School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemA reasonable share in the beauty of the Earth: William Morris's culture of nature( 1998)This thesis explores what William Morris meant when he called for a 'reasonable share in the beauty of the earth' for all. Taking its cue from discussion of Morris's work in the 1980s and 1990s, it concentrates on the ways in which this statement represents a particular aggregation and formulation of ideas about nature. It challenges contemporary analyses that value Morris's work only in light of subsequent events—that uncritically celebrate the 'eco-centric' or 'green' Morris-and argues that it is necessary to explore nineteenth-century contexts for Morris's work. Thus it fills a gap in the understanding of Morris's concept of nature by exploring its historical circumstance: its roots and development, assimilations and transformations. It argues that Morris considered the only way to a full and lasting appreciation of nature, and a 'reasonable share in the beauty of the earth' for all, was through a very anthropocentric concern for humanity.
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ItemGeorgette Heyer: writing the Regency: history in fiction from Regency Buck to Lady of Quality 1935-1972( 2004)A determined reticence about her personal life has made Georgette Heyer a difficult subject for analysis. Published 'first crack out of the bag' at the age of nineteen in 1921, Heyer went on to write a total of fifty-six novels, with her last Regency novel published just two years before her death in 1974. She wrote in several different genres, including contemporary, detective-thriller and historical - the last embracing the medieval period, the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She wrote her first 'Regency' in 1935 but did not make the genre her own until 1944 when, in response to demands by her legions of fans, she published Friday's Child. From then on, all of her historical novels were set during the English Regency period of 1811-1820. Although it is now more than eighty years since Georgette Heyer published her first novel and thirty years since her death, her books continue to sell. Yet, in spite of an enduring readership and consistent praise from readers and reviewers, Heyer's novels have attracted very little serious criticism or analysis. The perception that, because she wrote best-selling historical romances, Heyer could not have written anything of lasting value or made any lasting contribution to either history or literature persists and as a result scant heed has been paid to what she actually did write. This is partly a result of Heyer's refusal to give interviews or engage personally with her public; a lack of information has meant that her readers are largely unaware of how she wrote or went about her research, or what she read in order to come to grips with the period. Thus the depth and breadth of her reading have remained unknown and her care and concern for both the historical and literary elements of her books have been increasingly diluted in a continuing evolution of assumptions, generalizations and stereotyping of her work. These perceptions are mostly incorrect, but in the absence of information to the contrary, remain powerfully persistent. Critics and academia adhere to a largely derisive point of view and an ongoing dichotomy exists between them and Heyer's vast and appreciative readership. Thus it is appropriate, in light of substantial new information about her early life, to re-examine Heyer's writing, and, in a detailed analysis of her development as a writer, her methodology and her Regency novels, offer a new view of the author and her work.
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Item‘Building’ and ‘temple’ imagery in the Qumran texts( 1971)The Qumran texts contain a series of passages which refer to the community in various ways as a 'building. A number of these passages would appear to specify this 'building' imagery so as to describe the community as a 'holy building' or as a 'sanctuary'. In frequent association with these 'building' imagery passages there appears the idea of the community as a 'foundation' for the 'true Israel' and as a body making atonement 'for the Land'. In the first part of this work Gartner made a systematic comparative study of the chief passages in the Qumran texts in which the ‘house’ and ‘temple’ imagery was to be found. In the second part he reviewed the relevant New Testament material, adding further loco from the Qumran texts where apposite. In the course of his investigation Gartner revealed striking parallels in ‘community-temple’ imagery between Qumran and the Pauline and non-Pauline letters of the New Testament. In a final section he studied the relationship between the ‘community-temple’ idea and Christology, drawing the conclusion that it is in this area that the major difference between the Qumran ideology and that of the New Testament emerges. The Qumran documents use the ‘temple’ imagery entirely in a collective sense: that is, the members of the community constitute the ‘temple’. In the Gospels Jesus himself is presented as a personal replacement of the Temple as a means of access to God. He is the New Temple. The New Testament Letters do feature the collective image. But the position of the person of Jesus is central. It is in this focus on a single salvation figure that the New Testament concept of the community as ‘temple’ has its major point of distinction from that of Qumran. (From Introduction)
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ItemWith argus eyes: the early life and work of Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz (1839-1911)( 2003)This thesis presents the first full-length study of the life and work of the Austro-Hungarian travel photographer, painter, soldier, diplomat, and entrepreneur Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz (1839-1911). Although long known to collectors and specialists, a just appreciation of his career and practice has been stymied by the lack of basic information. This study focuses on the first half of Stillfried's life and career, from his childhood to his mid-forties, and examines his important role during this period in the visual and cultural exchanges between nineteenth-century Europe and Asia (primarily Japan). It brings together for the first time numerous photographic albums, paintings, and sketches from private and public collections around the world, and places this oeuvre within the context of his itinerant career and international markets. Through a close examination of his activities, this thesis calls for a reassessment of the role of nineteenth-century travel photographers during the era of high colonialism. In recent decades, numerous scholars have argued that the work of nineteenth-century British and French travel photographers served to affirm and reinforce the imperialist positions of those nations. This study insists that we remain sensitive to the different imperial histories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the experiences of its travel photographers. For this reason, chapter one delves into the upbringing and education of Baron Stillfried in order to highlight those aspects of his childhood that informed his world view and provided him with the skills for his itinerant career. Chapter two investigates Stillfried's military campaign in Imperial Mexico under the banner of Emperor Maximilian. Given his commitment to this cause, the ultimate execution of Maximilian suggests an experience of imperial defeat that differs from the militarist bravura of his Anglo-French contemporaries. The biographical investigation of his formative experiences outlined in these opening chapters establishes a framework that enables us to consider the intrinsic ambivalence of his imperial self-identity and expatriate practice. Part II consists of three lengthy chapters each devoted to a separate phase in the Yokohama-based photographic career of Baron Still fried. These chapters outline the rise and fall of his enterprise in the crucial decade of the 1870s, when the Yokohama photographic industry expanded from a local trade into an international export business. The primary objective is to clarify the vexed question of his own work and to demonstrate its quality, diversity, and innovation. Stillfried's activities not only established a benchmark for the souvenir trade, but his work also had an important influence on the international image of Japanese society. This thesis approaches Stillfried's photographs of Japan not as the belated studies of a traditional world soon to fade before the onslaught of modernization, but as the products of the overseas market desire for an authentic culture, and conversely, of the photographer's own anxieties with regard to the rise of indigenous competitors. The intention is to demonstrate the changing nature of his practice and to suggest that the significance of such photographers extends beyond their visual legacy to their role as cross-cultural mediators. Apart from his pictorial work, this study therefore considers his broader historical contribution as an author, lecturer, curio dealer, tourist chaperone, and expert adviser. Finally, the thesis closes with a consideration of his permanent return to Vienna in mid-1883 and the issues of imperial self-identity, belonging, and return from exile, that featured in the opening chapters. This study therefore does not merely present the first detailed examination of an important, but hitherto little-studied nineteenth-century travel photographer, but raises broader issues on the complex position of such figures, both in their country of origin and adopted homes, with the rise of a globalized, interacting modern world.