A new approach to representations of revolution
- Authors: Burke, Matthew Ainslie
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Radicalism in literature , Radicalism in literature -- Moral and ethical aspects , Politics and literature -- Moral and ethical aspects , Revolutionary literature, English
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2310 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013068
- Description: This project asserts that revolution is characterised by the expression of unthinkable possibilities, and so addresses the paradox implicit in any attempt to "write revolution." That is, how does one represent revolution without reducing it to an ordered term of reference, and thereby subduing its radical character? Additionally, can transformative action be conceptualised as a creative project to which an ethical subject may, and in fact should, be drawn? To answer these questions, my investigation develops in three strands. I combine the radical theory of Alain Badiou with similar affirmations of revolutionary intervention from Slavoj Žižek and Paulo Freire, and so create an aesthetic that affirms revolutionaries as agents of supplementary creativity. My first purpose is thus to establish revolution as a productive enterprise that enables peace, rather than a destructive undertaking that introduces violence. This done, I apply the resultant conceptual tools to literary representations of radical transformation, and demonstrate that my aesthetic enables new readings of the literature of revolution to which it is applied. In the course of my analysis, I also evaluate the suitability of Badiou's ethic as a standpoint from which to engage with literature on revolution. Ultimately, then, the aesthetic I construct not only contests the notion that radical transformation is always destructive, but also renders one sensitive to revolutionary literature's excessive and supplementary dimensions.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Burke, Matthew Ainslie
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Radicalism in literature , Radicalism in literature -- Moral and ethical aspects , Politics and literature -- Moral and ethical aspects , Revolutionary literature, English
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2310 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013068
- Description: This project asserts that revolution is characterised by the expression of unthinkable possibilities, and so addresses the paradox implicit in any attempt to "write revolution." That is, how does one represent revolution without reducing it to an ordered term of reference, and thereby subduing its radical character? Additionally, can transformative action be conceptualised as a creative project to which an ethical subject may, and in fact should, be drawn? To answer these questions, my investigation develops in three strands. I combine the radical theory of Alain Badiou with similar affirmations of revolutionary intervention from Slavoj Žižek and Paulo Freire, and so create an aesthetic that affirms revolutionaries as agents of supplementary creativity. My first purpose is thus to establish revolution as a productive enterprise that enables peace, rather than a destructive undertaking that introduces violence. This done, I apply the resultant conceptual tools to literary representations of radical transformation, and demonstrate that my aesthetic enables new readings of the literature of revolution to which it is applied. In the course of my analysis, I also evaluate the suitability of Badiou's ethic as a standpoint from which to engage with literature on revolution. Ultimately, then, the aesthetic I construct not only contests the notion that radical transformation is always destructive, but also renders one sensitive to revolutionary literature's excessive and supplementary dimensions.
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Dreamscape and death : an analysis of three contemporary novels and a film
- Authors: Truter, Victoria Zea
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Malouf, David, 1934- -- Criticism and interpretation , Warner, Alan -- Criticism and interpretation , McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation , Linklater, Richard, 1960- -- Criticism and interpretation , Australian fiction -- History and criticism , American fiction -- History and criticism , English fiction -- History and criticism , Motion pictures, American -- History and criticism , Malouf, David, 1934- An imaginary life , Warner, Alan -- These demented lands , McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Road , Linklater, Richard, 1960- -- Waking Life , Death in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2308 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012976
- Description: With its focus on the relationship between dreamscape and death, this study examines the possibility of indirectly experiencing – through writing and dreaming – that which cannot be directly experienced, namely death. In considering this possibility, the thesis engages at length with Maurice Blanchot's argument that death, being irrevocably absent and therefore unknowable, is not open to presentation or representation. After explicating certain of this thinker's theories on the ambiguous nature of literary and oneiric representation, and on the forfeiture of subjective agency that occurs in the moments of writing and dreaming, the study turns to an examination of the manner in which such issues are dealt with in selected dreamscapes. With reference to David Malouf's An Imaginary Life, Alan Warner's These Demented Lands, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and Richard Linklater's Waking Life, the thesis explores the literary and cinematic representation of human attempts to define, resist, or control death through dreaming and writing about it. Ultimately, the study concludes that such attempts are necessarily inconclusive, and that it is only ever possible to represent death as a (mis)representation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Truter, Victoria Zea
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Malouf, David, 1934- -- Criticism and interpretation , Warner, Alan -- Criticism and interpretation , McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation , Linklater, Richard, 1960- -- Criticism and interpretation , Australian fiction -- History and criticism , American fiction -- History and criticism , English fiction -- History and criticism , Motion pictures, American -- History and criticism , Malouf, David, 1934- An imaginary life , Warner, Alan -- These demented lands , McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Road , Linklater, Richard, 1960- -- Waking Life , Death in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2308 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012976
- Description: With its focus on the relationship between dreamscape and death, this study examines the possibility of indirectly experiencing – through writing and dreaming – that which cannot be directly experienced, namely death. In considering this possibility, the thesis engages at length with Maurice Blanchot's argument that death, being irrevocably absent and therefore unknowable, is not open to presentation or representation. After explicating certain of this thinker's theories on the ambiguous nature of literary and oneiric representation, and on the forfeiture of subjective agency that occurs in the moments of writing and dreaming, the study turns to an examination of the manner in which such issues are dealt with in selected dreamscapes. With reference to David Malouf's An Imaginary Life, Alan Warner's These Demented Lands, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and Richard Linklater's Waking Life, the thesis explores the literary and cinematic representation of human attempts to define, resist, or control death through dreaming and writing about it. Ultimately, the study concludes that such attempts are necessarily inconclusive, and that it is only ever possible to represent death as a (mis)representation.
- Full Text:
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