The theme of kpiσιϛ which runs through the gospel has been taken account of in studying the characterisation of "the Jews," but never yet of non-Jewish characters. The method set out covers all the important aspects of characterisation, including both anthropological and rhetorical interests. This method is then applied to the gospel's non-Jewish characters. The Samaritan woman's faith is tentative and hesitating at best; she sees Jesus only as a prophet. Her faith is ambiguous, but not ineffective. The ambiguity in her faith is resolved by the townspeople's. The title Saviour of the World indicates that Jesus has transcended expectations as he inaugurates a new worship which transcends all the old racial and geographical barriers. The pericope of the Greeks is brief, but important, for their arrival signals the coming of Jesus' "hour". At the moment when Jewish rejection of Jesus is becoming complete, a group of Gentiles ask to become part of the redefined people of God. The pericope is, significantly, brief and open-ended. The Johannine Pilate wants to avoid taking a stand for Jesus, and so is forced to take a stand against him. He has the authority simply to drop the charges against Jesus. But he is too afraid of the Jewish leaders to drop the charges, and not sufficiently perceptive or clever to get around the Jewish leaders by more oblique means. More than that, his indecisiveness and fear lead him to become a theomachos. "The Jews" force Pilate to give in by appealing to his patron-client relationship with Caesar. He is outmanoeuvred and shamed by "the Jews", and his actions after the trial are an attempt to salvage some gain from the affair, and revenge his humiliation. While political considerations are not absent from these passages, what is in the forefront is not Roman-Jewish relations but Pilate's reaction to Jesus; where he will take his stand in the kpiσιϛ. Here again the theme of kpiσιϛ appears -1 argue that the theme is relevant to the characterisation of non-Jewish as well as Jewish characters.

This study examines the description of characters' education in twelfth- and thirteenth-century French epic and romance with two broad aims: to establish how education is described, and to suggest reasons why it is portrayed in the particular way that it is. The discussion is divided into three parts. The first provides the contextual framework for the second two, and presents a brief overview of the history of education in the period, together with a survey of the theory and practice of education in school and at home. Critics and historians have noted the link between education and literature and we provide a model of contemporary educational background, theory and practice, against which literary descriptions may be compared and understood. In Part II we analyse these literary descriptions, hitherto not comprehensively explored. Taking a large corpus of works, we examine the content of characters' education, drawing comparisons across genre and timespan, and with the model from Part I. This, together with further examination of where poets draw their inspiration, what they choose to include and how it is presented, provides a context within which particular features, descriptions or texts may be discussed. Part III examines particularly interesting treatments of education. Five different studies of individual works or groups of texts illustrate the range of ways education may function, and help us to establish the status of the education description in Old French literature. We conclude that poets deliberately describe and exploit education in various ways. These range from delineation of character, where we see authors shaping the raw material of narrative for their own ends, to major thematic use, essential for understanding a text. Study of the theme of education reveals its contribution to and reflection of the importance of medieval education and its influence on vernacular literature.

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This dissertation presents an account of fictional discourse which is teleological. According to it, questions about what is said in fiction and how it ought to be said are answerable in terms of the goals and methods belonging specifically to fiction-making as a practice. Viewed in such a way, it is argued that the incompleteness of fictional discourse and its apparent tolerance of inconsistency are distinctive of it. Moreover, it is argued that there is a sense in which one can produce true statements in fiction without thereby committing one self to the thesis that words made use of in fiction are endowed with reference. Throughout the dissertation, the view espoused in it is contrasted with rival positions on the issues of what fiction is about, and whether it can be true. It is argued that a teleological account of fictional discourse can present a coherent alternative to these.

This thesis is an examination of the Gothic elements present in a selection of works by Canadian playwright Judith Thompson. The Gothic genre is marked by continual flux and adaptation, ensuring that its ability to inspire terror, as well as its relevance as a form of cultural critique, remains undiminished. Gothic texts seek to uncover the anxieties and uncertainties that societies would prefer to repress, and then forcing a confrontation with those elements. Frequently this pattern of repression and return takes the form of various kinds of hauntings, as well as the monstrous. As this emphasis on the “return of the repressed” would suggest, psychoanalysis will figure prominently in my analysis of Thompson’s work and is woven throughout the four chapters. Chapter One concentrates on establishing a working definition of the Gothic, its history and development, and the three subcategories of the genre that I will be focusing on in the subsequent chapters: the postmodern Gothic, the feminist Gothic and the Canadian Gothic. All three Gothic subgenres share their affinity for translating late twentieth-century anxieties into the language of the Gothic. They also share a resistance to closure or solutions of any kind, even if such solutions would seem to be advantageous to the author’s putative ideological stance. The works by Thompson I have chosen evidence her preoccupation with postmodern, feminist and contemporary Canadian concerns. She expresses these concerns in a unique style that blends contemporary literary techniques with the more timeless elements of the Gothic tradition.

A study of the older readers' section of Young Australians Best Book Award (YABBA) from 1986 to 1991, based on analysis of 21,351 voting forms from this period. Through analysis of the data from these voting forms, ranking authors and titles, comparing gender preferences, the source of the book voted for, school type and school location were all compiled into graphs and tables. Appropriate comparisons have been made between variables across the six year period, to give some idea of the voting population involved in the older readers' section of YABBA and their preferences and motivations. A follow up survey of voters and YABBA organisers in 1992 attempted to further enhance this data by collecting information on voter preferences, opinions and possible influences on the voting process. The study attempts to place YABBA in the context of the wider children's literature community and discuss briefly its historical development with reference to other children's choice awards, their strengths and weaknesses. A relevant discussion on popularity versus literary merit is related to the ongoing discussion of YABBA in comparison to the Children's Book Council awards. Later chapters include a discussion of the most popular YABBA titles (seven highest rating titles) with particular emphasis given to YABBA's two most popular authors - Paul Jennings and Robin Klein. Humour is an important factor in the popularity of many YABBA titles and this is discussed as are developments since 1991 and the long-term future of YABBA.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2004. / Title from title screen (viewed 5 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Sydney College of the Arts. Degree awarded 2004; thesis submitted 2003. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (MHSc--Health Science) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (175 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 153.35 BEL)

Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Issued also as Thesis--Columbia University. / Includes bibliographical references.