Rollspel är en form av sällskapsspel som går ut på att deltagarna tillsammans berättar en historia, som ofta utspelar sig i fiktiva världar och utgår från perspektivet av den enskilda spelarens skapade rollperson. En av deltagarna är spelledare och är den som skildrar spelets miljöer och karaktärer. I studien diskuteras rollspelens identitetsskapande och sociala funktion samt rollspel som kunskaps- och färdighetsfrämjande, med utgångspunkt i tanken att rollspel kan skapa ett intresse för och främja bearbetandet av existentiella frågor. En enkät utdelad till trettio rollspelare samt fem mer djupgående intervjuer av erfarna spelare visar att rollspelsdeltagare genom spelet utforskar och behandlar existentiella frågor, samt att spelare själva rapporterar om rollspelandets positiva inflytande på det individuella och sociala livet samt spelandets kunskaps-, färdighets- och intressefrämjande förmåga.

This thesis identifies a trend in recent postmodern dystopian fiction for writers to metafictionally dwell on the place of literature in a future context. This trend springs from similar concerns present in the two most influential dystopian novels of the 20th century, Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Yet, unlike Huxley and Orwell, for whom the marginalization of literature is merely one symptom of the hegemonic control oppressing these future societies, the postmodern writers I identify situate the book’s future disappearance at the epicenter of culture’s demise. In Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story (2010), electronic technologies have virtually eradicated print literature and the novel’s protagonist, Lenny, mourns the changes in social interactions he sees this shift in technology bringing about. In Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007), marginalized book-lovers see the devastation humanity continuously wreaks on the environment as a product of culture’s disdain for literature.

Le rêve américain est une source d'espoir pour les personnages garyens qui, en localisant leurs rêves et en leur offrant des modèles idéaux, leur insuffle une force nouvelle. Cette Amérique, faite de clichés que Gary détourne ou s'approprie, peut prendre appui dans la réalité mais il en amplifie les traits, jusqu'à réinventer un pays plus grand que nature, mythique et miraculeux. Le Nouveau Monde, libérateur de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, a gardé, pour les personnages européens, une image plus intacte que l'Europe meurtrie. Vu comme neuf et différent, il est la destination rêvée, mais difficile d'accès, pour ceux qui veulent changer de vie et " devenir quelqu'un ". Il pourrait peut-être même laisser apparaître cet homme nouveau qu'espère Gary. Mais les États-Unis sont loin d'être parfaits et Gary nuance avec lucidité ces images, évoquant un pays affecté par des problèmes et remises en questions qui sont souvent l'écho de ses propres interrogations et déceptions. La terre promise imaginée par les personnages n'est qu'un pays, presque comme les autres, de même que les Noirs américains, que certains auraient voulu croire différents et supérieurs aux autres hommes, ne sont qu'humains : tous sont capables du pire comme du meilleur. Les textes garyens sont ancrés dans la culture américaine, nourris par l'histoire contemporaine, parfois l'actualité brûlante, et par des citations, références ou parodies puisées dans un vaste fonds littéraire et populaire américain. Gary connaît l'Amérique et refuse d'en donner une image trop simple ; il utilise son omniprésente ironie pour s'en distancier, mais il conserve toujours son intérêt pour ce pays qui trace un chemin vers le futur.

Thesis (M. Mus.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 425-426). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Zugl.: Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2007

Currently the most influential accounts of personal autonomy, at least in the Englishspeaking world, focus on providing conditions under which agents can be said to exercise self-control. Two distinct accounts of personal autonomy have emerged in this tradition: firstly, hierarchical models grounded in the work of Harry Frankfurt; and secondly, systems division models most famously articulated by Gary Watson. In this thesis I show the inadequacies of both of these models by exploring the problematic views of the self and self-control underlying each model. I will suggest that the problems faced by these models stem from the fact that they endorse a problematic fragmentation of the self. I suggest that a Nietzschean account of personal autonomy is able to avoid these problems. The Nietzschean account can largely, I show, be drawn from Nietzsche’s understanding of both the ‘man of ressentiment’ and his opposite, the sovereign individual. On this picture wholeness of self – rather than fragmentation of the self – is required in order for us to be most fully autonomous. Furthermore, this wholeness of self requires the kind of integrity which is opposed to the problematic fragmentation endorsed by Frankfurt and Watson.

In this project I identify the pedagogical techniques, philosophy and legacy of Raymond Crisara. I examine how his pedagogical philosophy led to Crisara's personal success as a teacher and to his students' success in their performing and teaching careers. In much the same way that Ernest Williams's legacy has been passed on to his students, Crisara's legacy is now being handed down. I have examined Crisara's pedagogical concepts and philosophy through the eyes of four former students: Dr. Todd Hastings (Professor, Pittsburg State University), Billy Hunter (Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Dr. Gary Mortenson (Dean of the School of Music, Baylor University) and Keith Winking (Professor, Texas State University) as well as from transcripts of interviews Crisara gave. Crisara extended and modified William's pedagogy through the use of a multitude of étude methods. This modification and Crisara's experience as a leading New York freelance musician greatly influenced the teaching and success of the four subjects I interviewed. While these teachers have adopted Crisara's pedagogy and philosophy largely unchanged, I found that they modified his pedagogy slightly through the use of added teaching materials never used in Crisara's career or teaching studio.

"Comment, dans son essai Pour Sganarelle, Romain Gary parvient-il à élaborer son concept de roman total et quelles sont les conditions de son existence? La déconstruction, telle qu'énoncée par le philosophe Jacques Derrida, permet de formuler l'hypothèse selon laquelle le romancier parvient à ce résultat à partir de certains a priori qui relèvent d'une métaphysique de la fiction ou d'une métaphysique de l'absence. En retrouvant les motifs et les stratégies argumentatives de l'auteur, il est possible d'interroger les aspects suivants : la métaphorisation qui sous-tend l'essai; la réaction violente contre l'annonce de la mort du personnage par Alain Robbe-Grillet; l'opposition entre le roman total, construit sur les bases du roman picaresque, et le roman totalitaire qu'est censé représenter le Nouveau Roman; le renversement du rapport logique entre la réalité et la fiction; enfin, l'annonce de la venue d'un nouvel homme émergeant d'un vaste "Océan" culturel."

"The problem investigated in this thesis is that of determining the impact of the disestablishment of Camp Edward Gary on the economy of the city of San Marcos, Texas...it is anticipated that this study may contribute two additional outcomes of value: the first is a test of certain ideas in economic theory pertaining to recessions; and the second is an evaluation of the data pertaining to the economy of small communities...the data presented in Chapter II and the summarization of that information in Chapter III lead to the inevitable conclusion that the deactivation of Camp Edward Gary caused a recession in the City of San Marcos, Texas, which was shared in varying degree by virtually every element of the economy...it is further concluded that the impact of the loss of the military community was modified to some degree by the beneficial effects of the growth in its educational institutions and the fact that the loss was shared, although in a lesser degree, by other communities in the general area." --leaves 4, 5, 79

The early-twentieth-century culture in western art music of idolizing the composer as the autonomous creative genius has been challenged by recent developments across musicology and creativity research literature. The composer’s music is now regarded as the product of a collaborative network, influenced by all who come into contact with it—first and foremost the performer. Yet, the nature of the performer’s creative impact on the compositional process remains under-explored. This thesis is centred on a qualitative artistic research project, designed to identify and critically evaluate the prospective extent and scope of creative performer agency; it aims to ascertain how a typical lack of familiarity with the instrument may affect the composer’s creative practice, and to reveal key factors that shape the nature and the consequences of composer-performer interaction and collaboration. It proceeds by commissioning new works for guitar from a range of composers for different performers, and by documenting and analysing the processes of collaboration that result. This research agenda challenges the perception of distinct creative roles that remains resilient in present-day cultural understandings and discourse. The findings are intended to broaden understanding of contemporary collaborative practices in the compositional process for the guitar and generalize to the guitar repertoire of the long twentieth century, during which the majority of substantial works were composed in collaboration. The thesis also contributes to a developing and generalizable framework of practice-led research literature that analyses music-making by recognizing the multiple loci and their interactions that underpin all aspects of the creative processes. Chapter 1 discusses the establishment of the creative hegemony of the composer and its opposing currents across disciplines from the late romantic period to the late twentieth century. Chapter 2 comprises an indicative chronology of select collaborations in the long twentieth-century guitar repertoire and an overview of relevant practice-led research projects in performance studies. Ethnographic methodologies are reviewed in Chapter 3 and the fieldwork commissions are analysed in Chapters 4 and 5. Finally, Chapter 6 comprises an evaluation of the performer’s creative agency and its significance when placed in broader frameworks of contemporary guitar practices, contemporary composition across instrumentations, generalizing to historical guitar collaboration and its implications for creativity research.