Eclectic Dialectics: William Klein's Documentary Method

This article examines the relations between documentary aesthetics and the political sensibility of William Klein. Structured around the cultural phenomena that have remained integral to his career as a photographer and filmmaker - fashion, sport, and music - it discusses his enduring attachment to notions of freedom and creativity still associated with 1960s counter-culture, and the Vietnam War. In particular, it examines how how his films disrupt conventional categories, and subvert the familiar rhetoric of mainstream documentary film, especially that associated with cinéma vérité. A erstwhile protege of Dada, Klein has always valued the expressive potential of improbable juxtapositions, of intercutting between times and places, and subverting mainstream journalistic modes and intentions. The article argues that this attitude is increasingly rare among contemporary documentary filmmakers, and yet it is the very thing that gives his work a distinctive aesthetic texture, and relevance to any history of cinema.

This is Not a Photo Opportunity: Verbal/Visual Struggle in Francophone Travel Narratives

This article explores the ethics and aesthetics of representing travel and intercultural encounter in textual and photographic forms. Taking as its starting point two textual accounts of journeys in the course of which photographic narratives were also produced, the article explores the possibilities and limitations of textuality and visuality and thus considers the implications of, or new opportunities afforded by, reading – and ultimately publishing – these narratives as iconotexts. Focusing on Pierre Loti's L'Inde (sans les Anglais) (1901) and Ella Maillart's Oasis interdites (1937), the article also offers an alternative perspective on writers whose work is commonly associated with an imperialist or exoticist discourse, with cliché and one-dimensionality. As such, it aims to replace the monolithic, orientalist vision often attributed to these writers with ambiguity, ethical hesitation and a plurality of perspectives. Using these examples as a springboard, the article seeks to argue that verbal/visual mobility in narratives representing mobility contributes to resisting static, monolithic perceptions of other cultures. Using the work of British graffiti artist Banksy as a foil for exploring photography as cultural commodification and art as commodity, the article also seeks to engage with current debates in Humanities research on ekphrasis and iconotextuality and on the problematics of representing other cultures within an ethical and/or humanist frame.

‘Proficiscere, anima Christiana’: Gerontius and German mysticism

The popularity in Britain of Elgar's _The Dream of Gerontius_ was triggered by the successful reception of the work in Germany in December 1901 and May 1902. By examining some of the writings on Elgar by German critics in this period, I explain that what may have particularly have appealed to German audiences was the composer's engagement with mysticism, something that as well as being a distinct strand of German theology since medieval times had acquired a new popularity among German artists in a number of fields as part of a reaction to the materialism of Wilhelmine Germany. Through a reading of the work that takes into account both its Catholic theology and ideas of mysticism more generally, I propose that the two Parts of the work should be conceived as taking place simultaneously, rather than successively, and that the work is thus best understood as belonging to the genre of epic rather than drama. ©2013 The Royal Musical Association

If Music Be the Food of Love:An Acoustic ‘Fourth World’ in Ong Keng Sen’s Awaking”

Staged as an attempt to ‘bring together Shakespeare’s plays and Tang Xian Zu’s classical Kunqu opera, The Peony Pavilion,’ (Ong, Programme Notes) Awaking stands as Singapore Director Ong Keng Sen’s most recent and prominent attempt at engaging issues of the intercultural through music and sound. While Ong’s previous intercultural projects sought to explore the politics of intercultural performance through the exchange, layering, confrontation and inter-mixing of Asian performance modes as visual aesthetics, Awaking is a performance at the borders of theatrical and musical conventions, as it features the music and musicians as central performative devices of staging the intercultural. Northern Kunqu opera, Chinese classical music and Elizabethan folk tunes from Shakespeare’s plays were re-moved, re-contextualised, and juxtaposed to explore ‘differing yet connected philosophies on love, death, and the afterlife’ (Awaking, Publicity). These humanist and ‘universal’ themes found expression in the ‘universal’ language of music. Through a study of the musicalities and sonic expressions of Awaking, the paper seeks to explore the implications of such cultural-musical juxtapositions. The paper engages, specifically, with the problematics and possibilities of music as a ‘universal language’ as implied by Ong’s concordance of Eastern and Western sounds in the final act. It further considers the politics of an intercultural soundscape and the acoustemologies of such an intercultural approach.

Here I am yet cannot hold this visible shape:The Music of Gender in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Music has always been used as an important dramaturgical strategy in Western theatre to create a holistic theatrical experience. In Shakespeare’s plays, music was employed as a unique dramaturgical device for various purposes. Twelfth Night distinguishes itself from among the many plays that employ music because it begins, ends and progresses with music. Music pervades Twelfth Night and is tightly interwoven into the thematic concerns of the play such as love and gender. Because of music’s elusive nature and the difficulty of discussing a musical aesthetics, Shakespearean music critics have approached music in the play as a theme or an idea. This paper hopes to develop upon older scholarship by introducing an alternate framework of considering music’s musicality through a musicological analysis of the songs in Twelfth Night. In so doing, the paper hopes to show how and why music can modulate our responses to the play and in particular, to the theme of gender, a problematic issue that produces the elusive and darker nature of this festive comedy.

‘Facing the Fact: Word and Image in Muriel Rukeyser’s “Worlds Alongside”’

This essay explores an example of a little-known, yet highly significant part of Rukeyser’s early oeuvre: the magazine photo-narrative. Profoundly engaged with the documentary expression of the 1930s, Rukeyser utilised the genre’s methods, aesthetics and images to create a hybrid text reporting the realities of the Depression in lyrical, imaginative terms. The result is a conflation of what Rukeyser understood to constitute poetry, and therefore life: the document and the unverifiable fact, presented in an innovative format that is shaped by Rukeyser’s ethical poetics of connection to construct lessons in creative exchange and being in the world.

'Dark Interpretations': Romanticism's Ambiguous Legacy in India

This essay argues that Romanticism’s legacy in modern Indian literature has been constructed under the shadow of its colonial heritage. Although the Romantic period witnessed the enthusiastic “discovery” of classical Indian literature by British Orientalists, Romantic imperialism (which went hand-in-hand with Romantic orientalism) played a darker role in instituting a colonial educational system in India which denigrated Indian languages and literatures. Modern Indian literature represented by popular fictional writers from R.K. Narayan to Arundhati Roy registers this complex colonial inheritance by its qualified and often ironic celebration of British Romantic literature along with its associated ideologies of freedom, truth, and beauty.

The sustainability and assessment of drystone retaining walls

The art of drystone walling is a highly sustainable traditional practice which uses local materials and craftsmen. As no
mortar is used they have low embodied carbon, and much repair work or rebuilding can be carried out using very little if any new
materials. However local practices developed to suit local materials, leading to a range of construction styles, making them difficult to
assess. This paper examines a range of construction styles of drystone retaining walls in use across the United Kingdom.
Understanding of the substantial variations of construction style is essential to enable proper assessment of these structures. Different
frictional and weathering characteristics, and the naturally occurring shapes of stone found in an area, all affect the ways in which the
stones have traditionally been assembled into walls. Ease of construction also plays a part, as the craftsman will naturally wish to
achieve a robust construction in a way that is economical of time and effort. Aesthetics may be very important, for both client and
craftsman. It is also shown that construction style is influenced by the location and function of the structures, with harbour walls
particularly likely to have unique characteristics, and the reasons for this are explored.

Contested landscapes: the moral geographies of light pollution in Britain

This paper considers the concept of light pollution and its connections to moral geographies of landscape in Britain. The paper aims to provide a greater understanding of light pollution in the present day, where the issue connects to policy debates about energy efficiency, crime, health, ecology and night time aesthetics, whilst also engaging with new areas of research in cultural geography. The main sources of investigation are the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the British Astronomical Association’s Campaign for Dark Skies (est. 1990). Using interviews, archival and textual analysis, the paper examines this anti-light-pollution lobby, looking at the lead-up to the formation of the Campaign as well as its ongoing influence. A moral geography of light pollution is identified, drawing on two interconnected discourses – a notion of the ‘astronomical sublime’ and the problem of urbanization. Whilst the former is often invoked, both through visual and linguistic means, by anti-light pollution campaigners, the latter is characterized as a threat to clear night skies, echoing earlier protests against urban sprawl. Complementing a growing area of research, the geographies of light and darkness, this paper considers the light pollution lobby as a way of investigating the fundamental relationship between humankind and the cosmos in the modern age.

Influence of embedded length on strength of BFRP rods bonded parallel to the grain in low grade timber by pullout-bending tests

Bonded-in rod connections in timber possess many desirable attributes in terms of efficiency, manufacture, performance, aesthetics and cost. In recent years research has been conducted on such connections using fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) as an alternative to steel. This research programme investigates the pull-out capacity of Basalt FRP rods bonded-in in low grade Irish Sitka Spruce. Embedded length is thought to be the most influential variable contributing to pull- out capacity of bonded-in rods after rod diameter. Previous work has established an optimum embedded length of 15 times the hole diameter. However, this work only considered the effects of axial stress on the bond using a pull-compression testing system which may have given an artificially high pull out capacity as bending effects were neglected. A hinge system was utilised that allows the effects of bending force to be taken in to consideration along with axial forces in a pull-out test. This paper describes an experimental programme where such pull-bending tests were carried out on samples constructed of 12mm diameter BFRP bars with a 2mm glueline thickness and embedded lengths between 80mm and 280mm bonded-in to low-grade timber with an epoxy resin. Nine repetitions of each were tested. A clear increase in pull-out strength was found with increasing embedded length.

The Quest for Fictionality: Prostitution and Metatextuality in Rachilde’s Monsieur Vénus

This article considers the theme of prostitution in the decadent writings of the fin-de-siecle French author, Rachilde. It proposes that an analysis of this critically-neglected trope of her work reveals new connections between the erotics and aesthetics of her fiction. As a vector for considering tensions between fantasy and truth, and illusion and reality, prostitution, in Rachilde's texts, invites us to reflect on two of the most common cultural manifestations of decadence: sexual non-conformism and the cult of artifice. The article focuses in particular on the (male) prostitute-body of Monsieur Venus, arguing that, in its transcendence of nature, reality and utilitarian purpose, it is elevated to the status of art in Rachilde's fictional world.

Influence of rheology on the quality of surface finish of cement-based mortars

Aesthetics of concrete structures is directly related to the quality of their surface finish. The objective of this investigation was to examine the effect of rheological properties of cement-based mortars on the quality of their surface finish. The study was divided into two phases. Firstly, the influence of the mix composition of mortars, viz. the water to cement (w/c) ratio, the sand content and the superplasticiser (SP) dosage on their rheology was evaluated. Secondly, the surface finish quality was characterised and related to the rheology of the studied systems. Rheology of these materials, i.e. the yield value, was measured using a vane viscometer. The quality of the surface finish was assessed by quantification of the surface air voids by analysing digital photographs of the mould finished sample surfaces. It was found that an increase in the w/c ratio and the SP content decreased the yield value, whilst the increase in the sand content had an opposite effect. When the surface quality is concerned, an increase in the yield value was found to increase the total content of the surface air voids and especially those with size smaller than 1 mm in diameter. Moreover, the analysis of the location of the surface air voids along the height of the sample revealed that with the increase in the yield value their concentration was higher in the bottom section of the analysed samples.