Raymond Moore operated quite apart from the mainstream of the British photography scene, with its emphasis on socially engaged and documentary approaches. He created his compelling images from the most mundane subject matter, seeking out the 'uncommonness of the commonplace' as he himself put it. Moore is best known for his early work, taking its cue from Formalism as well as the nature mysticism of the British Neo Romantic movement. His mature work is minimalist, even selfeffacing, and pervaded by an understated sense of humour. It is the argument of this thesis that the general perception of Moore as one of the last great 'Modernist masters' has hindered the appreciation of a much more radical artist who only came to the fore from the mid-70s onwards. A methodological chapter addresses some of the challenges posed by an author- and work centred approach such as that adopted by the thesis. In the wake of persuasive 'postmodern' critiques of the status of critical agency and the representative function of language, how is it still possible to write about a photographer's work? What may the resulting text hope to achieve? A biographical chapter then examines Moore's life and art-historical context, based on original interviews with his contemporaries, as well as unpublished material such as letters and photographs. There follows an in-depth analysis of a number of images, mainly from the transitional period leading up to the late work. Moore's work distances us from anthropocentrism, without on the other hand surrendering to nihilism. Finally, an attempt is made to sketch out a philosophical framework from which to better appreciate the qualities found in Moore's late work. Moore's well-documented interest in Zen Buddhism provides a point or reference, as do the Hua Yen vision of radical interdependence, ideas connected to Systems Theory and Constructivism, the project of 'Deep Ecology', and Jullien's notion of 'Blandness'. The concluding chapter also examines the possible relevance to everyday life of the change in perspective implicitly suggested by Moore's work. The thesis also contains an illustrated catalogue raisonne of Moore's published work, and most of the work in public and private collections worldwide.

No description available.

Chan John. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2007-2008, design report." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 86). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Thesis abstract --- p.04 / Chapter Chapter 1 -- --- Prologue --- p.05 / Chapter Chapter 2 -- --- Research study --- p.12 / Chapter Chapter 3 -- --- Thesis design --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 4 -- --- Case study --- p.44 / Chapter Chapter 5 -- --- Appendix --- p.85

Les fictions de Claude Simon et de Yu Hua s’affranchissent de la représentation mimétique de la réalité, traditionnellement considérée comme dogme du roman. Leurs œuvres, qui ressassent la mémoire des événements historiques dans l’Histoire du XX° siècle, ne visent pas une restauration du passé au moyen de la chronologie et de l’enchaînement de causes et d’effets. Le vécu personnel de Claude Simon et de Yu Hua les incite à réfléchir sur la valeur de l’écriture face à la violence des désastres, et à remettre en cause toutes les modalités de représentation prétendant rétablir l’ordre du monde qui est en réalité radicalement chaotique. L’aspect insaisissable, obsédant de l’Histoire les obligent à partir à la recherche de formes nouvelles, et à élaborer une transfiguration de leur objet d’écriture. Ainsi, une expérience du temps chaotique voire fantastique, la hantise des aïeux et du père, les manifestations d’un érotisme intense, d’une violence aveugle, ainsi que tous les procédés de désorganisation de la narration, toutes les étrangetés du langage, témoignent d’un constat : l’évocation du passé ne peut advenir qu’obliquement. L’importance de l’Histoire dans la diégèse et dans la genèse de leurs œuvres réfute un type de critique qui identifie ces œuvres au formalisme. Ce lien organique entre l’Histoire et la fiction montre aussi qu’une certaine littérature contemporaine, caractérisée par une volonté de rupture avec les codes classiques de la représentation romanesque, surmonte une tentation nihiliste pour suggérer une éthique. / Claude Simon and Yu Hua’s fictions abandon the traditional mimetic representation of reality. Their works, which reexamine the memory of events in the History of the 20th century, are not aimed at restoring the past by means of a chronology and a sequential linking of cause and effect. The personal life experiences of Claude Simon and Yu Hua led them to reflect on the value of writing in the face of the violence of the century’s disasters, and to question the validity of a so-called realist literature pretending to re-establish the order of the world which is in reality radically chaotic. The elusive and obsessional character of History requires the writer to set off in search of new forms, and to elaborate a transfiguration in his literary objectives. Thus, the chaotic or even fantastic experience of time, the obsessive figures of ancestors and the father, the excess of eroticism or blind violence, as well as all the disorders in the narration and the strangeness of the language, all come within an attempt to speak of a past which can only be evoked obliquely. The importance of History in the diegesis and in the genesis of their works refutes a certain type of criticism which identifies these works with formalism. This visceral connection between History and fiction also shows that contemporary literature, marked by a spirit of rupture, goes beyond nihilism and in its own way realizes an ethical value.

The literary tale or ch'uan-ch'i, "transmission of the strange," evolved from the short fictional writings of the Six Dynasties and early T'ang periods and found full form as a short story in the classical language during the latter T'ang dynasty. Ch'uan-ch'i flourished through the Sung dynasty but fell into a period of relative inactivity during the Yuan dynasty. With the founding of the Ming in 1368 came renewed interest in the literary tale with the appearance of Ch'u Yu's collection of ch'uan-ch'i known as Chien-teng hsin-hua. Ch'u's tales became so popular that they soon inspired poet-official Li Ch'ang-ch'i to write the collection Chien-teng yu-hua in imitation of Ch'u's style. The two collections remained popular and influential through much of the Ming dynasty. The influence of both Ch'u Yu and Li Ch'ang-ch'i spread to Korea and Japan where many of their tales were rewritten and adapted to local settings. It was from Japanese editions of the Chien-teng hsin-hua that Ch'u Yu's contributions to the ch'uan-ch'i genre were rediscovered in this century. On comparison with earlier T'ang models, Ch'u Yu's tales show considerable similarity in style; however, the best of his tales show advancement in characterization, a broader range of subject matter, settings as varied as the tales themselves, and a level of society generally far removed from the scholar-official class commonly depicted in T'ang tales. It is in Ch'u Yu's thematic tales or tales of retribution that can be found the combination of elements that clearly illustrates his contributions to the ch'uan-ch'i genre. A reading of representative tales from both T'ang dynasty collec- tions and the large collection of literary tales by P'u Sung-ling in the Ch'ing dynasty illustrates the degree and nature of change in the literary tale over the centuries. The appearance of Ch'u Yu's Chien-teng hsin-hua in the early Ming dynasty not only revived interest in the genre but also contributed to the development of one of the most enduring forms of fiction in the history of China.

This dissertation examines the uses of meta-theater in The Peach Blossom Fan, an early Qing historical drama by Kong Shangren (1648-1718), arguing that the meta-theatrical elements of the play serve as an innovative form of historiography. Kong Shangren, a member of the Confucian Kong lineage, is unusual for a Chinese playwright: he was steeped more deeply in the world of Confucian ritual music than the work of writing lyrics for dramatic arias, yet The Peach Blossom Fan is recognized as one of the last great chuanqi dramas of the Ming-Qing period. Kong wrote at a time of great social and cultural transformation, completing The Peach Blossom Fan not long after the violent conflicts of the mid-17th century Ming-Qing dynastic transition were finally coming to an end. At the same time, the literary genre of chuanqi drama was also in the midst of its own transitions, as writers of the early Qing increasingly turned to other literary genres beyond this popular late Ming form. I argue that The Peach Blossom Fan marks a key transition in the development of the chuanqi drama, owing both to the play’s formal innovations that exceed the traditional chuanqi form, such as its rejection of the conventional “grand reunion” finale and re-envisioning of the role-type system, and also to its synthesis of historiographical judgements with the world of theatrical performance. Focusing on the play’s uses of meta-theater, I show how The Peach Blossom Fan models the work of historiography by guiding its readers to cultivate the “cold, clear eyes” of a historical witness. Kong Shangren’s methods as a playwright-historian are at their best in The Peach Blossom Fan’s engagement with Ruan Dacheng (1587-1646): a blacklisted late Ming politician who was also a well-received playwright in his own time. Ruan’s life and work have been largely neglected in previous scholarship, despite his significance as a 17th century dramatist. The Peach Blossom Fan uniquely places Ruan Dacheng on stage as a dramatic character at the same time as it turns Ruan’s own chuanqi drama, The Swallow Letter, into an unsuccessful play-within-a-play. In so doing, The Peach Blossom Fan invites reflection on the writer alongside his work, synecdochically turning The Swallow Letter into the music of the collapsing Ming Dynasty and pronouncing Ruan’s fate as the villainous playwright who wrote it. Kong thereby creates a new dramatic motif of the “playwright on stage” — a method of meta-theatrical literary criticism that is picked up by later playwrights, such as the mid-Qing writer Jiang Shiquan. In The Peach Blossom Fan, Kong Shangren also creates a new vision for the worldly stage within and around his play; one in which the problems of social and theatrical performance are tied up in the formal world of the printed chuanqi drama. I analyze the textual dimensions of the play’s meta-theatrical innovations by focusing on Kong’s engagement with the late Ming Linchuan drama school, from The Peach Blossom Fan’s performative re-casting of the familiar female self-portrait motif, to the play’s meta-theatrical reflections on Kong’s own position as its early Qing playwright. The Peach Blossom Fan is framed through a series of paratexts, including an account of how the play itself came into being. The self-reflexivity of The Peach Blossom Fan as a literary text thereby extends its meta-theatrical frames to Kong Shangren’s world as its playwright, using notions of theatrical performance to examine the work of reading, writing, and ritual. Taken together, I contend, these layers of The Peach Blossom Fan theatricalize the literary genre of the chuanqi, drawing attention to the representational limits of historical narratives and capturing the ways in which writing is yet another form of performance.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Chinese

Yeung Chee-kong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 99-103.

Les fictions de Claude Simon et de Yu Hua s'affranchissent de la repr��sentation mim��tique de la r��alit��, traditionnellement consid��r��e comme dogme du roman. Leurs ��uvres, qui ressassent la m��moire des ��v��nements historiques dans l'Histoire du XX�� si��cle, ne visent pas une restauration du pass�� au moyen de la chronologie et de l'encha��nement de causes et d'effets. Le v��cu personnel de Claude Simon et de Yu Hua les incite �� r��fl��chir sur la valeur de l'��criture face �� la violence des d��sastres, et �� remettre en cause toutes les modalit��s de repr��sentation pr��tendant r��tablir l'ordre du monde qui est en r��alit�� radicalement chaotique. L'aspect insaisissable, obs��dant de l'Histoire les obligent �� partir �� la recherche de formes nouvelles, et �� ��laborer une transfiguration de leur objet d'��criture. Ainsi, une exp��rience du temps chaotique voire fantastique, la hantise des a��eux et du p��re, les manifestations d'un ��rotisme intense, d'une violence aveugle, ainsi que tous les proc��d��s de d��sorganisation de la narration, toutes les ��tranget��s du langage, t��moignent d'un constat : l'��vocation du pass�� ne peut advenir qu'obliquement. L'importance de l'Histoire dans la di��g��se et dans la gen��se de leurs ��uvres r��fute un type de critique qui identifie ces ��uvres au formalisme. Ce lien organique entre l'Histoire et la fiction montre aussi qu'une certaine litt��rature contemporaine, caract��ris��e par une volont�� de rupture avec les codes classiques de la repr��sentation romanesque, surmonte une tentation nihiliste pour sugg��rer une ��thique.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Portuguese