Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Country life in literature'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of English and Dept. of History. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2007.<br>"A dissertation in English and history." Advisor: Jennifer Phegley. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Nov. 13, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 299-321). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis (B.A. honors)--Georgia State University, 2006.<br>Dr. Robert Sattelmeyer, committee chair; Wayne Erickson, committee member. Electronic text (40 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 7, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-40).

Bibliography: leaves 63-70.<br>It is part of the human condition to continually develop and redevelop narrative structures through which identities are portrayed. As Daniel Schwarz explains: "we make sense of our lives by ordering [them] and giving [them] shape. [ ... J Each of us is continually writing and rewriting the text of our life [ ... ] To the degree that we are self-conscious, we live in our narratives – our discourse - about our actions, thoughts and feelings"(Schwarz, 1991, 108). Narrative and the identity created and maintained through it does not exist exclusively in the space of the individual, but is influenced by the cultural and socio-political context in which the individual operates as part of a group, be it a community, society or nation. There is therefore a complex relation between individual and collective identities, where each should ideally shape and reshape the other. Myths are defined as collective narratives of identity that give a group a sense of coherence and unity of origin. It is easy for myths to become fixed and oppressive, so that the reciprocal relation between the formation of individual and collective identity is broken down and individual senses of identity become, to a large extent, determined by the collective narrative. An example of a such an oppressive narrative is the myth of the Afrikaner group in South Africa. This paper aims to examine the contrasts between entrapment within this Afrikaner myth and escape from it, between the dictatorial nature of the old Afrikaner myth and possibilities for new and more dynamic myths to appear, as explored in contemporary South African literature. Specifically it looks at two Afrikaans writers whose texts explore the nature of Afrikaans myths of identity in post-apartheid South Africa. Mark Behr's The Smell of Apples evokes the silence and shame of those inextricably tied to the Afrikaner myth. Behr indicates, through his novel and through a personal confession, that he is unable, or perhaps even unwilling, to break free of the Afrikaner myth. In contrast, Antjie Krog's Country of My Skull indicates a desire to reconstruct the Afrikaner myth. While Behr exhibits a sense of shame, Krog experiences a sense of guilt and responsibility as an Afrikaner that ties her to the actions committed by others in her group. This sense of guilt is known as metaphysical guilt, which "is not based on a narrow construal of what one does, but rather on the wider concept of who one chooses to be" (May, 1991, 241, my emphasis). Krog chooses to be integrated into post-apartheid South Africa, but this does not mean that she leaves her sense of being Afrikaans behind. Instead, she individually reinvents herself as an Afrikaner in the 'new' South Africa. Her individual reinvention also has implications for the collectivity: "[by individuals reshaping themselves], they might be reshaping what it means for others to consider themselves as members of that group" (May, 1991,252).

Thesis (M.A.)--East Tennessee State University, 2003.<br>Title from electronic submission form. ETSU ETD database URN: etd-0331103-141813. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via Internet at the UMI web site.

Contents: Introduction: "Walking the line" : the Dixie Chicks and the making of country lyricists / Thomas Alan Holmes and Roxanne Harde -- "Nobody Knows but Me" : Jimmie Rodgers and the body politic / Taylor Hagood -- Cindy Walker, Lyle Lovett, and the West / Thomas Alan Holmes -- "Help your brother along the road" : Hank Williams and the humane tradition / Steve Goodson -- JC : Johnny Cash and faith / Thomas Alan Holmes -- Religious doctrine in the mid-1970s to 1980s country music concept albums of Willie Nelson / Blase S. Scarnati -- Grace to catch a falling soul : country, gospel, and evangelical populism in the music of Dottie Rambo / Douglas Harrison -- Loretta Lynn, Appalachian storyteller and autobiographer / Laura Grace Pattillo -- "Branded" man : Merle Haggard's romance of the outlier / Thomas Alan Holmes -- Townes Van Zandt : " Now here's what this story's told" / Pete Falconer and James Zborowski -- Wildness, eschatology, and enclosure in the songs of Townes Van Zandt / Michael B. MacDonald -- "Where it counts I'm real" : the complexities of Dolly Parton's feminist voice / Samantha Christensen -- "Sin City" : Gram Parsons and the "Christ-haunted South" / Clay Motley -- Weeping willows and long black veils : the country roots of Roseanne Cash, from Scotland to Tennessee / June Skinner Sawyers -- "They draft the white trash first 'round here anyway" : Steve Earle's American boys / Roxanne Harde.<br>https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1048/thumbnail.jpg

Essa pesquisa investiga as causas do não banimento dos romances In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians e Life & Times of Michael K, do escritor sul-africano JM Coetzee, escritos e publicados durante o apartheid, período em que a censura atuava com severidade sobre os discursos da nação, incluindo o literário. A hipótese que norteou o trabalho questionava se as obras mencionadas apresentariam sinais de autocensura por parte do autor. A análise textual dos romances, porém, na intersecção com o momento histórico, revelava ao longo do trabalho que havia outros fatores influenciando a decisão dos censores, conforme demonstramos nesta pesquisa. Para chegarmos às nossas conclusões, analisamos as cartas trocadas entre o autor e suas editoras, os relatórios oficiais deixados pelos censores e os romances a partir da visão dos censores. A intersecção dessas fontes apontou para o fato de que não somente o autor praticou consciente ou inconscientemente algum tipo de autocensura, mas também os editores e censores, provocando uma reflexão mais ampla sobre o contexto da censura na África do Sul.<br>This research investigates the causes of the non-banishement of the novels In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians, and Life & Times of Michael K, by JM Coetzee, written and published during the times of apartheid, when censorship acted severely on the national narratives, including the literary one. The hypothesis guiding this work questioned whether the above mentioned novels would present signs of selfcensorship practiced by the author. However, as we proceed with our investigation, the textual analysis of the novels in intersection with their moment in history revealed that there were other factors influencing the censors decisions, as we show in this work. To achieve our conclusions, we have analised letters enchanged between the author and his editors, the official reports left by the censors, and the novels themselves, all from the censors point of view. The intersection with these sources pointed to the fact that not only did the author practice consciously or unconsciously some kind of censorship, but so did the censors who analised his books and his editors, provoking a broader reflection on the context of South African censorship.

A temática desta tese é a representação da natureza no pensamento social e na literatura brasileira entre as últimas décadas do século XIX e as primeiras do século XX, e suas relações com a emergência de um sentido de modernidade na cultura do país. As fontes pesquisadas foram obras de caráter político, historiográfico, sociológico e literário, compreendendo narrativas de ficção e de não ficção. Os eixos principais adotados em sua abordagem foram: a busca de relações entre os aspectos da natureza brasileira e a formação histórica, política e social do país; a concepção do conflito e da violência na descrição da atividade humana no território; a imagem do sertão na formação da sensibilidade e do sentimento da vida brasileira; a inserção do espaço natural nos projetos de modernização concebidos pela intelectualidade do país, no sentido da promoção do controle, do uso prático e da fruição estética da natureza.<br>This thesis aims to study the representation of nature in social thought and literature, from the last decades of the XIXth century to the first ones of the XXth, and its connections with the creation of a sense of modernity in Brazilian culture. Its sources consist in works of politics, history, sociology and literature, comprising both ficcion and essay. The main axes adopted to this approach are: the conception of relations between Brazilian natural aspects and its history, political life and society; the use of the ideas of conflict and violence to the description of the human intervention in national territory; the image of the inlands to the development of a brazilian sensibility; the presence of nature in the projects of modernization conceived by the intelligentsia, in order to promote control, best practical use and aesthetical enjoyment of nature.

This thesis investigates the representation of the human life course in Old English poetry. It attends to constructions of the lifespan as a durational unit, as well as the ‘stages’ or discrete age-related experiences which together form patterns for life development, shared across a diverse range of texts. Throughout this study, the importance of close-reading is emphasised; the bulk of the analysis is concerned with issues of style, lexis and narrative. By these means, it becomes possible to perceive how concepts of the human life course shade into other networks of meaning: these include ideas of ensoulment and embodiment, life experiences of non-human entities, wider narrative patterns which impact representations of life progression, mechanisms and hierarchies of social role and communal existence, and systems of memory collection and the nurturing of ‘wisdom’. The introductory chapter addresses various possible modes of ‘life course’ structuring, in both Anglo-Saxon writings and modern scholarly traditions. Latin and Old English vocabularies of ageing are summarised and an overview is given of previous scholarship attendant on the Anglo-Saxon material. The following three chapters of the thesis then assess representations of different parts of the life course in different groups of texts. The second chapter is concerned with depictions of early life in the Exeter Book Riddles; it contends that these texts have been unduly passed over in discussions of ageing in Old English, seemingly due to their (mostly) non-human subjects. The third chapter addresses the treatment of early and late adulthood in the verse holy lives Andreas, Guthlac A, Juliana and Judith: it is in this chapter that concepts of the life course most clearly intersect with issues of social organisation. The fourth chapter is concerned with the characterisation of old age in Beowulf and Cynewulf’s epilogue to Elene, alongside other texts; the concept of ‘wisdom’ acquired through experience is closely scrutinised, and the verbal and poetic elements of good judgment are elucidated. This thesis concludes that Old English poetry presents human ageing in a manner which encompasses a diverse range of experiences and interrelates with a multitude of wider conceptual frameworks. As such, the texts do not subscribe neatly to an ‘ages of man’ idea. Nonetheless, attention paid to the patterns of human ageing which do emerge from the poems can facilitate more sensitive and productive readings of the texts themselves. The thesis closes with some examples of passages which may be newly interpreted and appreciated in the light of how the life course is conceived across the Old English poetic corpus.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the representation of personal narrative and nationhood within the genre of literary non-fiction written around the theme of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The texts to be examined are Antjie Krog‟s, Country of My Skull, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela‟s A Human Being Died That Night and Sindiwe Magona‟s Mother to Mother. The texts by Krog and Gobodo-Madikizela tell the story of apartheid‟s legacy from two different viewpoints. Their texts are filled with spatial patches of personal narrative which emphasize the impact apartheid had on two different South African cultures, thereby linking the personal to the national by exploring a subjective truth in their narratives. Both these authors were involved with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in a professional capacity and through their respective ideologies the psyche of the apartheid perpetrator is examined, interrogated and analysed. Within the genre of literary non-fiction these two writers grapple with capturing the real, the objective, but simultaneously insist on doing so from a subjective vantage point. Sindiwe Magona‟s, Mother to Mother also centres on the theme of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and on the psyche of the perpetrator. This time, however, the perpetrator‟s psyche is explored through the lens of a narrator-mother in an address to the victim‟s mother. The most significant difference between this text and the other two is that the Magona text provides a fictional account of the TRC case in question. The ethical implications of a literary text with documentary subject matter, of a text that explores the intersections between fiction and non-fiction, surfaces again, and to a larger extent than in the other two texts, thereby further unsettling the line between the reportorial and the imaginative.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die verteenwoordiging van persoonlike vertelling en nasieskap in die genre van die literêre nie-fiksie wat geskryf is om die tema van die Waarheids-en Versoeningskommissie (WVK). Die tekste wat ondersoek word is Antjie Krog se Country of My Skull, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela se A Human Being Died That Night en Sindiwe Magona se Mother to Mother. Die tekste van Krog en Gobodo-Madikizela vertel die storie van apartheid-nalatenskap uit twee verskillende standpunte. Hul tekste bestaan uit gereelde ruimtelike kolle van persoonlike verhaal wat die impak van apartheid op twee verskillende kulture van die land beklemtoon om sodoende die persoonlike aan die nasionale te koppel en „n subjektiewe waarheid van hul narratiewe na vore te bring. Albei hierdie skrywers was in 'n professionele hoedanigheid betrokke by die WVK en deur hulle onderskeie ideologieë word die psige van die apartheid oortreder ondersoek, ondervra en ontleed. Dit is binne literêre nie-fiksie waar hierdie twee skrywers swoeg om die werklike en objektiewe ten toon te stel terwyl hulle dit terseldertyd vanuit „n subjektiewe oogpunt wil benader. Sindiwe Magona se Mother to Mother draai ook om die tema van die Waarheids-en Versoeningskommissie en die psige van die oortreder. Hierdie keer, egter, is die oortreder-psige ondersoek deur die lens van 'n verteller-ma in 'n toespraak aan die slagoffer se ma. Die belangrikste verskil tussen hierdie teks en die ander twee is dat die Magona teks 'n fiktiewe vertelling bied van die WVK saak betrokke in hierdie geval. Die etiese implikasies van 'n literêre teks met 'n dokumentêre onderwerp kom weer na vore en tot 'n groter mate as die ander twee tekste, en daardeur word die fyn lyn van die literêre genres met 'n dokumentêre onderwerp omver gegooi.

An episodic novel set in rural north Texas in the 1920s, this thesis concerns the life of Lizzie Brown and her son Luke. Suffering from a series of emotional shocks combined with a chronic hormonal imbalance, Lizzie is hospitalized shortly after Luke's fourth birthday. Just as she is to be discharged, he husband dies unexpectedly. Viewed by society as incompetent to care for Luke and operate her ranch alone, she finds herself homeless. She returns to her brother's home briefly, but eventually is declared NCM and institutionalized. The story also concerns Luke, his relationships with his father and other relatives who care for him in Lizzie's absence. As he matures, he must deal with society's attitudes regarding mental illness and orphans. The story ends with Lizzie's funeral when he is twenty.

Stories from Klamath Country is a encounter with contemporary Klamath/Modoc oral literature from south central Oregon. Part ethno-poetics, part folklore, part literary criticism, and part narrative essay, the text presents an encounter with the enduring yet dynamic range of traditional and contemporary Klamath stories. Chapters focus on the issues of the transcription of an oral literature, performance, the connections between traditional and modern storytelling, ethnographic encounters and cross-cultural reading. Old and new stories are presented in this text, framed by an attention to the dynamics of assembling this larger story. Central as well to the discussion is the relationship between storytelling, landscape and identity.

The purpose of this play is to dramatize the fable of a city mouse and her cousin in the country, and the differences in their lifestyles. Through visits to each other's respective homes, the mice discover that there is more to life than what their own environment has to offer.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates texts which are argued to construct secular imaginings of the afterlife. As such my argument is built around the way in which these texts engage with death, while simultaneously engaging with the religious concepts which have come to give shape to the afterlife in an increasingly secular West. The texts included are: Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven (1907), Mark Twain’s unfinished reimagining of Christian salvation; Kneller’s Happy Campers (1998) by Etgar Keret, its filmic adaptation Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), as well as the Norwegian film A Bothersome Man (2006), which all strip the afterlife of its traditional furnishings; Philip Pullman’s acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy (1995, 1997, 2000) in which he wages a fictional war with the foundations of Western religious tradition; and finally William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and Feersum Endjinn (1994) by Iain M. Banks, two science fiction texts which speculate on the afterlife of the future. These texts are so chosen and arranged to create a logical progression of secular projects, each subsequent afterlife reflecting a more extensive and substantial distantiation from religious tradition. Twain’s text utilises a secularising satire of heaven, and draws attention to the irrational notions which pervade this concept. In the process, however, it embarks on the utopian endeavour of reconstructing and improving the Christian afterlife of salvation. In Chapter 3, the narratives under investigation discard the surface details of religious afterlives, and reimagine the hereafter against a contemporary backdrop. I argue that they conform, in several significant ways, to the mode of magical realism. Furthermore, despite their disinclination for evident religiosity, these texts nevertheless find problematic encounters when they break this mode and invoke higher authorities to intervene in the unfolding narratives. Chapter 4 focuses on Philip Pullman’s high fantasy trilogy, which enacts open war between the secular and religious and uses the afterlife as an integral part of the secularising agenda. With the literal battle lines drawn, this text depicts a clear distinction between what is included as secular, or renounced as religious. Finally, I turn to science fiction, where the notion of the virtual afterlife of the future has come to be depicted, with its foundations in human technologies instead of divine agencies. They rely on the ideology of posthumanism in a reimagining of the afterlife which constitutes a new apocalyptic tradition, a virtual kingdom of heaven populated by the virtual dead. Ultimately, I identify three broad, delineating aspects of secularity which become evident in these narratives and the meaningful distinctions they draw between religious and secular ideologies. I find further significance in the way in which these texts engage with the very foundations on which fictions of the afterlife have been constructed. Throughout these texts, I then find a secular approach to death as a developing alternative to that which has traditionally been propagated by religion.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek tekste wat alternatiewe uitbeeldings van die hiernamaals bevat, wat dan geargumenteer word dien as voorbeelde van sekulêre konsepsies van die nadoodse toestand. My argument berus op die manier waarop hierdie tekste met die dood omgaan, asook die verskeie maniere waarop hul tot die religieë van die Westerse wêreld spreek. Die tekste wat ondersoek word sluit in: Mark Twain se Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven (1907), sy onvoltooide satire van die Christelike hemel; Kneller’s Happy Campers deur Etgar Keret (1998), die verfilmde weergawe daarvan, Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), asook die Noorweegse film A Bothersome Man (2006), waarin die hiernamaals uitgebeeld word as ‘n lewelose weergawe van kontemporêre samelewing; Philip Pullman se fantasie trilogie His Dark Materials (1995, 1998, 2000) waarin hy ‘n sekulêre oorlog teen die onderdrukkende magte van religie uitbeeld; en laastens die wetenskap-fiksie verhale Neuromancer (1984), deur William Gibson, en Feersum Endjinn (1994), deur Iain M. Banks, waarin die sekulêre, virtuele hiernamaals van die toekoms vervat word. Hierdie tekste is gekies en ook so gerangskik om ‘n duidelike sekulêre progressie te toon, met elke opeenvolgende teks wat in ‘n meer omvattende wyse die tradisioneel religieuse konvensies herdink of vervang met sekulêre alternatiewe. Twain se teks dryf die spot met die Christelike idee van die hemel en om aandag te trek na die irrasionele ideologieë wat daarin vervat is. In die proses poog Twain egter om te verbeter op die model en gevolglik ondervind die teks probleme wat met die utopiese literatuur gepaard gaan. In hoofstuk 3 word die hiernamaals gestroop van alle ooglopend religieuse verwysings en vervang met die ewigheid as ‘n kontemporêre landskap deurtrek met morbiede leweloosheid. Ek argumenteer dat hulle op verskeie belangrike manier ooreenstem met die genre van magiese realisme en dat, ten spyte van die pogings om religie te vermy, die tekste steeds probleme teëkom wanneer hoër outoriteite by die verhale betrokke raak. Hoofstuk 4 draai om Pullman se sekulêre oorlog wat daarop gemik is om die wêreld te sekulariseer. Die duidelikheid waarmee die tekste onderskeid tref tussen die magte van religie en die weerstand vanaf sekulariteit, maak dit insiggewend om te bepaal wat Pullman in ‘n sekulêre wêreldbeeld in-of uitsluit. Laastens ondersoek ek wetenskap-fiksie, waarin die hiernamaals omskep is in ‘n toestand wat bereik word deur menslike tegnologiese vooruitgang, in stede van religieuse toedoen. Hier word daar gesteun op die idees van posthumanisme, wat beteken dat hierdie uitbeeldings van die ewigheid ‘n oorspronklike verwerking van religieuse apokaliptiese verhale is, waar ‘n virtuele hemelse koninkryk geskep word vir die virtuele afgestorwenes. Uiteindelik identifiseer ek drie breë ideologiese trekke wat deurgaans in al die tekste opduik, en waarvolgens betekenisvolle onderskeid getref kan word om definisie te gee aan die begrip van sekulariteit. Verder vind ek dat die sekulêre hiernamaals in ‘n unieke wyse met die dood omgaan, en dat dit ‘n alternatiewe uitkyk gee op die fondasies waarop verhale van die hiernamaals oorspronklik geskep is. Derhalwe argumenteer ek dat ‘n sekulêre wêreldbeeld ‘n alternatiewe uitkyk op die dood ontwikkel, een wat die tradisies van religie terselfdertyd inkorporeer en verwerp.

My Ph.D. is an intervention on three levels: it works on the theoretical level as an investigation into the usefulness of Pascale Casanova’s theory of world literature; it sheds new light on the relation between Welsh and Anglocentric British literary spaces in the twentieth century; and it radically re-positions Edward Thomas, the ‘quintessential English poet’, as a pioneering writer in an Anglophone Welsh literature. This dissertation begins by setting out some revisions to Casanova’s model before investigating whether this modified theory can be applied to dominant and dominated literatures within Britain. Subsequent chapters provide a case-history of how this might be achieved by focusing on Thomas, a figure of division among Welsh and English critics alike. While Welsh critics, for various reasons, have failed to claim Thomas for their literature, other, non-Welsh, critics have placed him in an English tradition. These include Robert Frost and Walter De la Mare, both of whom read his work as a representation of the rural England for which he supposedly died, as well as Edna Longley who, following a critical line initially developed by Philip Larkin, presents Thomas’s poetry as the ‘missing link’ in a native English poetic tradition. By bringing to light Thomas’s literary journalism, mainly out of print since it was written, as well as biographical factors long obscured behind the focus on his death as a British soldier, I am able to show how Casanova’s revised model, when applied to Thomas, reveals a radically different writer to the one who has been critically received. Thomas, I contend, should be read as an English-language Welsh writer who dissimilates from an anglicized British literary space by disseminating Welsh folk material to a wider audience, by promoting writers from other English-language national traditions, by importing French literary models into his work, by defending gay writers in the post-Wilde trial era, and by subverting the Englishness of typical rural locales. Re-positioning the ‘quintessentially English’ Thomas makes more urgent the question that some critics have begun to address: of what will a post-imperial, or even a post-British, English identity consist?

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Communication and Culture, 2009.<br>Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 15, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4527. Adviser: Robert L. Ivie.

This paper examines similarities between imagery of the countryside and the “country life” in both the poetry of Augustan Rome and contemporary American country music. It analyzes the themes of agriculture, poverty, family, and piety, and how they are used in both sets of sources to create an idealized countryside. This ideal, when contrasted with negative portrayals of urban life and non-idealized rural life, endorses an ideology that is opposed to wealth and that emphasizes the security and stability of the idyllic countryside. This ideology common to both may stem from the historical contexts of these two eras, revealing that Augustan Rome and modern America have unexpected similarities.

The International fragmentation of production processes is of rising importance. One part of this fragmentation involves the relocation of a production process from a home- to a new host country. This literature survey deals with the effects of such relocations on the home country. First of all, we try to conceptualize the terms and definitions most frequently used in this context which are "outsourcing", "offshore outsourcing" and "offshoring". Despite the fact that there is little textual documentation dealing directly with the phenomena of offshoring and offshore outsourcing we try to give an overview of possible empirical literature to which one can regard to. Including FDI literature we try to cover empirical literature which can provide helpful insight on the effects of a relocation to foreign countries on the home country in connection with wages, skill upgrading, prices, profits, taxes and unions. (author's abstract)<br>Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination

Lo scopo del presente lavoro è quello di analizzare le fonti storiche e letterarie che hanno sviluppato la sensibilità di G.M.Trevelyan per la conservazione di una natura incontaminata. Tale condizione ha permesso al paesaggio di rappresentare in maniera univoca i valori spirituali della nazione inglese.

Drawing on the tradition of the personal essay, I’m going to try to explore and define my relationship to David Foster Wallace’s writing, how it affected me through the years, changing my perspective on life and changing the story I tell myself about my own life and my place in the world. This is by no means anything new. Personal essays have been around as long as American literature has been and examples of the use of such form for literary discussion can be found among contemporary writers — e.g. Wallace’s own essays on John Updike and Kafka (just to name a couple); Franzen’s Mr. Difficult on William Gaddis; Zadie Smith’s piece on Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Choosing to adhere to this tradition has to do with a certain level of agreement with the idea – expressed by Michel de Montaigne – that “Every man has within himself the entire human condition.” Or, more broadly but also to the point, the choice of form is an ethical choice. This essay is going to be on myself (and my surroundings) and DFW only because these are what I can be most verbal about, the choice does not imply an avowal of some kind of superior importance attributed by myself to myself and the writer I’m most connected to. In my head we’re just examples in a personal discussion which is bound to touch larger themes than Wallace’s writing, stuff like how one relates to literature and how is a life affected when someone gives books ethical authority, or how literature can affect the individual’s relationship to the community. Literary criticism is constantly striving towards objectivity through scientific approaches, an end that might well be honorable, but that – to me, at least – ends up sounding fake and boring and meaningless a lot of the time. Not to deny that there is self-evident stuff to be found in literature, it’s just that purely analytical approaches – if nothing else – lack certain qualities, qualities that, if less scientific, have a lot to do with literature. The personal essay provides a friendly tone and a conversational approach which I think should be granted more prominence in literary criticism. The form can cure some of the defects and paradoxes currently afflicting the critical practice, its potential has to do with constructing meaning through a dialogic discussion, a principle very dear to Wallace himself. This is what I will be exploring.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009.<br>Title from electronic title page (viewed Jun. 26, 2009). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English and Comparative Literature." Discipline: English and Comparative Literature; Department/School: English and Comparative Literative.

Moving beyond familiar myths about moonshiners, bootleggers, and hard­-drinking writers, Southern Comforts explores how alcohol and drinking helped shape the literature and culture of the U.S. South. Edited by Conor Picken and Matthew Dischinger, this collection of seventeen thought-­provoking essays proposes that discussions about drinking in southern culture often orbit around familiar figures and mythologies that obscure what alcohol consumption has meant over time. Complexities of race, class, and gender remain hidden amid familiar images, catchy slogans, and convenient stories. As the first collection of scholarship that investigates the relationship between drinking and the South, Southern Comforts challenges popular assumptions by examining evocative topics drawn from literature, music, film, city life, and cocktail culture. Taken together, the essays collected here illustrate that exaggerated representations of drinking oversimplify the South’s relationship to alcohol, in effect absorbing it into narratives of southern exceptionalism that persist to this day. From Edgar Allan Poe to Richard Wright, Bessie Smith to Johnny Cash, Bourbon Street tourism to post-­Katrina disaster capitalism and more, Southern Comforts: Drinking and the U.S. South uncovers the reciprocal relationship between mythologies of drinking and mythologies of region.

This study considers the work of three women poets writing in English during the period 1970-2000. I argue that the poets, Eavan Boland, Michele Roberts and Jackie Kay are all `hybrid' voices, positioned and positioning themselves on the borders between different cultures and traditions. Locating the poets within a specific social, cultural and intellectual context the study considers the different ways in which the poets negotiate these mixed heritages and how gender interacts with their cultural location to affect the poetic identities they inhabit. My study of Eavan Boland locates her as a post-colonial poet writing out of a very specific historical relationship with Britain. I argue that the effects of this relationship are explored in two ways; the political and psychic legacy of the British colonisation of Ireland but also the ways in which women in Ireland have been colonised by a nationalist poetic tradition. I show how Boland interrogates these different colonisations and drawing on the work of Homi Bhabha I argue that Boland finds her own hybrid space in the Dublin suburbs from where she explores the frictions between a number of conflicting positions. My study of Michele Roberts explores the effects of her dual French and English heritage on her writing. I argue that Roberts' desire to embrace both aspects of her identity manifests itself as a desire to reconcile what western dualistic thinking has split and separated. I consider how Roberts advocates a writing and reading practise which asks us to embrace the stranger within ourselves and so begin to heal the split within individuals and nations. My chapter on Kay explores how she negotiates the cultural specificity of her location as a Scottish writer who identifies as black and how her poetry complicates questions of cultural authority and theories of cultural hybridity. I argue that Kay through a focus on `performance' as both theme and aesthetic subverts simple fixed notions of identity. I conclude that all three poets problematise any simple notion of home and belonging as a fixed and immutable space. Rather they inhabit borderlands, unsettled spaces, where there is a constant interaction and reformulation of identity.

This teacher research study gave me an opportunity to examine how my sixth grade classroom learning environment changed over time to support students' responses to literature across sign systems, and to develop collaboration among adults and students. Specifically, it looked at the ways in which students made mathematical connections in informal discussions as part of class read aloud experiences and how they used mathematics to communicate responses to literature. Over the course of a year I gathered data primarily by audio taping as I read to the class and the following total class discussions. I video taped presentations of literature groups. These literature groups responded to the read alouds using multiple sign systems which reflected and further developed their understandings of the texts. I also kept a reflective teaching journal and field notes throughout the year. The data analyses included a description of the classroom over the year, a re-creation of journal entries between me and collaborative others involved in the Holocaust study, and a qualitative analysis of the mathematics talk, "math talk," generated in the classroom. Math talk was present in my talk and the students' talk as well. The students' math talk showed that mathematics is used as students respond to literature in informal read aloud discussions and subsequent literature presentations.

Due to advances in detection and treatment, increasing numbers of women are diagnosed with, and surviving, breast cancer each year, making women with breast cancer one of the largest groups of cancer survivors. Hence, ensuring good healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL) following treatment has become a focal point of cancer research and clinical interest. While our understanding about the impact of breast cancer is improving, little is known about the HRQoL among survivors in non-urban areas. This is important locally, as 45% of breast cancer survivors in Queensland, Australia, live outside major metropolitan areas. Therefore, this study investigated the HRQoL and accompanying correlates among regional and rural breast cancer survivors, and made comparisons with urban breast cancer survivors as well as women from the general population without a history of breast cancer. Three population-based studies comprise this project. Original data were collected by way of self-administered questionnaire from 323 women, diagnosed with a first, primary, invasive, unilateral breast cancer during 2006/2007 and residing in regional or rural areas of Queensland, 12 months following diagnosis. HRQoL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, Breast plus additional concerns (FACT-B+4) questionnaire. Data from two existing data sources were also utilised. Women diagnosed with a first, primary, invasive, unilateral breast cancer in 2002 and residing within 100kms of Brisbane provided information on HRQoL, measured by the FACT-B+4, via self-administered questionnaire at six (n=287), 12 (n=277) and 18 (n=272) months post-diagnosis. Data at 12 months post-diagnosis was utilised for comparison with region and rural women with breast cancer. General population data for HRQoL, collected by self-administered questionnaire in 2004 using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) questionnaire, were derived from a subgroup of female residents without a history of breast cancer from urban (n=675), regional (n=184) and rural (n=281) Queensland. The two studies involving women with breast cancer were recruited sequentially through the Queensland Cancer Registry, whereas the study involving the general population used telephone survey methods initially to identify participants. Women who participated in all studies were aged between 30 and 74 years. Raw scores for overall HRQoL (FACT-B+4, FACT-G) and subscales were computed. According to developers of the instrument, raw score differences of eight points between groups on the FACT-B+4 scale and five points on the FACT-G scale reflect a clinically meaningful differences in HRQoL. Age-adjusted, mean HRQoL was similar between regional and rural women with breast cancer 12 months following diagnosis (e.g., FACT-B+4: 122.9 versus 123.7, respectively, p=0.74). However, younger regional and rural survivors reported lower HRQoL scores compared with their older counterparts (e.g., FACT-B+4: 112.0 and 115.8 versus 129.3 and 126.2, respectively, p<0.05 for all). In addition to age, other important correlates of lower overall HRQoL (FACT-B+4) among regional/rural breast cancer survivors included: receiving chemotherapy, reporting complications post-surgery, poorer upper-body function than most, higher amounts of stress, reduced coping, being socially isolated, not having a confidante for social-emotional support, unmet healthcare needs, and low self-efficacy. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to address the hypothesis regarding similarity of HRQoL following breast cancer among women residing in regional and rural locations. After adjusting for the above factors, there was no statistically significant or clinically important difference in overall HRQoL (FACT-B+4) between regional and rural women with breast cancer 12 months following diagnosis (122.1 versus 125.1, respectively, p=0.07). Data from regional and rural women were pooled, based on the above analyses, and compared with urban women. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that HRQoL following breast cancer among women residing in regional/rural locations would be lower than that reported by women residing in urban locations. Potential confounders of the association between overall HRQoL (FACT-B+4) and place of residence included: marital status, upper-body function, amount of stress and perceived handling of stress. After adjusting for factors that differed between urban and regional/rural survivors, overall HRQoL (FACT-B+4) was lower among younger regional/rural survivors than their urban peers, and the findings were both statistically significant and clinically important (115.3 versus 123.7, respectively, p=0.001). Older women reported similar mean HRQoL, regardless of regional/rural or urban residence (128.2 versus 131.6, respectively, p=0.03). Further multiple linear regression analyses were undertaken to investigate whether women with breast cancer would report HRQoL equivalent to that reported by similarly-aged women in the general population. After adjusting for potential confounding factors that are known or suspected risk factors for breast cancer (age, marital status, education level, private health insurance, smoking status, physical activity, body mass index, co-morbidities), overall HRQoL (FACT-G) among breast cancer survivors was comparable to the general population 12 months following diagnosis (urban: 88.0 versus 86.9, respectively, p=0.28; regional/rural: 86.2 versus 85.8, respectively, p=0.79). However, 26% of survivors experienced worse overall HRQoL (FACT-G) compared with normative levels. HRQoL subscales contributing most to this deficit were physical well-being, with 29% of breast cancer survivors reporting scores below the norm, and emotional well-being among younger women, with 46% reporting scores below the norm. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify subgroups of breast cancer survivors who reported HRQoL below normative levels; reporting poorer upper-body function than most and not handling stress well increased the odds of reporting overall HRQoL (FACT-G: odds ratios (ORs) = 4.44 and 4.24, respectively, p<0.01 for both), physical well-being (ORs = 5.93 and 2.92, respectively, p<0.01 for both) and emotional well-being (among younger women: ORs = 2.81 and 5.90, respectively, p<0.01 for both) below normative levels. The cross-sectional nature of the study design for regional and rural breast cancer survivors, and the potential selection and response biases in all three studies, represent the main limitations of this work. The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference about observed associations, but even characterising relevant correlates allows for adjustment of potential confounding and provides insight into factors that may be important in contributing to HRQoL among breast cancer survivors. Moreover, the potential impact of the latter limitations is in the conservative direction, whereby differences in HRQoL between groups will be more difficult to identify. Since these biases are expected to be present to a similar degree across all study groups, the absolute difference in HRQoL by residence and cancer status observed are likely to exist. In contrast, the work is supported by a population based, state-wide sample of breast cancer survivors, comparisons with the general population, and use of standardised instruments. Therefore, the conclusions derived from this research are likely to be generalisable to the wider population of women in Queensland with unilateral breast cancer, aged 74 years or younger, and perhaps to similar women in other western countries, depending on variations in healthcare systems and the provision of oncology services. This research supports the initial supposition that while some findings may generalise to all breast cancer survivors, non-urban breast cancer survivors also have distinct experiences that influence their HRQoL. Results from this work highlight the HRQoL domains and characteristics of breast cancer survivors most in need of assistance to facilitate recovery following diagnosis and treatment. Characteristics include some already established and reconfirmed here, namely, emotional wellbeing among younger women, and other novel subgroups, including regional/rural survivors who receive chemotherapy or have a low self-efficacy and all survivors, regardless of residence, with upper-body problems or a low perception of handling stress. These results demonstrate the potential for identifying subgroups of women with breast cancer at risk for low HRQoL who may benefit from additional attention and possible tailored recovery interventions to increase their overall HRQoL. As such, researchers and clinicians need to consider the role of these factors when designing interventions to assist women as they deal with the challenges imposed upon them by their breast cancer. However, it was found here that the FACT-G instrument has ceiling effects. This means that positive changes reflecting improved status, such as those achieved through recovery interventions, will often fail to be measured appropriately if there is no room to indicate improvements. Overall HRQoL results indicated that there is room for improvement past 12 months following treatment, with a significant proportion of breast cancer survivors reporting HRQoL below normative levels. HRQoL concerns 12 months following diagnosis are likely to be distinct from the more acute issues reported earlier on in the literature. Therefore, the development of a cancer survivorship module to accompany the FACT-G would be useful to counteract the ceiling effects observed as well as to capture issues distinct to cancer survivorship. This is the first study to describe in detail the HRQoL of breast cancer survivors across all areas of Queensland and to compare it to the HRQoL reported by the general population of Queensland. Therefore, it represents a unique and substantial contribution to the existing knowledge on survivorship issues following diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer in Australia. Through this research, a number of questions remain that could be addressed by relevant investigations and which are likely to be important in the future to ultimately guide practice. Specifically, implementation of the concept of HRQoL in practice is the next important step forward. Furthermore, the development of a survivorship care plan that incorporates guidelines on HRQoL recovery could provide options for referral and support.

Thesis (Ph. D. in History and Social Study of Science and Technology (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2005.<br>Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. 395-423).<br>Trucking replaced railroads as the primary link between rural producers and urban consumers in the mid-twentieth century. With this technological change came a fundamental transformation of the defining features of rural life after World War II. Trucking helped drive the shift from a New Deal-era political economy-based on centralized political authority, a highly regulated farm and food economy, and collective social values-to a postwar framework of anti-statism, minimal market regulation, and fierce individualism. Trucking and rural truck drivers were at the heart of what I call the "marketing machine," a new kind of food economy that arose after World War II, characterized by decentralized food processors and supermarkets seeking high volume, low prices, and consistent quality to eliminate uncertainties from the food distribution chain. This marketing machine developed as a reaction against the statist food and farm policies of the New Deal. Government agricultural experts-economists, engineers, and policymakers-encouraged the growth of highway transportation in an effort to redefine the "farm problem" as an industrial problem, an issue to be solved by rural food processors and non-unionized "independent" truck drivers rather than price supports or acreage controls.<br>by Shane L. Hamilton.<br>Ph.D.in History and Social Study of Science and Technology (HASTS

The dissertation examines the impact of Organizational Life Cycle (OLC) and the Country Socio Economic Characteristics (CSEC) on Top Management Team (TMT) Characteristics. The dissertation first elaborates and establishes the theoretical link between Organization Life Cycle, Country Socio-Economic Characteristics and characteristics of TMT. Second, a quantitative empirical study is conducted to test the OLC phases and CSEC impact on the TMT characteristics through characteristics. The dissertation outlines a detailed research methodology based on the state-of-art in the area of OLC, TMT and CSEC that will be implemented to answer the key research questions in regards to the scope of the doctoral thesis. Data set is collected from the 300 largest Swiss, German and Czech companies at year-end 2011, including detailed data on the country socio economic characteristics and career backgrounds of all TMT members (executive boards) at these companies at the end of 2011. A detailed procedure is developed to accurately classify organizations at different lifecycle phases, drawing extensively on existing literature and scales. Multilevel data analysis techniques are employed to understand how the different organization lifecycle phases influence both the level of TMT characteristics as well as changes in TMT composition and diversity due to inbound and outbound mobility of top managers over time. Substantial research synergies and knowledge transfer effects expected to emanate from this dissertation. In the dissertation regression and correlation analysis are applied for each phase of the companies' OLC in Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic. The dissertation states that more mature the company is more diversified the TMT are regardless the country. Also, the country impact has its own role in the relationship between the OLC and TMT characteristics which is expressed by the findings that Switzerland and Germany are more diversified than the Czech Republic in terms of TMT characteristics as gender diversity, age diversity, nationality diversity, education background of the TMTs, TMT dominant functions and TMT career length. The doctoral thesis contributes to the research by revealing relationships between TMT, CSEC and OLC theories. Also it develops methods and techniques for finding the interconnections between the OLC phases, CSEC with the TMT characteristics and the dissertation outlines the future research gaps in the area of TMT.