986 resultados para writings
Resumo:
My dissertation is a corpus-based study of non-finite constructions in Old English (OE). It revisits the question of Latin influence on the OE syntax, offering a new evaluation of syntactic interference between Latin and OE, and, more generally, of the contact situation in the OE period, drawing on methods used in studying grammaticalization and language contact. I address three non-finite constructions: absolute participial construction, accusative-and-infinitive construction, and nominative-and-infinitive construction, exemplified respectively in present-day English as - She looked like a pixie sometimes, her eyes darting here and there, forever watchful (BNC CCM 98); - My first acquaintance with her was when I heard her sing (BNC CFY 2215); - Charles the Bald was said to resemble his grandfather physically (BNC HPT 175). This study compares data from translated texts against the background of original OE writings, establishing dependencies and differences between the two. Although the contrastive analysis of source and target texts is one of the major methods employed in the study, translation and translation strategies as such are only my secondary foci. The emphasis is rather on what source/target comparison can tell us about the OE non-finite syntax and the typological differences between Latin and OE in this domain, and on whether contact-induced change can originate in translation. In terms of theoretical framework, I have adopted functional-typological approach, which rests on the principles of iconicity and event integration, and to the best of my knowledge, has not been applied systematically to OE non-finite constructions. Therefore one more aim of the dissertation is to test this framework and to see how OE fits into the cross-linguistic picture of non-finites. My research corpus consists of two samples: 1) written OE closely dependent on the Latin originals, based on editions of two gloss texts, five translations, and Latin originals of these texts, representing four text types: hymns, religious regulations, homily/life narrative, and biblical narrative (180,622 words); and 2) written OE as far independent from Latin as possible, based on a selection from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose (YCOE) and representing five text types: laws, charters, correspondence, chronicle narrative, and homily/life narrative (274,757 words).
Resumo:
This creative work is an original soundtrack for the multimedia performance adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis, led by David Fenton and Brian Lucas and produced by Metro Arts. Intermediality offers unique challenges to the composer creating towards live performance. Given the text-based nature of the piece, and the prevalence of screen content, music had a distinct role to play in supporting the intermedial performance environment. Drawing from Oscar Wilde’s own writings in the initial stages [“...richer cadences…more curious effects” “…the cry of Marysas” and the “deferred resolution of Chopin”] , the deliberately risky compositional process experimented with improvised location recordings and found sounds, random and fragmented assemblages of vintage recordings, rough methods and obsolete recording technology, and the sonic kinship of the hissing sibilances of the sea, theatrical applause and the crackle of antique recording devices (which had just been invented in Wilde’s time) worked into wefts of sound. As the soundtrack emerged, is was clearly resistant to ‘concepts’ imposed from the outside, and as the field of possibilities expanded and engaged in dialogue with the other elements of the performance (live and projected) certain pieces were selected by the director and curated into the emerging work. Thus leitmotifs emerged, rather than being imposed from the outset, with a particular through line holding: if it was too obviously like ‘music’, (which is usually used in theatre as emotional lubrication and narrative signpost) it didn’t work, and if it sounded like avant-garde sound-art, it was too grating and detracted from the primacy of the text. As a composer I worked this sweet spot inbetween these two poles as well as serving David Fenton’s curation: he determined which compositions to incorporate, reiterate and omit as part of the process of writing text, action and image and the compositional process responded with organic elaborations and variations on these selections. Musical resolution was mostly deferred until the closing stages of the performance. The soundtrack was present for the duration of the show, and Artshub reviewed the musical component thus: “...the score by David Megarrity is a refined, understated ambient scaffolding.” It premiered at the Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, on 22 April 2015.
Resumo:
The dissertation "From Conceptual to Corporeal, from Quotation to Site: Painting and History of Contemporary Art" explores the state of painting in contemporary art and art theory since the 1960s. The purpose of the study is to re-consider the dominant "end of painting" -narrative in contemporary art history, which goes back to the modernist ideology of painting as a reductive, medium-specific form of art. Drawing on Michel Foucault´s concepts of discursive formation and archive, as well as Jean-Luc Nancy´s post-phenomenological philosophy on corporeality, I suggest that contemporary painting can be redefined as a discursive-sensuous practice. Instead of seeing painting as obsolete or over as an avantgarde art genre, I show that there have been alternative, neo-avantgardist ways of defining painting since the end of the 1960s, such as French artist Daniel Buren´s early writings on painting as "theoretical practice". Consequently, the tendency of the canonical Anglo-American contemporary art narratives to underestimate the historical and institutional codes of art can be questioned. This tendency can be seen, for example, in Rosalind Krauss´s influential theory on index. The study also reflects the relations between conceptual art and painting since the 1960s and maps recent theories of painting, which re-examine the genre´s possibilities after the modernist rhetoric. Concepts of "flatbed", "painting in the extended field", "as painting" and so on are compared critically with the idea of painting as discursive practice. It is also shown that the issues in painting arise from the contemporary critical art debate while the dematerialisation paradigm of conceptual art has dissolved. The study focuses on the corporeal-material-sensuous -cluster of meanings attached to painting and searches for its avantgardist possibilities as redefined by postfeminist and post-phenomenological discourse. The ideas of hierarchy of the senses and synesthesia are developed within the framework of Jean-Luc Nancy´s and Luce Irigaray´s thought. The parameters for the study have been Finnish painting from 1990 to 2002. On the Finnish art scene there has been no "end of painting" ideology, strictly speaking. The mythology and medium-specificity of modernism have been deconstructed since the mid-1980s, but "the archive" of painting, like themes of abstraction, formalism and synesthesia have been re-worked by the discursive practice of painting, for example, in the works of Nina Roos, Tarja Pitkänen-Walter and Jussi Niva.
Resumo:
The purpose of this study is to analyze and develop various forms of abduction as a means of conceptualizing processes of discovery. Abduction was originally presented by Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) as a "weak", third main mode of inference -- besides deduction and induction -- one which, he proposed, is closely related to many kinds of cognitive processes, such as instincts, perception, practices and mediated activity in general. Both abduction and discovery are controversial issues in philosophy of science. It is often claimed that discovery cannot be a proper subject area for conceptual analysis and, accordingly, abduction cannot serve as a "logic of discovery". I argue, however, that abduction gives essential means for understanding processes of discovery although it cannot give rise to a manual or algorithm for making discoveries. In the first part of the study, I briefly present how the main trend in philosophy of science has, for a long time, been critical towards a systematic account of discovery. Various models have, however, been suggested. I outline a short history of abduction; first Peirce's evolving forms of his theory, and then later developments. Although abduction has not been a major area of research until quite recently, I review some critiques of it and look at the ways it has been analyzed, developed and used in various fields of research. Peirce's own writings and later developments, I argue, leave room for various subsequent interpretations of abduction. The second part of the study consists of six research articles. First I treat "classical" arguments against abduction as a logic of discovery. I show that by developing strategic aspects of abductive inference these arguments can be countered. Nowadays the term 'abduction' is often used as a synonym for the Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) model. I argue, however, that it is useful to distinguish between IBE ("Harmanian abduction") and "Hansonian abduction"; the latter concentrating on analyzing processes of discovery. The distinctions between loveliness and likeliness, and between potential and actual explanations are more fruitful within Hansonian abduction. I clarify the nature of abduction by using Peirce's distinction between three areas of "semeiotic": grammar, critic, and methodeutic. Grammar (emphasizing "Firstnesses" and iconicity) and methodeutic (i.e., a processual approach) especially, give new means for understanding abduction. Peirce himself held a controversial view that new abductive ideas are products of an instinct and an inference at the same time. I maintain that it is beneficial to make a clear distinction between abductive inference and abductive instinct, on the basis of which both can be developed further. Besides these, I analyze abduction as a part of distributed cognition which emphasizes a long-term interaction with the material, social and cultural environment as a source for abductive ideas. This approach suggests a "trialogical" model in which inquirers are fundamentally connected both to other inquirers and to the objects of inquiry. As for the classical Meno paradox about discovery, I show that abduction provides more than one answer. As my main example of abductive methodology, I analyze the process of Ignaz Semmelweis' research on childbed fever. A central basis for abduction is the claim that discovery is not a sequence of events governed only by processes of chance. Abduction treats those processes which both constrain and instigate the search for new ideas; starting from the use of clues as a starting point for discovery, but continuing in considerations like elegance and 'loveliness'. The study then continues a Peircean-Hansonian research programme by developing abduction as a way of analyzing processes of discovery.
Resumo:
Treasures of a Patriot Eliel Aspelin-Haapkylä as an art collector and art historian Treasures of a Patriot is a study of Eliel Aspelin-Haapkylä (1847 - 1917), professor of aesthetics and modern literature, as an art collector and art historian. The study combines the biographical perspective, art history as a discipline in the 19th-century Finland, and Aspelin-Haapkylä s art historical scholarship. My intention was to answer to questions such as what kind of an art collector an academic art historian was, why he collected art and cultural-historical objects and what the purpose of his collecting was. Aspelin-Haapkylä was an ideal choice for the main character because the ideologies of the era, culture, art and European ideas, especially German ideas about museums, are intertwined in his life. In addition, the ideas of the Fennomen can be found in his ideological background. Together with his wife, Ida Aspelin-Haapkylä, he bequeathed a rich donation to the National Museum of Finland, and a wideranging archive concerning the collection, his writings, and letters to the Finnish Literature Society. I have highlighted the materials from the archives related both to the collection and art history, especially the letters between Aspelin-Haapkylä and artists, fellow members of academia, his spouse and relatives. The content and the structure of the research are divided into seven main chapters. First, I discuss Susan M. Pearce s theory of collecting and the history of collecting. I also introduce some other art historians who were private collectors. The late 19th-century Fennomen and other nationalists who were active in cultural life and the arts, are introduced in the second chapter. In the third I deal with Aspelin-Haapkylä s collection of European art combined with his writings, his early published works, studies and many trips to Europe. The fourth and the fifth chapters are dedicated to those Finnish artists who he wrote biographies of, and the artists of his own era whom he supported. The sixth chapter discusses institutions and channels of influence and power through which the initiative to found the National Museum of Finland, his action in the Antell Delegation and co-operation with the art merchant Henryk Bukowski, rise up to the fore. Finally, I process the last will and the fate of the collection from 1917 until 1932. As an appendix, I have included a report and reconstruction of the art collection. The catalogue is based on the words in Aspelin-Haapkylä s the so-called blue notebooks, which I have completed with additions from other sources.
Resumo:
Tuure Junnila, PhD (1910-1999) was one of Finland's most renowned conservative politicians of the post-war period. Junnila is remembered primarily as a persistent opponent of Urho Kekkonen, a long-term Member of Parliament, a conspicuous opposition member and a prolific political writer. Junnila's ideologies and political views were conservative, and he is one of the most outstanding figures in the history of the National Coalition Party. Junnila also made an extensive career outside of politics, first as an economist and then as an executive of Finland's leading commercial bank Kansallis-Osake-Pankki. The Young Conservative is a partial biography written using traditional historical research methods, which examines Junnila's personal history and his activity in public life up to 1956. The study begins by investigating Junnila's background through his childhood, school years, university studies and early professional career. It also looks at Junnila's work as an economist and practical banker. Particular attention is paid to Junnila's political work, constantly focusing on the following five often overlapping areas: (1) economic policy, (2) domestic policy, (3) foreign and security policy, (4) Junnila and Urho Kekkonen, (5) Junnila, the Coalition Party and Finnish conservatism. In his economic policy, Junnila emphasised the importance of economic stability, opposed socialisation and the growth of public expenditure, defended the free market system and private entrepreneurship, and demanded tax cuts. This policy was very popular within the Coalition Party during the early 1950s, making Junnila the leading conservative economic politician of the time. In terms of domestic policy, Junnila demanded as early as the 1940s that a "third force" should be established in Finland to counterbalance the agrarian and labour parties by uniting conservative and liberal ideologies under the same roof. Foreign and security policy is the area of Junnila's political activity which is most clearly situated after the mid-1950s. However, Junnila's early speeches and writings already show a striving towards the unconditional neutrality modelled by Switzerland and Sweden and a strong emphasis on Finland's right to internal self-determination. Junnila, as did the Coalition Party as a whole, adopted a consistently critical approach towards Urho Kekkonen between 1951 and 1956, but this attitude was not as bluntly negative and all-round antagonistic as many previous studies have implied. Junnila was one of the leading Finnish conservatives of the early 1950s and in all essence his views were analogous to the general alignment of the Coalition Party at the time: conservative in ideology and general policy, and liberal in economic policy.
Resumo:
This dissertation analyses the notions of progress and common good in Swedish political language during the Age of Liberty (1719 1772). The method used is conceptual analysis, but this study is also a contribution to the history of political ideas and political culture, aiming at a broader understanding of how the bounds of political community were conceptualised and represented in eighteenth-century Sweden. The research is based on the official documents of the regime, such as the fundamental laws and the solemn speeches made at the opening and closing of the Diet, on normative or alternative descriptions of society such as history works and economic literature, and on practical political writings by the Diet and its members. The rhetoric of common good and particular interest is thus examined both in its consensual and theoretical contexts and in practical politics. Central political issues addressed include the extent of economic liberties, the question of freedom to print, the meaning of privilege, the position of particular estates or social groups and the economic interests of particular areas or persons. This research shows that the modern Swedish word for progress (framsteg) was still only rarely used in the eighteenth century, while the notion of progress, growth and success existed in a variety of closely related terms and metaphorical expressions. The more traditional concept of common good (allmänna bästa) was used in several variants, some of which explicitly related to utility and interest. The combination of public utility and private interest in political discourse challenged traditional ideals of political morality, where virtue had been the fundament of common good. The progress of society was also presented as being linked to the progress of liberty, knowledge and wealth in a way that can be described as characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment but which also points at the appearance of early liberal thought.
Resumo:
The study analyses the prevention or endorsing of the crime of infanticide in Finland 1702 1807, rather than the result. Also the impacts of the female body, biology of childbirth and experiences of pregnancy are examined, together with insights from modern medical research. Circumstances are reconstructed by a critical reading of judicial records on all levels of the judicial system. In all 269 cases of infanticide and 142 accessory crimes within the jurisdiction of the Turku court of appeal are studied, with particular focus on exceptionally well recorded cases of 83 accused women and 41 women and men accused of being party to the crime. Secondary sources are medical and jurisprudential writings, the public debate on infanticide, broadsheets and letters asking the King for pardon. Infanticide was considered murder by law. Unmarried women were predetermined as the main culprits. Nevertheless, deliberate infanticides were rare and committed mostly in accomplice. The majority of the infanticides studied were cases where inexperienced and unmarried women accidentally had given birth alone and usually to a dead child. Unaware that the pain they were experiencing was in fact a labour, the accused women instinctively sought solitude to push out the child. Some misunderstood the birth as an urgent need to defecate. The unexpected delivery ended in hiding the baby without remorse. This crime was promoted by several factors in Finnish rural culture, amongst others that also married women hid their pregnancy. The immediate household members did not necessarily know about the childbirth and failed to help the woman. This typical pattern in most cases of infanticide in 18th century Finland is also recorded in modern cases of unknown pregnancies. Fear of accountability prevented witnesses testifying to the actual course of events. The truth remained elusive. With only a few exceptions, the women were sentenced to death or imprisonment. The majority of those accused of accomplice were acquitted. However, too harsh sentences for accidents affected the reporting of the crime. Criminal politics failed to curtail infanticide as the crime was unsatisfactorily addressed by law, society and the judicial system.
Resumo:
The Turku castle, founded c. 1300, has changed over the centuries from a medieval defensive structure into a Renaissance palace and from a derelict jailhouse in the late 19th century into a prime example of the Medieval built heritage in Finland. Today, it is first and foremost a monument to the Medieval and Renaissance heyday of the castle. This is apparent in the architectural forms that have been carefully restored and reconstructed. It also becomes clear in all kinds of narratives, both visual (like the set of miniatures about the different stages of the construction of the castle) and textual (as during the guided tours). For the first time in the architectural history of the Turku castle, the Medieval, the Renaissance, the Modern, and the Present as architecturally constructed or reconstructed spaces can all be visited within the same hour. As a result, the monumental Turku castle may even be deemed anachronistic or inauthentic. In this study I look at the ways in which the Turku castle is, indeed, anachronistic and inauthentic. My main objective, however, is to find ways in which the anachronisms and inauthenticities are overcome in a positive way. I base my analysis of the Turku castle on three theoretical standpoints. First, I am studying the castle as space, described by Michel de Certeau as a practiced place (de Certeau 2002). Second, I am approaching the numerous narrative aspects of the castle following Paul Ricoeur s analysis of narrative as a threefold mimetic process (Ricoeur 1990). From these two theoretical settings I have summoned the concept of narrative space. The life and work at the castle are based on expectations and understandings of the historical surroundings. My third theoretical choice is to study this applied knowledge of the place as the management of blocks of knowledge in communication (Robert de Beaugrande 1980). Combining the theoretical starting points of space and narrative , I am approaching the castle as if it were an evolving set of narratives, narrated in space but also through space. Seeing e.g. the restoration teams of the mid-20th century and the present day tour guides as creative narrators, I am looking beyond the dilemma of the anachronistic spaces. What transpires is an inter-connected web of texts and spaces, tangible and intangible narratives. My analytical key to these narrative relationships is the threefold mimetic process of pre-figuration, con-figuration, and re-figuration, inspired by the writings of Paul Ricoeur (1990). This way, the past can be seen as a pool of endless possibilities to emplot place, time, and action into a narrative space. The narratives convey images of the past that may be contested by other images, and the power to narrate in the first place can be challenged and re-distributed.
Resumo:
A Priviledged Gender? The Question of Authority in the Feminist Theology of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Elisbeth Schüssler Fiorenza (b. 1938) is one of the pioneers of Christian feminist theology. The aim of this study is to analyze what she understands by the authority of women as (re)interpreters of the Bible and the Christian tradition. The research method is conceptual analysis, and the sources consist of Schüssler Fiorenza s key writings from 1975 to 2006. The starting point of the study is Schüssler Fiorenza s definition of the task of feminist theology as claiming women s intellectual-religious authority. It is assumed that the issue of authority offers an angle from which Schüssler Fiorenza s feminist theology can be understood as a whole. It is also supposed that the notion of authority opens up a perspective on the way Schüssler Fiorenza dialogues with non-theological feminist theory in her writings. The analysis is first directed to five key concepts of Schüssler Fiorenza s work: authority, patriarchy, androcentrism, gender and women-church, i.e. the ekklesia of wo/men. Special attention is given to her gender-theoretical considerations and her neologism wo/men, by which she refers to women and marginalized men. The aim of this conceptual analysis is to clarify her thought on the subjects of feminist theology. In addition, Schüssler Fiorenza s dialogue with other feminist scholars is evaluated. It is argued that eclecticism characterizes her way of treating non-theological feminist theory. Rewriting early Christian history from a feminist perspective is at the core of Schüssler Fiorenza s scholarship. From her early writings on, she argues for women s authority to define the Christian religion, past and present. In the 1990s Schüssler Fiorenza s theoretical background is feminist standpoint epistemology, and she represents feminist women as an epistemologically priviledged group. Later she claims to defend the epistemic authority of all those wo/men women and men who want to produce emancipatory knowledge. The analysis of Schüssler Fiorenza s work on feminist biblical interpretation shows that her stated aim to regard both women and men as subjects of feminist theology is not realized in the actual descriptions of her hermeneutical model. In fact, Schüssler Fiorenza argues for the authority of feminist women to interpret the Bible in their own interests . Thus in her work, women seem to figure as representatives of the priviledged gender in the field of biblical and theological knowledge.
Resumo:
The emperor of our fatherland The changing national identity of the elite and the construction of the Finnish fatherland at the beginning of the autonomy This study addresses the question of changing national identity of the elite at the beginning of the autonomy (1808 1814) in Finland. Russia had conquered Finland from Sweden, but Finland was not incorporated into the Russian Empire. Instead, it was governed as separately administered area, and Finland retained its own (laws of the realm of Sweden) laws. The inclusion in the Russian Empire compelled the elite of Finland to deliberate their national identity; they had to determine whether they remained Swedes or became Finns or Russians. The elite chose to become Finns, which may seem obvious from the nowadays perspective, but it cannot be taken for granted that the Swedish speaking and noble elite converted their local Finnish identity into a new national identity. The basis of this study is constructive in a sense that identity is not seen as stable and constant. Theoretical background lies on Stuart Hall s writings on national identity, which offer good practical methods to study national identity. According to Hall identity is based mainly on difference , difference to others . In practice this means how elite began to define themselves in contrast to Swedes and Russians. The Finnish national identity was constructed in contrast to Swedes due to the political reasons. In order to avoid Russians suspicions Finns had to diverge from Sweden. Sweden had also gone trough coup d état, which was disliked by the elite of Finland. However, the attitudes of the elite towards Sweden remained somewhat ambiguous. Even if it was politically and rationally thinking wisest to draw away from Sweden, emotionally it was difficult. Russia, on the other hand, had been for centuries the archenemy of the Finns as well as all the Swedes. The fear of the Russians was mainly imaginary. Russians were seen as cruel barbarians who hated and resented Finns. The Finnish national identity was constructed above all in contrast to the Russians, for the difference to Russia was seen as a precondition for the existence of Finland. Respectively, the new position of Finland also required approaching towards Russia, which was in its nature very pragmatic. The elite contrived to get rid off its prejudice against Russians on intellectual level, but not on emotional level. At the beginning of the autonomy the primary loyalty of the elite was directed into the Finnish fatherland and its habitants. This was a radical ideological change, because traditionally the loyalty of the elite had focused on monarch and monarch s realm. However, the role of Alexander I was crucial. According to the elite the emperor had granted them a new fatherland. The former native country (Finland) was seen as a new fatherland instead of Sweden. The loyalty of the elite to the emperor generated from the reciprocal gratitude; Alexander I had treated their native country so mercifully. The elite felt strong personal responsibility for Finland s existence. The elite believed that the future of Finland rested on their shoulders. Alexander I had given them fatherland, but it was in the hands of the elite to construct the Finnish state and national spirit. The study of the Finnish national identity brings forth also that the national identity was constructed by emphasizing Finns civic rights. The civic rights were essential part of the construction of the Finnish national identity, for the difference between Finns and Russians was based on Finns own laws and privileges, which the emperor of the Russia had ensured.
Resumo:
The subject of my research is the romantic dating culture, the practice of 'going with', among preadolescents ('tweens') in Finland during the 1990s. Preadolescence is a cultural construction of the post-industrial period, experienced by school students between the ages of 7 to 13. Deemed by researchers as a shallow, unchallenging and uninteresting period, it has been shadowed in previous studies by early childhood and puberty. This study combines paradigms of the folkloristic research of children's lore, which began in the 1970s, with those of later, turn-of-the-century girls study. The phenomena of romantic girl culture are studied in several ways, through ample and varied subject materials collected in different places at different times. The research material was collected directly from schoolchildren through interviews, questionnaires and the observations of preadolescents' behavior in discos, among other methods. Part of the material consists of reminiscent thematic writings and parts have been quoted from tween message boards. A general picture of romantic preadolescent dating culture is formed in this study from five previously published articles and a summary. The influence of western culture, with its respect for relationships, is evident in tween dating culture. Seven- to thirteen-year olds use the elements of the society around them to construct an appropriate way for themselves to 'go out' with someone. Many expressions in preadolescent dating culture are contrary to the models of adult relationships. For example, a couple isn't necessarily expected to meet each other even once, or the other party, the boy, doesn't even need to know he's dating someone. Girls organize and experience relationships by playing card fortune-telling, calculating 'Love Percentages', and other methods. Categorizing tween dating culture and its related emotional qualities from an adult point of view as simply a play is one example of the hierarchical system of generations where childhood emotions, actions and conceptions of reality aren't valued as highly as the 'real life' of adults. Lowest on the totem pole are little girls, who in this study get their voices backed up by the researcher's adulthood and research-based sisterhood. Keywords: childhood, children's lore, dating culture, girls and boys, girls study, fortune-telling games, preadolescence/tweens
Resumo:
The study approaches two modern novels using the conceptual frame of Lacanian psychoanalysis, especially the Lacanian notion of subject. The novels can be described as subversive “Bildungsromans” (development novels) highly influenced by psychoanalytic thought. Anaïs Nin’s (1903—1977) “poetic novel” House of Incest (1936) is a story of sexual and artistic awakening while Hélène Cixous’s (b. 1937) first novel Dedans (1969) depicts the growth of a little girl whose father dies. Both are first novels and first person narratives. Concentrating in the narrator’s internal life the novels writings break with the realistic conventions of narrative, bringing forth the themes of anguish, alienation from the world and escape into the prison like realm of the self. The study follows roughly the Lacanian process of becoming a subject. Each chapter opens up with a quick introduction to the Lacanian concepts used in the following part that analyses the novels. The study can thus also be used as a brief introduction to Lacanian theory in finnish. The psychoanalytic narrative/story of the birth of the subject and the novels stories can be seen as mirroring each other. The method of the study is thus based on a dialogue between the theoretical concepts and the analyses. Novels are being approached as texts that break with the Cartesian notion of an autonomous subject making room for a dialectics of self and other, for a movement in which the “I” builds an identity mirroring itself with others. While both of the novels recount the birth of a character called I, they also have a first person narrator apart from the character “I”. Having constituted the self’s identity, the narrator finds from inside of the self also an other or “you” – this discovery is the final clue to the coffin of the autonomous self. From the Lacanian perspective man’s great Other is the order of language, Symbolic, which constitutes the individual, the speaking subject. Using this perspective the novels are interpreted as describing the process of becoming a subject of the Symbolic; subjected to Symbolic order. This “birth process” happens in particular in the Imaginary register, where the self’s identity is built. In the Imaginary or Mirror phase the “I” mirrors himself with different others (e.g. with his mirror image and the family members, the surrounding others) learning to see his body and his selfhood both as familiar and strange, other. In the Imaginary phase the novels’ characters are also trying to deal with the opposite realm of the Symcolic, the Real. The Lacanian Real is not the reality “before words” but a reality left over from the Symbolic, aside of it but constituted by the Symbolic, to be deducted only from within it. In the novels the Real is experienced as a womblike state where the self is immersed in the other’s body. The process of coming a subject of the Symbolic is depicted also as a process of renouncing the “dream of the womb”, which, if realized, could only mean the non-existence of the subject, i.e. death. The study concentrates on analysing the novels’ writing, where meanings are constantly changing: “I” becomes you, the father becomes a mother, inside becomes outside. This technique enables also the deconstruction of certain opposing notions in the novels. The Lacanian point of view exposes language as a constantly moving universe where the subject has no more stability than the momentary meanings language creates. The self’s identity depicted in the novels is a Lacanian fixed identity, whose growth is necessary but opposes the flux imminent to the Symbolic. The anguish experienced in the novels, in the “house of incest” or “inside”, is due to clinging on the unchanging “I”. However, the writing of the novels shows how the meaning of the “I” changes constantly and the fixity thus becomes movement. This way House of Incest and Dedans, despite their pessimistic stories, manage to create an image of a new, moving subject.
Resumo:
Poetics of Awakenings. Genres and Intertexts in Arvid Järnefelt s Novels Isänmaa, Maaemon lapsia and Veneh ojalaiset This doctoral dissertation focuses on Arvid Järnefelt s (1961 1932) novels Isänmaa (1893), Maaemon lapsia (1905) and Veneh ojalaiset (1909). The study applies the genre theory and concepts Alastair Fowler has introduced in his Kinds of Literature (1982). Fowler s theory of the novel is developed further and applied to Finnish realist novels. The generic analysis is supplemented by intertextual analysis, which is mainly based on the idea of specific intertextual relations as presented by Kiril Taranovsky. Generic and intertextual analyses form the basis for hermeneutic interpretation, in which attention is paid to the fact that the novels are written by the designated writer in specific historical and cultural circumstances. Instead of the author s intention , the study focuses on the realised intention , in other words the novels as they are published. Järnefelt s first novel Isänmaa is understood to be a classical Bidungsroman that depicts the socialisation of a young male protagonist. From an intertextual point of view, the novel appears to be a novel of conversion, too, due to the biblical allusions concealed in the depiction of the events. Furthermore, Isänmaa is seen to stand in an intertextual relation to Hegel s, Snellman s and Topelius s writings. Maaemon lapsia is argued to be a thesis novel, which persuades the reader to adopt a certain ideological and political stance, namely Henry George s view on the private ownership of land. The novel is modulated by the generic repertoires of fairy tale and tragedy. The mythical frame of the novel supports the thesis novel, as it gives universal validity to the particular events depicted in the novel. Maaemon lapsia also comments on the contemporary political debate on the relations between Finland and Russia by presenting the relationship as analogous to the relationship between tenant farmer and landowner. Veneh ojalaiset exhibits a wide range of genres. Comic, tragic and mythical mode is combined with, for example, family novel, romance, conversion novel and revolutionary novel. From a rhetorical viewpoint, the novel is an apology, which accuses society of generating criminality by means of unjust laws and procedures. The novel discusses the question of resistance to evil by using the themes of Faust and Job, as well as by confronting the philosophies of Epictetus and Nietzsche. The novel is a thesis novel, which disputes the possibility of violent revolution as a way to a better society and recommends passive resistance for an individual living in an unjust society. The poetics of Järnefelt s novels is regarded as the poetics of conversion, as all the novels in focus depict the protagonist s awakening to see the society in a new light, be it a patriotic vision of the reality or a conception of the unfairness of society.
Resumo:
From the field to the academic sphere how teachers professional identities and roles have changed in post-war Finland This study explores teacher autobiographies. The span of the writings extends mainly from the Second World War to the new millennium. The autobiographers are mostly elementary and secondary school teachers in Finland, although there are a few who have worked in vocational schools, polytechnic institutes or one of the various adult education centres. The researcher is aware of the diversity among those educational institutions and their teachers, but wanted to concentrate on similarities rather than differences. The autobiographers have been explored with four different research questions in view. The first was to identify professional and personal elements and themes mentioned by teachers in writing about themselves. The second was to identify the factors that have affected those elements and themes. The third was to examine the kinds of literary forms teachers used in their autobiographies. The fourth was the most crucial and an endeavour to connect the previous questions: how teachers professional identities and roles have changed during the period studied. In the first five chapters the teachers voices come through clearly. Two of these chapters are organized in chronological order. The first is about childhood, youth and the time spent in school, the second deals with the years studying in university or teachers college and finally being recruited to the teachers. In these chapters the rural background of many teachers stands out, an issue that also emerged symbolically or de facto in the autobiographies. The chronological scheme changes to a thematic order, in which social matters (students, parents, colleagues) and teachers working circumstances are dealt with. Four selected autobiographies are examined closely. In these autobiographies five different types of teacher narratives can be identified. To begin with, teachers stressed their vocation, which is quite a normal work orientation for those working in the educational field. Others emphasised how they were looking for professional development; a few wrote about personal advancement as well. There are also narratives by teachers who simply drifted into the profession of teaching, while a few teachers felt unwelcome in their own schools. As for the changes that teachers have witnessed, there are also some themes that are widely shared. Most pointed out how the teacher has become more foster parent than educator, as real parents have withdrawn from their responsibilities of raising children. This theme was frequently broached, although attitude towards it and ways of handling the phenomenon differed substantially. Teachers also stressed how their profession has lost the aura and prestige it once had. At the same time teachers are being expected to collaborate more with their colleagues, which is not in line with the centuries-old tradition of working alone. Teachers seem to be in a state of flux, buffeted by elements of stability and change interacting simultaneously. Many teachers are demanding a re-examination of their working reality. Teachers long and intimate relationship with society and the state may be at a crossroads. Key words: teachers professional identity and role, autobiographical study, post-war Finland