MetaphorGustafson, Melissa Brown 16 July 2004 (has links) (PDF)
Several theorists, including the Marxist theorists Trevor Ross, Walter Benjamin, and M.H. Abrams, have proposed theories to explain the eighteenth-century shift from functional to aesthetic conceptions of literature. Their explanations attribute the change to an increasingly consumer-based society (and the resulting commoditization of books), the development of the press, the rise of the middle class, and increased access to books. When we apply the cause-effect relationships which these theorists propose to the contexts of nineteenth-century America, Communist East Germany, WWII America, and 9/11 America, however, the causes don't correlate with the effects they theoretically predict. This disjunction suggests a re-examination of these three theories and possibly the Marxist basis which they share. I suggest that by triangulating rhetorical theory with Marxist theory we will gain a more comprehensive understanding of society's valuation of literature.
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La main brûlée de Wilfrid Laurier (roman) suivi de La fabrication du doute : définition et fonctionnement de l'artefact fictionnelPlamondon, Maxime 28 May 2024 (has links)
Ce mémoire de recherche-création se divise en deux parties. La première, *La main brûlée de Wilfrid Laurier*, consiste en un roman par fragments retraçant la colonisation de l'île d'Anticosti, à la fin du XIXᵉ siècle, par le magnat français Henri Menier. La trame historique est toutefois rapidement altérée par des événements surnaturels et insolites qui menacent la pérennité de son projet. Ce roman, attribué à l'auteur (fictif) Égide Ravage a été présumément publié en 1970 par Richtère Saint-Octobre (éditeur tout aussi fictif). La relation complexe entre ces deux hommes, marquée par la jalousie et de paranoïa, se dévoile en marge du roman, autant par les commentaires de Saint-Octobre que par les notes manuscrites de la fille adoptive de ce dernier. La seconde partie, *La fabrication du doute : définition et fonctionnement de l'artefact fictionnel*, s'applique à définir les mécaniques permettant l'artefact fictionnel. S'ensuit une analyse formelle et thématique de deux artefacts contemporains : *Les Jardins statuaires*, de Jacques Abeille, et *S.*, de Doug Dorst et J.J. Abrams. Le tout met en lumière le fait que les artefacts fictionnels sont des constructions textuelles ludiques dans lesquelles le lecteur est invité à s'impliquer à différents niveaux. / This master thesis in creative writing is divided into two parts. The first one, *La main brûlée de Wilfrid Laurier*, is a fragmentary novel recounting the colonization of Anticosti Island, at the end of the 19th century, by the French magnate Henri Menier. The historical storyline, however, quickly becomes tinged with supernatural and unusual events that threaten the sustainability of his project. This novel, attributed to the (fictional) author Égide Ravage, was supposedly published in 1970 by Richtère Saint-Octobre (also a fictional publisher). The complex relationship between these two men, soiled by jealousy and paranoia, reveals itself in the margins of the novel, through Saint-Octobre's comments and through handwritten notes left by his adopted daughter. The second part, *La fabrication du doute : définition et fonctionnement de l'artefact fictionnel*, seeks to define the mechanisms enabling the fictional artifact. It is followed by a formal and thematic analysis of two contemporary artifacts: *Les Jardins statuaires*, by Jacques Abeille, and *S.*, by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams. All of this leads us to highlight the fact that fictional artifacts are ludic textual constructions in which the reader is invited to get involved at different levels.
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The Limits of Fire Support: American Finances and Firepower Restraint during the Vietnam WarHawkins, John Michael 16 December 2013 (has links)
Excessive unobserved firepower expenditures by Allied forces during the Vietnam War defied the traditional counterinsurgency principle that population protection should be valued more than destruction of the enemy. Many historians have pointed to this discontinuity in their arguments, but none have examined the available firepower records in detail. This study compiles and analyzes available, artillery-related U.S. and Allied archival records to test historical assertions about the balance between conventional and counterinsurgent military strategy as it changed over time.
It finds that, between 1965 and 1970, the commanders of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), Generals William Westmoreland and Creighton Abrams, shared significant continuity of strategic and tactical thought. Both commanders tolerated U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Allied unobserved firepower at levels inappropriate for counterinsurgency and both reduced Army harassment and interdiction fire (H&I) as a response to increasing budgetary pressure. Before 1968, the Army expended nearly 40 percent of artillery ammunition as H&I – a form of unobserved fire that sought merely to hinder enemy movement and to lower enemy morale, rather than to inflict any appreciable enemy casualties. To save money, Westmoreland reduced H&I, or “interdiction” after a semantic name change in February 1968, to just over 29 percent of ammunition expended in July 1968, the first full month of Abrams’ command. Abrams likewise pursued dollar savings with his “Five-by-Five Plan” of August 1968 that reduced Army artillery interdiction expenditures to nearly ten percent of ammunition by January 1969. Yet Abrams allowed Army interdiction to stabilize near this level until early 1970, when recurring financial pressure prompted him to virtually eliminate the practice. Meanwhile, Marines fired H&I at historically high rates into the final months of 1970 and Australian “Harassing Fire” surpassed Army and Marine Corps totals during the same period. South Vietnamese artillery also fired high rates of H&I, but Filipino and Thai artillery eschewed H&I in quiet areas of operation and Republic of Korea [ROK] forces abandoned H&I in late 1968 as a direct response to MACV’s budgetary pressure. Financial pressure, rather than strategic change, drove MACV’s unobserved firepower reductions during the Vietnam War.
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