Fiction and reality in "The Kindly Ones" of Jonathan Littell

This paper studies the novel The Kindly Ones, whose main plot charts the anguished memories of a Nazi officer. The reader of this novel is plunged into the harshest atrocities of the Holocaust and WWII, as these are recounted by a perverse conscience who is unmoved by the most terrible actions. Fiction and reality are contrasted in the novel against the framework of history writing and the subsequent debates sparked by historical elaboration. This novel perceptively captures historical truth, thus calling for critical attention upon the collective responsibility which will prevent the repetition of events.

Flash-Sintering and Characterization of La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3-δ Electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

La_0.8Sr_0.2Ga_0.8Mg_0.2O_3-δ (LSGM), a promising electrolyte material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells, can be sintered to a fully dense state by a flash-sintering technique. In this work, LSGM is sintered by the current-limiting flash-sintering process at 690°C under an electric field of 100 V cm^-1, in comparison with up to 1400°C or even higher temperature in conventional furnace sintering. The resultant LSGM samples are investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The SEM images exhibit well-densified microstructures while XRD results show that the perovskite structure after flash-sintering does not changed. EIS results show that the conductivity of LSGM sintered by the current-limiting flash-sintering process increases with sintering current density value. The conductivity of samples sintered at 120 mA mm^-2 reaches 0.049 σ cm^-1 at 800°C, which is approximate to the value of conventional sintered LSGM samples at 1400°C. Additionally, the flash-sintering process is interpreted by Joule heating theory. Therefore, the current-limiting flash-sintering technique is proved to be an energy-efficient and eligible approach for the densification of LSGM and other materials requiring high sintering temperature.

Literary Studies in the Border Zone : International Students Studying American Fiction in Dalarna

Det amerikanska subjektets rekonstruktion: en studie av prisbelönad amerikansk skönlitterär prosa från 1990-talet

Intermédialité et déconstruction de la fiction chez Alain Robbe-Gillet - Analyse comparative de "La maison de rendez-vous" et de "L'homme qui ment"

Alain Robbe-Grillet, d’abord connu en tant que romancier, a dès le début des années 1960 partagé son temps entre le cinéma et la littérature. Après avoir fourni le scénario de L’année dernière à Marienbad, il est passé derrière la caméra et a réalisé une dizaine de films qui, tant par leur forme que leur propos, poursuivent les recherches esthétiques entreprises dans sa pratique littéraire. Plus encore, il nous semble que le début de cette aventure cinématographique marque un tournant dans son œuvre. Alors que le point de vue qui portait les premiers romans — point de vue que les critiques ont rapproché de celui d’une caméra —, marquait déjà la dimension intermédiale de son œuvre, il apparaît que son passage dans la chaise du réalisateur a été le germe d’une radicalisation de sa pratique. Ainsi, les romans et les films qui ont suivi possèdent une portée intermédiale beaucoup plus large. De fait, c’est l’ensemble de la narration qui s’y trouve remise en question par la mise en évidence des spécificités de chacun des médias et par la transposition de procédés propres à la littérature dans le film, et vice versa. C’est par une étude comparative de La maison de rendez-vous (1965) et de L’homme qui ment (1968) que nous montrons en quoi consiste la relation intermédiale que Robbe-Grillet établit entre les disciplines, en plus de mettre en évidence les mécaniques qui, ancrées dans la matérialité des médias, fondent le roman et le film.

Un approccio analitico innovativo per lo studio della frazione volatile di oli vergini da olive: Flash-Gascromatography E-Nose

Lo scopo di questo lavoro di tesi è stato quello di studiare l’efficacia e l’applicabilità dello strumento HERACLES II Flash Gas Chromatography Electronic Nose mediante l’analisi di un set molto ampio di campioni di oli d’oliva vergini reperiti presso un concorso nazionale. Nello specifico, mediante elaborazioni di statistica multivariata dei dati, è stata valutata sia la capacità discriminante del metodo per campioni caratterizzati da un diverso profilo sensoriale, sia la correlazione esistente tra l’intensità delle sensazioni percepite per via sensoriale ed i dati ottenuti mediante l’analisi strumentale. La valutazione delle caratteristiche sensoriali dei campioni è stata realizzata in occasione dello stesso concorso da parte di un gruppo di giudici esperti e secondo le modalità stabilite dai regolamenti comunitari. Ogni campione è stato valutato da almeno 8 assaggiatori che hanno determinato l’intensità di caratteristiche olfattive (eventuali difetti, fruttato e note secondarie positive) e gustative (amaro e piccante). La determinazione dei composti volatili, invece, è stata condotta mediante lo strumento HERACLES II Electronic Nose (AlphaMOS), dotato di due colonne cromatografiche caratterizzate da diversa polarità (MXT-5 con fase stazionaria apolare e MXT-WAX con fase stazionaria polare), ciascuna collegata ad un rivelatore di tipo FID. L’elaborazione multivariata dei dati è stata realizzata mediante il software in dotazione con lo strumento.

Visualising Spaces: The Illustrated Map as a Mode of Communicating Fact, Fiction and Feeling

Communicating thoughts, facts and narratives through visual devices such as allegory or symbolism was fundamental to early map making and this remains the case with contemporary illustration. Drawing was employed then as a way of describing historic narratives (fact and folklore) through the convenience of a drawn symbol or character. The map creators were visionaries, depicting known discoveries and anticipating what existed beyond the agreed boundaries. As we now have photographic and virtual reality maps at our disposal, how can illustration develop the language of what a map is and can be? How can we break the rules of map design and yet still communicate the idea of a sense of place with the aim to inform, excite and/or educate the ‘traveller’? As Illustrators we need to question the purpose of creating a ‘map’: what do we want to communicate and is representational image making the only way to present information of a location? Is creating a more personal interpretation a form of cartouche, reminiscent of elements within the Hereford Mappa Mundi and maps of Blaeu, and can this improve/hinder the communicative aspect of the map? Looking at a variety of historical and contemporary illustrated maps and artists (such as Grayson Perry), who track their journeys through drawing, both conventional journeys and emotional, I will aim to prove that the illustrated map is not mere decoration but is a visual language providing an allegorical response to tangible places and personal feelings.

Narrative Matters: ‘The third space’ in Adolescent and Young Adult Fiction

In his article ‘Narrative Matters’, Gordon Bates (Bates, 2016) discusses the relevance of the humanities, and in particular that of fiction, in helping us to understand the experiences and problems of adolescents suffering men- tal health problems. Notably, the number of novels pub- lished for children and adolescents that focus on mental health problems has risen considerably since the begin- ning of this century. The ‘Goodreads’ (Goodreads, 2016) website lists more than 1000 fiction titles on matters pertaining to mental illness published for the UK and US markets since 2000.

Writing Violence: the legal, moral and aesthetic Implications of creative non-fiction.

This essay began as a hybrid critical/creative paper that was presented as part of an all-female panel discussing the intersections between writing and extreme violence. My own paper was on the relationship between my creative nonfiction novel The Museum of Atheism and the real life murder of six-year-old beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey. This essay is an attempt to represent the writing process of the creative nonfiction author, and to consider the ways in which critical theory can be used to highlight, or conversely obscure, fictional writing. In addition to considering the effect of using a real story, a true crime, as the basis for a semi-fictional work, this essay will also consider the relationship I had as a writer to my publisher, editor and agent, and their interventions in the writing process to ensure that facts were deliberately skewed or warped in order to avoid litigation. Finally, I will consider my own relationship to the material, and the impact that this had on the writing process.