This thesis examines the use of form and spatial language in confessional fiction by men to elucidate how they conceptualise and negotiate material, corporeal, and psychological boundaries amidst the shifting social and political landscape of the United States since the Second World War. In light of increasingly urgent calls to address gender and racial discrimination in the United States, this study offers timely insight into an identity that, while culturally dominant, often escapes examination: white, heterosexual masculinity. Focusing on the representation of forms and spatial imagery, the chapters explore how five formally experimental novelists-Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph McElroy, Harry Mathews, William H. Gass, and Peter Dimock- employ the confessional genre to illustrate the way men perceive themselves as spatially and temporally circumscribed, and to look at the way they reinforce or transgress the boundaries of masculine identity. The post-war period in the United States witnessed a proliferation of confessional writing that coincided with the popularisation of Freudian psychoanalysis, the cold war rhetoric of suspicion, and the rise of second-wave feminism. As a result, the concept of the self increasingly becomes a repository for fantasies of potential discovery and hidden danger that rely, significantly, on metaphors of surface and depth. It is within, and often against, this cultural preoccupation with the self that these writers address, both directly and indirectly, the status of white masculinity. Drawing on innovative theories of forms and spatiality, this study examines the diverse language and imagery men use to describe their sense of selfhood as well as the bonds they form with others. The works considered in this study demonstrate a common preoccupation with the boundaries that separate interior from exterior and private from public. In response to pressures both intimate and impersonal, the narrators of the texts discussed in this thesis turn to confessional practices of written self-examination to locate themselves within networks of fluctuating relations and obligations. The question that this thesis seeks to resolve is whether the forms and spatial language the narrators employ enable or obstruct their efforts to negotiate the competing demands of ethical responsibilities to others and the desire to preserve a stable sense of self.

The genre of biography is, by nature, imprecise and limited. Real lives are lived synchronously and diversely; they do not divide spontaneously into chapters, subjects or themes. All biographers construct stories, in the process forcing the disordered complexity of an actual life into a neat literary form. This doctoral submission comprises a book length creative work, Poisoned: The Trials of Mary Dean, and a reflective written component on that creative work, Writing Fictionalised Biography. Poisoned is a biography of Mary Dean, who, although repeatedly poisoned by her husband at the end of the nineteenth century, did not die. This biography, presented in the form of a first-person memoir, is based closely on historical evidence and is supported with discursive notes and a select bibliography. The reflective written component, Writing Fictionalised Biography, outlines the process and challenges of writing a biography when the source material available is inadequate and unreliable. In writing Poisoned my genre solution has been fictionalised biography - biography which is historically diligent while utilising fictional writing strategies and incorporating fictional passages. This written component reflectively discusses how I arrived at that solution. It includes discussion of the sources I utilised in writing Poisoned, including the limitations of trial transcripts and other court records as biographical evidence; useful precursors to the form; the process wherein I located both a form for my fictionalised biography and a voice for my biographical subject; possible models I considered; how I distinguished established fact from speculative supposition in the text; as well as some of the ambivalences and ethical concerns such a narrative process implies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2001. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-199).

Zugl.: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2006.

[pt] Esta dissertação propõe algumas leituras transversais sobre as obras Cicatriz de Rosângela Rennó, Diários Públicos, de Leila Danziger e Memórias inventadas em costuras simples de Caroline Valansi. Nessas obras, podemos observar a contundente forma como as artistas se apropriam de fotografias, relatos, fragmentos devida, objetos e memórias de anônimos, construindo narrativas imaginárias que problematizam a separação entre realidade e ficção nas obras de arte. A idéia aqui é analisar a forma como á vida doméstica, os discursos afetivos, as narrativas individuais passam a ser objeto, foco narrativo da arte contemporânea. Pensar em como se dá esse processo de apropriação das histórias dos esquecidos, dos rostos sem nome, dos amores mal amados de amantes desimportantes,da história dos invisíveis e renegados da grande História. Entender de que maneira essas vozes – dos sem voz – são assimiladas, interpretadas, transformadas em registros, documentos, e ocupam na contemporaneidade o lugar da fala e do visível através do fazer artístico. Os trabalhos das artistas aqui tratadas fazem vir à tona (aparecer) imagens apagadas,esquecidas,condenadas à amnésia social,nos espaços artísticos institucionalizados e, por isso, forçam os limites entre arte, vida,política e estética, na medida em que transfiguram, dotando de visibilidade espaços e imagens antes desimportantes e condenados ao apagamento. / [es] Esta tesis propone lecturas tranversales acerca delas obras Cicatriz, de Rosângela Rennó,Diários Públicos,de Leila Danziger, y Memórias inventadas em costuras simples de Caroline Valansi. En dichas obras se puede observar la forma contundente con la quelas artistas apropíanse de fotografías, relatos, fragmentos de vida, objetos y memoria de personas anónimas, construyendo narrativas imaginárias que problematizan la separación entre realidad y ficción en las obras de arte. La ideia es analizar la forma como la vida doméstica, los discursos afectivos, las narrativas individual pasan a ser objeto, foco narrativo del arte contemporáneo. Pensaren cómo se da el proceso de apropiación de las historias de los olvidados, de los rostros sin nombre, de los amores mal amados de amantes no importantes, de la historia de los invisibles y renegados dela grande Historia. Entender de qué manera esas vozes – de los sin voz – son asimiladas, interpretadas, transformadas en registros, documentos, y ocupan en la contemporaneidade el lugar del habla y del visible através de lhacer artístico. Los trabajos de las artistas aquí tratadas sacan a la superficie (hacen aparecer) imágenes apagadas, olvidadas, condenadas a una amnesia social, en los espacios artísticos institucionalizados y, por consiguiente, fuerzan los límites entre arte, vida, política y estética, en la medida en que transfiguran, proveyendo de visibilidade espacios e imágenes antes no importantes e condenados al apagamiento.

This thesis interrogates the ways in which the body-centred practices of women film artists embrace the materiality of direct animation in order to foreground gendered, subjective positions. Through the researcher's own creative practice, it investigates how this mode of film-making, in which the artist works through physical engagement with the film materials and the material processes of film-making, might be understood as feminine and/or feminist. Direct animation foregrounds touch as the primary sense. Its practices are process-based and highly experimental, because images are made through the agency of the body operating within restrictive parameters, making results difficult to predict or control with precision. For these reasons, direct animation has not been embraced by mainstream, narrative-focused, studio-based models of production, unlike other forms of two and three dimensional animation. It has remained a specialist area for the individual artist and auteur, and, to date, there is a paucity of commentary about direct animation practices, and what exists has been dominated by male voices. In order to develop ideas about the ways in which women represent themselves in an expanded film-making praxis that is focused on the body and materiality of process, this PhD inquiry, encompassing a body of films with written contextualisation, is situated in the context of the direct animation practices of three artists (Caroline Leaf, Annabel Nicolson, and Margaret Tait); and informed by conceptual frameworks provided by Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva and Hélène Cixous. This thesis proposes, via interaction between these three axes of research, that women film artists, operating independently, are able to create a female imaginary that represents women and is recognised by them, by constructing positions of practice outside the dominant symbolic modes of patriarchy, which evolve through the maternal body and the materialities of the feminine.

30% of children and youths in Sweden have some form of allergy disease and for many people medicines are not sufficient. If so, there is a possibility of an allergy vaccination, a three to five-year process where the patients receive 50-80 injections. So what is the main problem? In fact, it is important to understand that the vaccination is something that affects the child in greater extent than just the moment when the syringe is provided. At present, the patient must stay to ensure that he/she does not get an allergic reaction and is feeling well enough to go home. They are constantly questioned about how they feel. But how does a child determine this? How good is good enough? Topi is a system that increases the involvement and transfer responsibilities from the child by keeping track of their well-being and surroundings - while making treatments more fun and safe. The project is funded by Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association´s Research Foundation

The novel Agnes von Lilien by Caroline von Wolzogen, although celebrated during the period of Weimar Classicism, was not generally well known to English-speaking readers and researchers until recently. This project aims to address this situation by creating an easily accessible English translation of the novel complete with critical annotations for the benefit of researchers and lay readers alike. The annotated translation presented in this work is an excerpt of the full translation of the work drawn in particular from the first third of the novel. This novel, first published in 1798, reflects many ideals of the Enlightenment, as well as opinions on women's roles and women's education. In the introduction, I trace the way that the novel seeks to gently persuade the nobility and educated middle class to change the world around them. This is done through the ever-present contrasts filling its pages alongside the novel's emphasis on ideal possibilities. Rather than serving as a revolutionary critique, I assert that the story conveys a quiet call for a level of social reform that still assures the nobility their power while nevertheless challenging them to use that power for the betterment of society. Women are urged to extend their reach to the outer boundaries of womanhood rather than being content with the confinement imposed by traditional society. I conclude that the strength of Wolzogen's text and the trait that draws readers back even centuries later is the fact that, under the cloak of intrigue, adventure, and romance expected from the novel form, the ideals of the Enlightenment shine clearly. In spite of social and political changes over the past two centuries, the call to virtue, industry, reason, and self-improvement, regardless of gender or social class, still maintains its relevance and power for readers in the modern era.

No description available.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise interroge la coexistence de l'image et de l'objet dans l'installation et l'émergence d'espaces psychologiques dans un lieu semi-clos. Ce projet consiste à créer un environnement qui évoque les blessures psychologiques qui affectent l'individu. De ce sujet intemporel, je propose un bouleversement, une réflexion transposée par l'intermédiaire de fragments narratifs picturaux qui prennent place au sein d'une installation où surgit un univers trouble. Dans ce contexte, la notion d'expérience est une dimension essentielle qui nous met en relation avec le monde extérieur, mais elle nous place aussi en dialogue avec notre univers propre, c'est-à-dire avec notre univers intérieur. Il sera question de tragédies-fantômes, habitées d'un délire surréaliste, c'est-à-dire de ces forces de l'inconscient provenant du souvenir, du mythe ou de la prophétie. Dans ce travail, je désire susciter la rencontre entre mon espace psychologique et celui du spectateur. Il s'agit d'une sorte de mémoire virtuelle qui provoque un retour à l'intimité propre du spectateur. Je m'intéresse donc aux défaillances de l'homme et à sa vulnérabilité. Ces questions alimentent mes réflexions et ma production artistique sur la fatalité qui nous accompagne et sur le processus de la pensée qui se met en branle pour nous permettre de continuer à avancer dans un monde où tout est précaire. Enfin, je tente de créer une oeuvre qui oscille entre réalité et imaginaire dans laquelle se dégage un sentiment d'inquiétante étrangeté, tout en exploitant l'interaction entre l'intangibilité de la blessure que nous vivons et les images mentales qui sont susceptibles d'en découler.