The study of geodesics is of intrinsic significance in the study of the geometry of space-time. In this thesis null, space-like and time-like geodesics are studied in the case of the space-times of Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordstrouml;m and Kerr black holes. These space-times have been investigated with varying degrees of thoroughness in many articles and some books. However, there are some significant gaps in these treatments and the central aim of this thesis is to fill these gaps where necessary. Moreover, the following topics are covered for the first time. 1. In Chapter 4 a thorough treatment of the space-like geodesics of the Schwarzschild solutions has been given. These geodesics are the trajectories of Tachyons (faster than light particles) and are treated in a complete manner. This has been done by obtaining exact solutions and solving them numerically. 2. In Part II all solutions for geodesics for a Reissner-Nordstrouml;m black hole have been given in complete detail, i.e. time-like, null and space-like geodesics and orbit of a charged particle. 3. In Chapter 14 all solutions for geodesics in the equatorial plane of a Kerr black hole have been given in complete detail, i.e. time-like, null and space-like geodesics. 4. The study of special types of non-equatorial geodesics for a Kerr black hole have been given in complete detail, i.e. time-like (Chapter 17), null (Chapter 15) and space-like (Chapter 16). This has been done in order to distinguish the qualitatively different types of solutions. Calculation of the explicit formulas, which describe these geodesics, as well as numerically computed diagrams representing the geodesics have been incorporated in these studies. The following subjects have been also treated: 5. Solutions for the geodesics in Reissner-Nordstrouml;m black holes with |Q_*| gt;= M, which are black holes with one (|Q_*| = M) or no horizon (|Q_*|gt; M) (Chapter 8). 6. Solutions of geodesics in extreme and fast Kerr black holes, i.e. black holes with a = M (extreme) and a gt; M (fast). As in the case of |Q_*| gt; M, fast black holes have naked singularities (Chapter 14). 7. Some general observations about orbit types of the Kerr black holes regarding relationships between parameters such as angular momentum, energy, Carter constant and mass and angular momentum of black holes (Chapter 13). 8. Some corrections to errors found in the literature. While it has not been possible to cover all different cases which occur for possible relations amongst the parameters specifying a general black hole, interesting geodesics have, however, been studied and a more thorough presentation of the properties of geodesics has now been given.

This dissertation uses a feminist cultural materialist approach that draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Luce Irigaray to examine the neglected genre of postwar-Cold War American teen girl romance novels, which I call female junior novels. Written between 1942 and the late 1960s by authors such as Betty Cavanna, Maureen Daly, Anne Emery, Rosamond du Jardin, and Mary Stolz, these texts create a kind of hieroglyphic world, where possession of the right dress or the proper seat in the malt shop determines a girls place within an entrenched adolescent social hierarchy. Thus in the first chapter, I argue that girls adherence to consumer-based social codes ultimately constructs a semi-autonomous female society, still under the umbrella of patriarchy, but based on female desire and possessing its own logic. This adolescent female society parallels the network of women who produced (authors, illustrators, editors) and distributed (librarians, critics) these texts to teenaged girls. Invisible because of its all-female composition, middlebrow status, and feminine control, yet self-governing for the same reasons, the network established a semi-autonomous space into which left-leaning authors could safely (if subtly) critique American social and foreign policies during the Cold War. Chapter Two examines the first generation of the network, including Anne Carroll Moore, Bertha Mahony, Louise Seaman, and May Massee, who helped to create the childrens publishing industry in America, while Chapter Three investigates the second generation, including Mabel Williams, Margaret Scoggin, and Ursula Nordstrom, who entrenched childrens and adolescent literature in publishing houses and library services. In Chapter Four I explore the shifting concept of what constitutes quality within these texts, with an emphasis on the role of authors, illustrators, and critics in defining such value. Chapter Five investigates the use of female junior novels within the classroom, paying particular attention to the role of bibliotherapy, in which these texts were used to help teenagers solve their developmental tasks, as suggested by psychologist Robert J. Havighurst. A brief conclusion discusses the fall of the female junior novels and their network, while a coda addresses the republication of these texts today through the nostalgia press.

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