In the production of paper, the quality of the pulp is an important factor both for the productivity and for the final quality. Reliable real-time measurements of pulp quality are therefore needed. One way is to use acoustic or vibration sensors that give information-rich signals and place the sensors at suitable locations in a pulp production line. However, these sensors are not selective for the pulp properties of interest. Therefore, advanced signal processing and multivariate calibration are essential tools. The current work has been focused on the development of calibration routes for extraction of information from acoustic sensors and on signal processing algorithms for enhancing the information-selectivity for a specific pulp property or class of properties. Multivariate analysis methods like Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Orthogonal Signal Correction (OSC) have been used for visualization and calibration. Signal processing methods like Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Fast Wavelet Transform (FWT) and Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) have been used in the development of novel signal processing algorithms for extraction of information from vibrationacoustic sensors. It is shown that use of OSC combined with PLS for prediction of Canadian Standard Freeness (CSF) using FFT-spectra produced from vibration data on a Thermo Mechanical Pulping (TMP) process gives lower prediction errors and a more parsimonious model than PLS alone. The combination of FFT and PLS was also used for monitoring of beating of kraft pulp and for screen monitoring. When using regular FFT-spectra on process acoustic data the obtained information tend to overlap. To circumvent this two new signal processing methods were developed: Wavelet Transform Multi Resolution Spectra (WT-MRS) and Continuous Wavelet Transform Fibre Length Extraction (CWT-FLE). Applying WT-MRS gave PLS-models that were more parsimonious with lower prediction error for CSF than using regular FFT-Spectra. For a Medium Consistency (MC) pulp stream WT-MRS gave predictions errors comparable to the reference methods for CSF and Brightness. The CWT-FLE method was validated against a commercial fibre length analyzer and good agreement was obtained. The CWT-FLE-curves could therefore be used instead of other fibre distribution curves for process control. Further, the CWT-FLE curves were used for PLS modelling of tensile strength and optical parameters with good results. In addition to the mentioned results a comprehensive overview of technologies used with acoustic sensors and related applications has been performed. / Vid framställning av pappersprodukter är kvaliteten på massan en viktig faktor för produktiviteten och kvalitén på slutresultatet. Det är därför viktigt att ha tillgång till tillförlitliga mätningar av massakvalitet i realtid. En möjlighet är att använda akustik- eller vibrationssensorer i lämpliga positioner vid enhetsoperationer i massaprocessen. Selektiviteten hos dessa mätningar är emellertid relativt låg i synnerhet om mätningarna är passiva. Därför krävs avancerad signalbehandling och multivariat kalibrering. Det nu presenterade arbetet har varit fokuserat på kalibreringsmetoder för extraktion av information ur akustiska mätningar samt på algoritmer för signalbehandling som kan ge förbättrad informationsselektivitet. Multivariata metoder som Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Orthogonal Signal Correction (OSC) har använts för visualisering och kalibrering. Signalbehandlingsmetoderna Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Fast Wavelet Transform (FWT) och Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) har använts i utvecklingen av nydanande metoder för signalbehandling anpassade till att extrahera information ur signaler från vibrations/akustiska sensorer. En kombination av OSC och PLS applicerade på FFT-spektra från raffineringen i en Termo Mechnaical Pulping (TMP) process ger lägre prediktionsfel för Canadian Standard Freeness (CSF) än enbart PLS. Kombinationen av FFT och PLS har vidare använts för monitorering av malning av sulfatmassa och monitorering av silning. Ordinära FFT-spektra av t.ex. vibrationssignaler är delvis överlappande. För att komma runt detta har två signalbehandlingsmetoder utvecklats, Wavelet Transform Multi Resolution Spectra (WT-MRS) baserat på kombinationen av FWT och FFT samt Continuous Wavelet Transform Fibre Length Extraction (CWT-FLE) baserat på CWT. Tillämpning av WT-MRS gav enklare PLS-modeller med lägre prediktionsfel för CSF jämfört med att använda normala FFT-spektra. I en annan tillämpning på en massaström med relativt hög koncentration (Medium Consistency, MC) kunde prediktioner för CSF samt ljushet erhållas med prediktionsfel jämförbart med referensmetodernas fel. Metoden CWT-FLE validerades mot en kommersiell fiberlängdsmätare med god överensstämmelse. CWT-FLE-kurvorna skulle därför kunna användas i stället för andra fiberdistributionskurvor för processtyrning. Vidare användes CWT-FLE kurvor för PLS modellering av dragstyrka samt optiska egenskaper med goda resultat. Utöver de nämnda resultaten har en omfattande litteratursammanställning gjorts över området och relaterade applikationer. / QC 20100629

Using a sociolinguistic and post-colonial approach, I analyze Irish dramas that speak about language and its connection to national identity. In order to provide a systematic and wide-ranging study, I have selected plays written at approximately fifty-year intervals and performed before Irish audiences contemporary to their writing. The writers selected represent various aspects of Irish society--religiously, economically, and geographically--and arguably may be considered the outstanding theatrical Irish voices of their respective generations. Examining works by Alicia LeFanu, Dion Boucicault, W.B. Yeats, and Brian Friel, I argue that the way each of these playwrights deals with language and identity demonstrates successful resistance to the destruction of Irish identity by the dominant language power. The work of J. A. Laponce and Ronald Wardhaugh informs my language dominance theory. Briefly, when one language pushes aside another language, the cultural identity begins to shift. The literature of a nation provides evidence of the shifting perception. Drama, because of its performance qualities, provides the most complex and complete literary evidence. The effect of the performed text upon the audience validates a cultural reception beyond what would be possible with isolated readers. Following a theoretical introduction, I analyze the plays in chronological order. Alicia LeFanu's The Sons of Erin; or, Modern Sentiment (1812) gently pleads for equal treatment in a united Britain. Dion Boucicault's three Irish plays, especially The Colleen Bawn (1860) but also Arrah-na-Pogue (1864) and The Shaughraun (1875), satirically conceal rebellious nationalist tendencies under the cloak of melodrama. W. B. Yeats's The Countess Cathleen (1899) reveals his romantic hope for healing the national identity through the powers of language. However, The Only Jealousy of Emer (1919) and The Death of Cuchulain (1939) reveal an increasing distrust of language to mythically heal Ireland. Brian Friel's Translations (1980), supported by The Communication Cord (1982) and Making History (1988), demonstrates a post-colonial move to manipulate history in order to tell the Irish side of a British story, constructing in the process an Irish identity that is postnational.

In this dissertation, I examine antagonistic relationships between women writers in the first half of the eighteenth century, focusing on the works of Delarivier Manley, Martha Fowke Sansom, Eliza Haywood, and Laetitia Pilkington. Professional rivalry among women writers represents an under-studied but vital element of the history of print culture in the early eighteenth century. I argue that the shared burden of negotiating the complicated literary marketplace did not, as critics have at times suggested, inspire women who wrote for print publication to feel for one another a sisterly benevolence. Rather, fine gradations in social class, questions of genre status and individual talent, and -- perhaps most importantly -- clashing literary ambitions spurred early eighteenth-century women writers into vicious rivalries recorded in print and driven by print culture. Women documented their literary battles in poems, in prefaces, and in autobiographical texts replete with self-justification and with attacks on former friends or disappointing patronesses. This dissertation recognizes rivalry as a crucial mode of interaction between eighteenth-century literary women and analyzes the ways in which these professional women writers labored to defend themselves not just against patriarchal pressures but against one another. In doing so, it contributes to the construction of a more complete literary history of the first half of the eighteenth century by exploring how early eighteenth-century women writers imagined their own professional lives, how they imagined the professional lives of other women, and how they therefore believed themselves influenced (or claimed themselves influenced) by the support or detraction of other women. The first two chapters of this dissertation focus on Delarivier Manley's career and writings, while the second two address the entangled writing lives of Eliza Haywood and Martha Fowke Sansom. The concluding chapter briefly examines Laetitia Pilkington's Memoirs. I investigate the way these women employed the practice of life-writing as a means of self-construction, self-promotion, and public appeal. / text

Many analysts believe that problems in the U.S. housing market initiated the 2008–2010 global financial crisis. In this regard, the subprime mortgage crisis (SMC) shook the foundations of the financial industry by causing the failure of many iconic Wall Street investment banks and prominent depository institutions. This crisis stymied credit extension to households and businesses thus creating credit crunches and, ultimately, a global recession. This thesis specifically discusses the SMC and its components, causes, consequences and cures in relation to subprime mortgages, securitization, as well as data. In particular, the SMC has highlighted the fact that risk, credit ratings, profit and valuation as well as capital regulation are important banking considerations. With regard to risk, the thesis discusses credit (including counterparty), market (including interest rate, basis, prepayment, liquidity and price), tranching (including maturity mismatch and synthetic), operational (including house appraisal, valuation and compensation) and systemic (including maturity transformation) risks. The thesis introduces the IDIOM hypothesis that postulates that the SMC was largely caused by the intricacy and design of subprime agents, mortgage origination and securitization that led to information problems (loss, asymmetry and contagion), valuation opaqueness and ineffective risk mitigation. It also contains appropriate examples, discussions, timelines as well as appendices about the main results on the aforementioned topics. Numerous references point to the material not covered in the thesis, and indicate some avenues for further research. In the thesis, the primary subprime agents that we consider are house appraisers (HAs), mortgage brokers (MBs), mortgagors (MRs), servicers (SRs), SOR mortgage insurers (SOMIs), trustees, underwriters, credit rating agencies (CRAs), credit enhancement providers (CEPs) and monoline insurers (MLIs). Furthermore, the banks that we study are subprime interbank lenders (SILs), subprime originators (SORs), subprime dealer banks (SDBs) and their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) such as Wall Street investment banks and their special structures as well as subprime investing banks (SIBs). The main components of the SMC are MRs, the housing market, SDBs/hedge funds/money market funds/SIBs, the economy as well as the government (G) and central banks. Here, G either plays a regulatory or policymaking role. Most of the aforementioned agents and banks are assumed to be risk neutral with SOR being the exception since it can be risk (and regret) averse on occasion. The main aspects of the SMC - subprime mortgages, securitization, as well as data - that we cover in this thesis and the chapters in which they are found are outlined below. In Chapter 2, we discuss the dynamics of subprime SORs' risk and profit as well as their valuation under mortgage origination. In particular, we model subprime mortgages that are able to fully amortize, voluntarily prepay or default and construct a discrete–time model for SOR risk and profit incorporating costs of funds and mortgage insurance as well as mortgage losses. In addition, we show how high loan–to–value ratios due to declining housing prices curtailed the refinancing of subprime mortgages, while low ratios imply favorable house equity for subprime MRs. Chapter 3 investigates the securitization of subprime mortgages into structured mortgage products such as subprime residential mortgage–backed securities (RMBSs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). In this regard, our discussions focus on information, risk and valuation as well as the role of capital under RMBSs and RMBS CDOs. Our research supports the view that incentives to monitor mortgages has been all but removed when changing from a traditional mortgage model to a subprime mortgage model. In the latter context, we provide formulas for IB's profit and valuation under RMBSs and RMBS CDOs. This is illustrated via several examples. Chapter 3 also explores the relationship between mortgage securitization and capital under Basel regulation and the SMC. This involves studying bank credit and capital under the Basel II paradigm where risk–weights vary. Further issues dealt with are the quantity and pricing of RMBSs, RMBS CDOs as well as capital under Basel regulation. Furthermore, we investigate subprime RMBSs and their rates with slack and holding constraints. Also, we examine the effect of SMC–induced credit rating shocks in future periods on subprime RMBSs and RMBS payout rates. A key problem is whether Basel capital regulation exacerbated the SMC. Very importantly, the thesis answers this question in the affirmative. Chapter 4 explores issues related to subprime data. In particular, we present mortgage and securitization level data and forge connections with the results presented in Chapters 2 and 3. The work presented in this thesis is based on 2 peer–reviewed chapters in books (see [99] and [104]), 2 peer–reviewed international journal articles (see [48] and [101]), and 2 peer–reviewed conference proceeding papers (see [102] and [103]). / Thesis (Ph.D. (Applied Mathematics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Many analysts believe that problems in the U.S. housing market initiated the 2008–2010 global financial crisis. In this regard, the subprime mortgage crisis (SMC) shook the foundations of the financial industry by causing the failure of many iconic Wall Street investment banks and prominent depository institutions. This crisis stymied credit extension to households and businesses thus creating credit crunches and, ultimately, a global recession. This thesis specifically discusses the SMC and its components, causes, consequences and cures in relation to subprime mortgages, securitization, as well as data. In particular, the SMC has highlighted the fact that risk, credit ratings, profit and valuation as well as capital regulation are important banking considerations. With regard to risk, the thesis discusses credit (including counterparty), market (including interest rate, basis, prepayment, liquidity and price), tranching (including maturity mismatch and synthetic), operational (including house appraisal, valuation and compensation) and systemic (including maturity transformation) risks. The thesis introduces the IDIOM hypothesis that postulates that the SMC was largely caused by the intricacy and design of subprime agents, mortgage origination and securitization that led to information problems (loss, asymmetry and contagion), valuation opaqueness and ineffective risk mitigation. It also contains appropriate examples, discussions, timelines as well as appendices about the main results on the aforementioned topics. Numerous references point to the material not covered in the thesis, and indicate some avenues for further research. In the thesis, the primary subprime agents that we consider are house appraisers (HAs), mortgage brokers (MBs), mortgagors (MRs), servicers (SRs), SOR mortgage insurers (SOMIs), trustees, underwriters, credit rating agencies (CRAs), credit enhancement providers (CEPs) and monoline insurers (MLIs). Furthermore, the banks that we study are subprime interbank lenders (SILs), subprime originators (SORs), subprime dealer banks (SDBs) and their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) such as Wall Street investment banks and their special structures as well as subprime investing banks (SIBs). The main components of the SMC are MRs, the housing market, SDBs/hedge funds/money market funds/SIBs, the economy as well as the government (G) and central banks. Here, G either plays a regulatory or policymaking role. Most of the aforementioned agents and banks are assumed to be risk neutral with SOR being the exception since it can be risk (and regret) averse on occasion. The main aspects of the SMC - subprime mortgages, securitization, as well as data - that we cover in this thesis and the chapters in which they are found are outlined below. In Chapter 2, we discuss the dynamics of subprime SORs' risk and profit as well as their valuation under mortgage origination. In particular, we model subprime mortgages that are able to fully amortize, voluntarily prepay or default and construct a discrete–time model for SOR risk and profit incorporating costs of funds and mortgage insurance as well as mortgage losses. In addition, we show how high loan–to–value ratios due to declining housing prices curtailed the refinancing of subprime mortgages, while low ratios imply favorable house equity for subprime MRs. Chapter 3 investigates the securitization of subprime mortgages into structured mortgage products such as subprime residential mortgage–backed securities (RMBSs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). In this regard, our discussions focus on information, risk and valuation as well as the role of capital under RMBSs and RMBS CDOs. Our research supports the view that incentives to monitor mortgages has been all but removed when changing from a traditional mortgage model to a subprime mortgage model. In the latter context, we provide formulas for IB's profit and valuation under RMBSs and RMBS CDOs. This is illustrated via several examples. Chapter 3 also explores the relationship between mortgage securitization and capital under Basel regulation and the SMC. This involves studying bank credit and capital under the Basel II paradigm where risk–weights vary. Further issues dealt with are the quantity and pricing of RMBSs, RMBS CDOs as well as capital under Basel regulation. Furthermore, we investigate subprime RMBSs and their rates with slack and holding constraints. Also, we examine the effect of SMC–induced credit rating shocks in future periods on subprime RMBSs and RMBS payout rates. A key problem is whether Basel capital regulation exacerbated the SMC. Very importantly, the thesis answers this question in the affirmative. Chapter 4 explores issues related to subprime data. In particular, we present mortgage and securitization level data and forge connections with the results presented in Chapters 2 and 3. The work presented in this thesis is based on 2 peer–reviewed chapters in books (see [99] and [104]), 2 peer–reviewed international journal articles (see [48] and [101]), and 2 peer–reviewed conference proceeding papers (see [102] and [103]). / Thesis (Ph.D. (Applied Mathematics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Le travail de cette thèse a consisté à concevoir, réaliser et optimiser un montage expérimental de Polarisation Dynamique Nucléaire multi-échantillons pour des applications biomédicales en Imagerie Spectroscopique par Résonance Magnétique. Ce montage est constitué d'un aimant à fort champ magnétique (3,35T), dans lequel se place un système cryogénique à bain d'hélium (He4) liquide pompé pouvant atteindre des températures inférieures à 1,2K. Un ensemble d'inserts permet d'effectuer les différentes étapes du processus PDN dont l'irradiation des échantillons par un champ micro-onde (f=94GHz et P=50mW) et le suivi de leur polarisation par Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire. Ce système permet de polariser jusqu'à trois échantillons, de volume proche de 1mL, à des taux de polarisation de quelques pourcents. Il présente une forte autonomie supérieure à quatre heures, autorisant ainsi la polarisation de molécules à longues constantes de temps de polarisation. La possibilité de disposer quasi-simultanément, après dissolution, de plusieurs échantillons fortement polarisés ouvre la voie à de nouvelles applications dans le domaine de l'imagerie biomédicale / The aim of this thesis work was to design, build and optimize a large volume multisamples DNP (Dynamic Nuclear Polarization) polarizer dedicated to Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging applications. The experimental system is made up of a high magnetic field magnet (3,35T) in which takes place a cryogenic system with a pumped bath of liquid helium (4He) allowing temperatures lower than 1,2K. A set of inserts is used for the different steps of DNP : irradiation of the sample by a microwave field (f=94GHz and P=50mW), polarization measurement by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. . . With this system, up to three samples of 1mL volume can be polarized to a rate of few percents. The system has a long autonomy of four hours, so it can be used for polarizing molecules with a long time constant of polarization. Finally, the possibility to get quasisimultaneously, after dissolution, several samples with a high rate of polarization opens the way of new applications in biomedical imaging

Tout ce qui vit, naît, se nourrit, se reproduit et meurt. Pour le cerveau, la question se complexifie car à la survie des neurones s'ajoute le coût de l'activité cérébrale. La question de la gestion énergétique pour les neurones est particulière car les cellules de notre cerveau évoluent de manière concertée et non par compétition. On sait avec l'imagerie médicale que l'usine neuronale ne fonctionne pas uniquement grâce au glucose ; elle utilise d'autres apports énergétiques tels que le lactate ou le glutamate pour soutenir sa production. Lorsqu'une tumeur apparaît, elle change le métabolisme énergétique pour survivre et soutenir sa propre croissance. En particulier, les cellules cancéreuses se fournissent en lactate et choisissent leur substrat préféré en fonction de l'oxygène disponible. La modélisation mathématique des substrats énergétiques est un outil de choix pour décrire et prédire de tels flux. Coupler ces modèles à des données issues de l'IRM et de la SRM permet d'améliorer la prise en charge du patient présentant un gliome.Cette thèse propose l'approche de plusieurs dynamiques en substrat dans le cerveau sain et gliomateux en se basant sur des systèmes d'équations : échanges locaux en lactate (EDO, système lent-rapide), échanges globaux en substrats (EDO), cycle glutamate/glutamine (EDR) et échanges en lactate en dimensions supérieures (EDP). Ces modèles sont expliqués, décrits grâce aux mathématiques et permettent l'élaboration de simulations ajustées selon des données patient ou issues de la littérature.L'énergie est nécessaire au maintien de la vie. Mais si votre voisin consomme une partie de vos ressources, pouvez-vous encore espérer survivre ? / Everything that lives is born, eats, reproduces and dies. For the brain, the question is more complex because neurons have to survive and to support brain activity. Energy management is also particular because brain cells evolve together with no competition. Thanks to medical imaging, we know that neurons do not consume only glucose. They can use others energetic substrates such as lactate and glutamate as a power source.When a tumor appears, it changes the energetic metabolism to survive and support its own growth. In particular, cancer cells like to consume lactate. They also choose their favorite substrate based on the available oxygen. Modeling of energy substrates is useful to describe and predict energetic kinetics and changes. Mathematical models could get with clinical and medical results to describe, explain or predict low grade glioma dynamics. They can help to characterize and quantify a tumor evolution, then leading to improve their therapeutical management. Exchanges between mathematics and MRI (and MRS) enable to get accurate data and to build suitable mathematical models.This thesis deals with several approaches of substrates dynamics in healthy and gliomatous brains. These researches are based on systems of equations. We model local lactate exchanges (ODE, fast-slow systems), global substrates exchanges (ODE), glutamate/glutamine cycle (RDE) and local lactate exchanges in higher dimensions (PDE). We describe, analyze and give simulations of these models. Simulations are fitted on patient MRI data or literature data. Energy is necessary to live. But if your neighbor consumes a part of your resources, can you still survive ? / Tutto ciò che vive nasce, si nutre, si riproduce e muore. Per il cervello, la questione è più complessa perché i neuroni devono sopravvivere e sostenere l'attività cerebrale. La gestione energetica cerebrale è particolare anche perché le cellule cerebrali evolvono insieme, senza concorrenza. Inoltre, grazie alle immagini mediche, sappiamo che i neuroni non consumano solo del glucosio ma usano altri substrati energetici come il lattato o il glutammato.Quando un tumore si stabilisce, cambia il metabolismo energetico del cervello per sopravvivere e sostenere la propria crescita. In particolare, cellule tumorali consumano del lattato e scelgono il loro substrato preferito basandosi all'ossigeno disponibile.La matematica, e in particolare l'elaborazione di modelli matematici può aiutarci a ottimizzare i dati disponibili, che possono essere, di volta in volta, delle proprietà cellulare o delle lastre MRI o MRS. La modellizzazione dei substrati energetici potrebbe descrivere, spiegare o prevedere le dinamiche energetiche nel cervello.Questa tesi tratta di diversi approcci della dinamica dei substrati nei cervelli sani e gliomatosi. Queste ricerche si basano su sistemi di equazioni. Modellizziamo scambi locali di lattato (ODE, sistemi fast-slow), scambi globali di substrati (ODE), ciclo glutammato/glutammina (RDE) e scambi locali di lattato in dimensioni superiori (PDE). Descriviamo, analizziamo e diamo simulazioni di questi modelli. Le simulazioni sono adeguate su dati MRI paziente o dati di letteratura.Per vivere, l’energia è una necessità. Ma se i Suoi vicini consumassero le Sue risorse, riuscirebbe ancora a sopravvivere ?

Emil Behnke was a highly esteemed vocal pedagogue of the late nineteenth century. Perhaps rare for the time, the art and science of teaching vocal methods of speech and singing was a Behnke family business, one that Emil shared with his wife and daughter, who were both named Kate. Indeed, Emil's daughter, Kate Emil Behnke, was equally regarded and valued in the field of vocal pedagogy, carrying her father's teachings into the twentieth century. Meanwhile, the elder Kate Behnke, wife to Emil and mother to Kate Emil, was responsible for administering and building upon her husband's innovative methods of speech therapy, establishing her own reputation as a speech healer. The Behnke family published no less than fourteen books, cumulatively. Largely forgotten today, the purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive overview of the biography and the pedagogical methods and works of the Behnke family, and to contextualize these methods within the framework of trusted vocal pedagogy, both historic and current.

This thesis investigates the prevalence of religious themes in the work of several prominent contemporary women writers—Margaret Atwood, Michèle Roberts, Alice Walker and A.L. Kennedy. Relying on Luce Irigaray’s recent theorisations of the religious and its relationship to feminine subjectivity, this research considers the subversive potential of engaging with religious discourse through literature, and contributes to burgeoning criticism of feminist revisionary writing. The novels analysed in this thesis show, often in violent detail, that the way the religious dimension has been conceptualised and articulated enforces negative views of female sexuality, justifies violence against the body, alienates women from autonomous creative expression and paralyses the development of a subjectivity in the feminine. Rather than looking at women’s religious revision primarily as a means of asserting female authority, as previous studies have done, I argue that these writers, in addition to critiquing patriarchal religion, articulate ways of being and knowing that subvert the binary logic that dominates Western religious discourse. Chapter I contextualises this research in Luce Irigaray’s theories and outlines existing work on feminist revisionist literature. The remaining chapters offer close readings of key novels in light of these theories: Chapter II examines Atwood’s interrogation of oppositional logic in religious discourse through her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Chapter III explores two novels by Roberts that expose the violence inherent in religious discourse and deconstruct the subjection of the (female) body to the (masculine) Word. Chapters IV and V analyse the fiction of Kennedy and Walker respectively, revealing how their novels confront the religious denigration of feminine sexuality and refigure the connection between eroticism and divinity. Evident in each of these fictional accounts is a forceful critique of religious discourse, as well as an attempt to more closely reconcile foundational religious oppositions between divinity and humanity, flesh and spirit, and body and Word.