Cette thèse propose une lecture croisée des épopées traditionnelles et postcoloniales dans un cadre transculturel. Une analyse comparée de Moby Dick de Herman Melville, Omeros de Derek Walcott et la trilogie de l’Ibis d’Amitav Ghosh nous permet de cerner spécificités de l’épopée moderne postcoloniale. Celle-ci s’inscrit dans la lignée des épopées traditionnelles d’Homère, Virgile, Arioste, Camões et Milton, tout en rivalisant avec elles. Les épopées traditionnelles et modernes ont recours à des conventions qui esthétisent l’expérience collective comme les comparaisons épiques, la généalogie présentée sous forme de prophétie et la mise en abyme ekphrastique. L’épopée traditionnelle met en avant la vision d’une société unifiée grâce à des conjonctions harmonieuses entre le trope et la diégèse, des continuités généalogiques entre l’ancêtre et le descendant ainsi que des associations autoréflexives ekphrastiques entre l’histoire impériale et le texte qui la glorifie. Dans cette perspective, la spécificité de l’épopée postcoloniale semble résider dans l’articulation ambivalente de la condition postcoloniale. Ainsi, chez Melville, Walcott et Ghosh, le style héroï-comique contrebalance les comparaisons épiques opérant des transfigurations héroïques. De même, de nouvelles affiliations hybrides forgées par les personnages coexistent avec des généalogies discontinues, sans en combler toutes les lacunes créées par le déracinement et la violence coloniale. Cette vision équivoque trouve son expression la plus franche dans les séquences ekphrastiques où les textes sont confrontés au choix impossible entre commémoration de l’expérience et regard critique vis-à-vis d’elle. / This thesis offers collocational readings of traditional and postcolonial epics in transcultural frameworks. It investigates the specificities of modern postcolonial epic through a comparative analysis of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Derek Walcott’s Omeros, and Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy. It explores how these works emulate, but also rival, the traditional epics of Homer, Virgil, Ariosto, Camões, and Milton. Both traditional and postcolonial epic rely on generic conventions in order to aestheticize collective experience, setting it against the natural world (via epic similes), against history and imperial destiny (via genealogy and prophecy), and against the epic work itself (via ekphrasis). However, traditional epic emphasizes a unified worldview, characterized by harmonious conjunctions between trope and diegesis, genealogical continuities between ancestor and descendant, and self-reflexive ekphrastic associations between imperial history and the epic text commissioned to glorify it. From this perspective, the specificity of postcolonial epic can be formulated in terms of its ambivalent articulation of the postcolonial condition. In the works of Melville, Walcott, and Ghosh, tropes of heroic transfiguration are held in check by the mock-heroic, while empowering self-adopted hybrid affiliations co-exist, but cannot entirely compensate for, discontinuous genealogies marked by displacement, deracination, and colonial violence. This ambivalence finds its most powerful expression in the ekphrastic sequences where the postcolonial texts are most directly confronted with the impossible choice between commemorating experience and being critical of such commemoration.

This dissertation examines two daily newspapers’ representations of eugenics from the incipient racial biological investigation 1919 until 1958, and the State Institute for Racial Biology is reorganized. The dissertation also aims to examine whether there are any distinct turning points where the newspapers distance themselves from the ideas and the research of eugenics. The analysis material is based on newspaper articles from two national dailies, i.e., Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter. The theoretical framework and method are based on Fairclough’s discourse theory and analysis to observe and elucidate how eugenics is represented over a longer period of time. The conclusion of the dissertation is that the newspapers continuously designate racial biology as something unique and being the salvation from degeneration until Herman Lundborg resigns as head of the institute. After Gunnar Dahlberg took over the managerial position the activities at the Institute changed course and the research undertaken there became engaged in medical genetics and social medicine instead of racial biology. The main argument for the establishment of the institute was that it would provide protection for the Swedish race. The norms and attitudes were more about the science and somewhat about nationalism, while what we now call racism did not seem to be included at all. The discourses about racial biology that have arisen have been maintained in society through the newspapers, as the recipients have been continuously fed with praiseworthy and warning words. This fits with Foucault’s reasoning and theory which he clarifies the fact that discourses are conditioned by how society discusses about something that over time has been an influence on how people are classified or treated by the newspapers that maintains it.

[pt] Os expoentes de Lyapunov são uma ferramenta bastante utilizada quando busca-se entender o comportamento de sistemas dinâmicos, em particular de cociclos lineares. De fato, concentramo-nos no expoente maximal, pois este determina o comportamento geral do sistema, de modo que sua positividade pode ser um indicativo de que estamos lidando com um sistema caótico. Nesse sentido estudamos um teorema provado por Michael Herman, que fornece uma cota inferior para o expoente de Lyapunov maximal de uma classe de cociclos lineares definidos por rotações no círculo. A prova deste resultado utiliza um processo de complexificação do cociclo e um argumento de subharmonicidade. Surpreendentemente, essa cota inferior é na verdade uma identidade, o que foi provado posteriormente por Avila e Bochi. Como será mostrado nesta dissertação, o argumento para obter a identidade depende crucialmente da harmonicidade, e não da mera subharmonicidade de certas funções associadas às iterações do cociclo. / [en] Lyapunov exponents are a widely used tool when trying to understand the behavior of dynamical systems in general, and in particular that of linear cocycles. We focus on the maximal exponent, as it determines the general behavior of the system, in that its positivity can be an indication that we are dealing with a chaotic system. In this sense, we study a theorem obtained by Michael Herman, providing a lower bound on the maximal Lyapunov exponent of a class of linear cocycles defined by circle rotations. The proof of this result employs the complexification of the cocycle and an argument based on subharmonicity. Surprisingly, this lower bound is in fact an identity, which was proven later by Avila and Bochi. As it will be shown in this dissertation, the argument for obtaining this identity depends crucially on the harmonicity, as opposed to the mere subharmonicity of certain functions associated with the iterates of the cocycle.

Coincidence factors have been researched since the late 1800s, as they displays the ratio between the maximum coincidencental power usage of a system, and the sum of the maximum individual loads of the system. Accurate estimations of the highest coincidental power usage allow for minimal material usage when constructing substations, transformers, overhead lines, and cables for power transmission. Scania is large bus and truck production industry in Sweden, and has realised that it over-estimate the largest coincidental power usage of production facilities, which leads to unnecessary investment costs and power subscription with the power distribution utility. This study is special, as the area of coincidence factors for industrial purposes are rarely investigated. In combination with modelling of BESS for power supply, this study aims to investigate established methods of calculating coincidence factors for industrial purposes and their relevance, as the results will be compared to actual values from measurements. The results of the study showed that Velander ́s method, used by utilities in Sweden and a few other countries, is not very relevant for estimating highest coincidental power usage, as this requires accurate estimation of yearly energy usage, and two other parameters, k1 & k2 . The normal distribution is better for this purpose but also requires accurate data. This study proposed a method based on the normal distribution, that requires follow-up in order to guarantee that it is accurate in multiple cases. In addition, a BESS was modelled using Matlab, with the initial aim of peak-shaving. Since this did not prove profitable with Scania ́s standards, the modelling simply aimed at being profitable using Net Present Value as economical tool for evaluating profitability. The results displayed a lot of profitable sizes of the BESS where the battery became profitable after five years minimum. / Sammanlagringsfaktorer har studerats sedan slutet på 1800-talet. De visar kvoten mellan den högsta sammanfallande effekten och summan av de högsta individuella effekterna per last i ett system. En mer träffsäker uppskattning av sammanfallande effekt, reducerar materialanvändning vid byggande av ställverk, transformatorer och elkablar som ska användas vid strömöverföring. Scania är en stor produktionsindustri i Sverige som tillverkar bussar och lastbilar. De har insett att de överdimensionerar sina effektbehov hos olika produktionsfabriker, vilket leder till onödigt höga investeringskostnader och höga effektabonnemang gentemot eldistributören. Studien är ovanlig, då sammanlagringsfaktorer inom industrin är väldigt lite forskat kring. Studien undersöker redan etablerade metoder för att beräkna sammanlagringsfaktorer och hur relevanta de är för området. Dessutom studeras batterier för energilagring. Detta görs genom jämförelse av mätningar av strömmar i en av Scanias lokaler. Resultaten av studien visar att Velanders metod är olämplig för användning då den kräver kunskap om årlig energiförbrukning, samt korrekta konstanter k1 & k2. Normaldistribution som är ett statistikt verktyg, gav mer liknande värden av de uppmätta strömmarna i B178, men hade sin svaghet i att metoden också krävde kunskaper om effektanvändning, vilket blir problematiskt när en ny fabrik ska byggas, samt uppskatta effektbehovet för denna. Studien föreslår en modell som baseras på normaldistribution, men som kräver uppföljning för att säkerställa relevans. Utöver detta, används Matlab för att modellera ett batteri, vars primära syfte är att kapa effekttoppar. När detta visade sig vara icke lönsamt med Scanias standarder blev målet att istället modellera ett batteri vars enda mål att vara lönsamt. Där visade det sig finnas flera storlekar på batterier som var lönsamma efter minst fem år.

[pt] A presente dissertação tem como objetivo investigar a historicidade da forma literária de Moby Dick. Pretende-se examinar como epopeia e tragédia atuam como princípios organizadores do enredo, orientando também as discussões temáticas presentes na obra, que envolvem tradições intelectuais e religiosas diversas, tais como o puritanismo e a filosofia iluminista. Também será analisada a forma pela qual o autor problematiza a identidade estadunidense, ao apresentar, tanto em Ahab quanto em Ishmael, alternativas à tradicional imagem do herói americano, marcado por uma inocência pré-lapsariana, tal como elaborada, p. ex., nos ensaios do filósofo trancendentalista Ralph Waldo Emerson. Se a tragédia aparece no romance, por meio de um diálogo constante com as peças de Shakespeare, conservando suas características fundamentais, a epopeia, ligada ao discurso de Ishmael e à descrição dos selvagens no navio, se manifestaria de forma mais difusa, relacionada à tentativa de um resgate de um sentimento de totalidade da vida perdido na modernidade, e articulada a outros tipos de discurso, especialmente à enciclopédia e à forma do ensaio. / [en] This dissertation intends on investigating the historicity of the literary form of Moby Dick, by examining how epic and tragedy act as plot-organizing principles and coordinate the thematic discussions in the book, which involve diverse intellectual and religious traditions, like puritanism and the enlightment philosophy. It also analyzes how the auctor raises questions regarding a national American identity, as he presents, both in Ahab and Ishmael, alternatives to the traditional image of the american hero characterized by a pre-lapsarian innocence, as described in the essays of the transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. If tragedy manifests itself in the novel mantaining its essential features through a dialogue with the plays of Shakespeare, the epic, which relates to Ishmael s speech and the description of the savage characters aboard the ship, does it on more subtle and diffuse ways, which are related to an attempt to restore a feeling of totality in life that was lost in modernity. It also appears articulated to other types of speech, especially the encyclopaedic discourse and the form of the essay.

This study examines how Herman Melville’s oeuvre interacts with Old Testament (OT) wisdom literature (the Books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes). Using recent historical findings on the rise of religious skepticism and the erosion of Biblical authority in both Europe and the United States, I read Melville as an author steeped in the theological controversies of the eighteenth-century. Specifically, I am interested in teasing out the surprising disavowals of overt religious skepticism in Melville’s writing. By tracing the so-called Solomonic wisdom tradition throughout Melville’s oeuvre, I argue that Melville had developed an epistemology of contemplation towards that body of Biblical texts. Scholarship has traditionally painted Melville as a subversive if not downright skeptical religious thinker. Most studies have produced authorial readings, using texts as forensic evidence to make assertions about the author’s psychology. Incidentally, such assessments have confirmed the narrative of Herman Melville as a grand failed author of the nineteenth century, while ignoring the ambivalent attitudes toward Biblical authority, textual history, and skepticism that emerge in Melville’s writing. The present study intervenes by re-addressing several procedural questions about Melville’s literary dealings with the Bible: How does Melville deal with the distinct topics of religion, theology, religious skepticism, and doubt? How does he think through the relationship between science and religion as well as that of personal religion and theology? I claim that Melville’s work can be read as a continuous contemplation of Biblical wisdom. His writing, I argue, deals productively rather than a destructive with the Bible, its textual history, and authority. Melville’s thinking on theological and religious subjects was not merely subversive but constructive. In mounting this argument, I contradict current scholarship that reads Melville as trying to invent a new American Bible. In contrast, I show how Melville’s philosophical forays, even when critical, are dependent on the ethics, language, and thinking of the OT.

Herman Bavinck (1854-1921), perhaps the most remarkable dogmatician and intellectual of the Dutch Reformed (gereformeerde) tradition in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, committed himself to what he called a 'Reformed' and 'catholic' theological task. For the modern dogmatician, this task is neither repristination nor abandonment of one's confessionalist tradition, but, being driven along by the Scriptural witness, to appropriate 'catholic' dogma to the grammars of modern conceptual frameworks. Such a task led Bavinck to a certain eclecticism in style and source for which he earned in twentieth century scholarship the pejorative label of dualism, applied both to his person and his theological content. Regarding his person, this thesis of the two Bavincks follows a biographical narrative of a student and blossoming theologian divided between the orthodox and modern. Regarding his content, interpreters move to and fro between Bavinck the scholastic and Bavinck the post-Kantian, subjectivist dogmatician. This study nuances this picture and participates in James Eglinton's recent call for an overturning of said dualisms applied to Bavinck's person and work by outlining the most significant example of Bavinck toiling to complete his 'catholic' dogmatic task: his appropriation of Friedrich Schleiermacher. In distinction from Bavinck's milieu, he did not demonize Schleiermacher, but, while willing to critique Schleiermacher's material dogmatics, regarded Schleiermacher as 'deeply misunderstood'. The two primary locales of Bavinck's appropriation of Schleiermacher include (i) the question of the epistemic ground of the unity of being and thinking; (ii) the grammar of subjective and objective religion. In both, Bavinck adopts Schleiermacher's concepts of 'feeling', 'absolute dependence', and 'immediate self-consciousness' to complete his own logic. Understanding Bavinck's adoption of Schleiermacher's conceptual framework, particularly that of the introduction from Schleiermacher's Der christliche Glaube, makes visible just how Bavinck determined to work as a modern theologian post-Kant and within the freeing confines of his orthodox, Dutch confessionalist heritage. His appropriation of Schleiermacher is the paradigmatic example of his commitment to be orthodox - yet modern.

William Lovell Finley was an American conservationist active in Oregon and California from 1894 to 1947. He was president of the Oregon Audubon Society and a field representative for the National Audubon Society. He also served as Oregon State Game Warden, State Biologist and as a Commissioner on the Oregon State Fish and Game Commission. He wrote for ornithology journals and popular magazines, was an early wildlife field photographer, and made wildlife films. This thesis examines the Finley's career from 1887 to 1911 to demonstrate how Finley, as a self-taught naturalist, forged a professional identity and became part of a social and professional network of conservationists. Using Finley's correspondence and published pieces the thesis presents a detailed account of his photography partnership with Herman T. Bohlman, a Portland plumber and artist, and of Finley's involvement in three ornithology organizations, the Northwest Ornithology Association, the Cooper Ornithological Club, and the National Audubon Society.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, English Dept., 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation pairs a nineteenth-century American writer, Herman Melville, and a twentieth-century New Zealand writer, Janet Frame, to consider points of overlap between two novelists who were unusually sensitive to the problem of political thinking and decision in situations of state emergency. Consisting of three chapters on Melville’s later maritime fiction (Moby-Dick, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd, Sailor) and two interleaving chapters on Frame’s late autobiographical and fictional writings (An Angel at My Table and The Carpathians), the dissertation explores how, in the work of these writers, figural work builds around interlinked questions of emergency and judgment. Both writers are interested in situations of peril when the fragility of bodily life is exposed and when the coherence of given political orders is tested. Both probe the response of the human legislative urge and the limits of the power of judgment in the time of crisis and exception, producing narratives of the tense moment of executive decision. Their literary forms heighten awareness of the mechanisms, frameworks, and effects of different modes of judgment--whether cognitive, moral, legal, aesthetic, or political--under emergency conditions. Out of this engagement with the nexus of judgment and security, both writers ask what might happen if we were to abide with precariousness and insecurity rather than default to the often destructive praxis of security. Melville and Frame also push the capacities of language and form in their attempt to represent the possibility of modes of judgment adequate to such political renewal. In their rhetoric and formal structures--including their experimental “disfiguration” of narrative lines--and in their creation of intricate, reflexive literary voices, these writers imagine what it would mean to come up against the limit of, and even to overturn, accepted categories of knowledge and thought, of calculation and judgment.