Critical Modesty in Contemporary Fiction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thom Dancer
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Contemporary Fiction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
The World ◽  
Intractable Problems ◽  
The Face ◽  
Ian Mcewan ◽  
Zadie Smith

From climate catastrophe to pandemics and economic crises, the problems facing humanity today are impossibly complicated and planetary in scale. Critical Modesty in Contemporary Fiction makes the surprising but compelling claim that it is precisely by culitvating a modest temperament that contemporary fiction can play an central role in conbating the despair that many of us feel in the face of such enormous and intractable problems. This new temperament of critical modesty locates the fight for freedom and human dignity within the limited and compromised conditions in which we find ourselves. Through readings of Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, J. M. Coetzee, and David Mitchell, Critical Modesty in Contemporary Fiction shows us how contemporary works of literature model modesty as a critical temperament. Exploring modest forms of entangled human agency that represent an alternative to the novel of the large scale that have been most closely associated with the Anthropocene, Dancer builds a case that the novel has the potential to play a more important socio-cultural role than it has done. In doing so, the book offers an engaging response to the debate over post-critical and surface readings, bringing novels themselves into the conversation and arguing for a fictional mode that is both critical and modest, reminding us how much we are already engaged with the world, implicated and compromised, before we start developing theories, writing stories, or acting within it.

Mansfield Park

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Austen ◽  
Jane Stabler
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Mansfield Park ◽  
Sexual Jealousy ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face

‘Me!’ cried Fanny … ‘Indeed you must excuse me. I could not act any thing if you were to give me the world. No, indeed, I cannot act.’ At the age of ten, Fanny Price leaves the poverty of her Portsmouth home to be brought up among the family of her wealthy uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, in the chilly grandeur of Mansfield Park. There she accepts her lowly status, and gradually falls in love with her cousin Edmund. When the dazzling and sophisticated Henry and Mary Crawford arrive, Fanny watches as her cousins become embroiled in rivalry and sexual jealousy. As the company starts to rehearse a play by way of entertainment, Fanny struggles to retain her independence in the face of the Crawfords’ dangerous attractions; and when Henry turns his attentions to her, the drama really begins… This new edition does full justice to Austen’s complex and subtle story, placing it in its Regency context and elucidating the theatrical background that pervades the novel.

NEW INSPIRATION FROM CHINA'S PHILOSOPHY OF "UNITY OF MAN AND HEAVEN": CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS UNDER THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
PU JINGXIN
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Type ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Ancient Chinese ◽  
Self Protection ◽  
Harmonious Community

Abstract: The danger of the novel coronavirus has not yet come to an end, and new variants have begun to attack the world. What philosophy should humankind’s strategy be based on when human society as a group is fighting against Covid-19, as the pandemic ravages the world? Unfortunately, political leaders of various countries have failed to achieve the overall awareness of attacking the pandemic for a shared future for mankind so far. In the face of the pandemic, mankind as a whole urgently needs to break through the narrow nation-oriented ideology of seeking only self-protection. The International Community should establish a new type of international cooperation featuring the concept of harmony of "all things under heaven as a unity". The international relations system dominated by the power ofwestern discourse is now in a bottleneck. The main aim of this article is to study the ancient Chinese wisdom of "the Unity of Man and Heaven" philosophy and build a global harmonious community. The author argues that the “export” of the aforementioned wisdom must be a priority for Chinese scholars. Keywords: Tao; Unity of Man and Heaven; Novel Coronavirus; Anthropocentrism; Harmony.

scholarly journals Local Evolutionary Patterns of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus Derived from Whole-Genome Sequencing

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 3444-3454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles N. Agoti ◽  
James R. Otieno ◽  
Patrick K. Munywoki ◽  
Alexander G. Mwihuri ◽  
Patricia A. Cane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Syncytial Virus ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Genomic Sequences ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Sequencing Method ◽  
The World ◽  
Syncytial Virus

ABSTRACTHuman respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with severe childhood respiratory infections. A clear description of local RSV molecular epidemiology, evolution, and transmission requires detailed sequence data and can inform new strategies for virus control and vaccine development. We have generated 27 complete or nearly complete genomes of RSV from hospitalized children attending a rural coastal district hospital in Kilifi, Kenya, over a 10-year period using a novel full-genome deep-sequencing process. Phylogenetic analysis of the new genomes demonstrated the existence and cocirculation of multiple genotypes in both RSV A and B groups in Kilifi. Comparison of local versus global strains demonstrated that most RSV A variants observed locally in Kilifi were also seen in other parts of the world, while the Kilifi RSV B genomes encoded a high degree of variation that was not observed in other parts of the world. The nucleotide substitution rates for the individual open reading frames (ORFs) were highest in the regions encoding the attachment (G) glycoprotein and the NS2 protein. The analysis of RSV full genomes, compared to subgenomic regions, provided more precise estimates of the RSV sequence changes and revealed important patterns of RSV genomic variation and global movement. The novel sequencing method and the new RSV genomic sequences reported here expand our knowledge base for large-scale RSV epidemiological and transmission studies.IMPORTANCEThe new RSV genomic sequences and the novel sequencing method reported here provide important data for understanding RSV transmission and vaccine development. Given the complex interplay between RSV A and RSV B infections, the existence of local RSV B evolution is an important factor in vaccine deployment.

scholarly journals A Synthesis of Opportunities for Applying the Telecoupling Framework to Marine Protected Areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4450
Author(s):  
Vanessa Hull ◽  
Christian J. Rivera ◽  
Chad Wong
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Polluted Water ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
Anthropogenic Threats

The world’s oceans face unprecedented anthropogenic threats in the globalized era that originate from all over the world, including climate change, global trade and transportation, and pollution. Marine protected areas (MPAs) serve important roles in conservation of marine biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, but their success is increasingly challenged in the face of such large-scale threats. Here, we illustrate the utility of adopting the interdisciplinary telecoupling framework to better understand effects that originate from distant places and cross MPA boundaries (e.g., polluted water circulation, anthropogenic noise transport, human and animal migration). We review evidence of distal processes affecting MPAs and the cutting-edge approaches currently used to investigate these processes. We then introduce the umbrella framework of telecoupling and explain how it can help address knowledge gaps that exist due to limitations of past approaches that are centered within individual disciplines. We then synthesize five examples from the recent telecoupling literature to explore how the telecoupling framework can be used for MPA research. These examples include the spatial subsidies approach, adapted social network analysis, telecoupled qualitative analysis, telecoupled supply chain analysis, and decision support tools for telecoupling. Our work highlights the potential for the telecoupling framework to better understand and address the mounting and interconnected socioeconomic and environmental sustainability challenges faced by the growing number of MPAs around the world.

scholarly journals Understanding the Anticontagion Process and Reopening of China during COVID-19 via Coevolution Network of Epidemic and Awareness

Complexity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Lingbo Li ◽  
Ying Fan ◽  
An Zeng ◽  
Zengru Di
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Large Scale Data ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Human Movements ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Prevention Methods ◽  
The Impact

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is intensifying all over the world, but some countries, including China, have developed extensive and successful experience in controlling this pandemic. In this context, some questions arise naturally: What can countries caught up in the epidemic learn from China’s experience? In regions where the outbreak is under control, what would lead to a resurgence of the epidemic? To address these issues, we investigate China’s experience in anticontagion interventions and reopening process, focusing on the coevolution of epidemic and awareness during COVID-19 outbreak. Through an empirical analysis based on large-scale data and simulation based on a metapopulation and multilayer network model, we ascertain the impact of human movements and awareness diffusion on the epidemic, elucidate the inherent patterns and effective interventions of different epidemic prevention methods, and highlight the crunch time of each measure. The results are also employed to analyze COVID-19 evolution in other countries so as to find unified rules in complex situations around the world and provide advice on anticontagion and reopening policies. Our findings explain some key mechanisms of epidemic prevention and may help the epidemic analysis and decision-making in various countries suffering from COVID-19.

scholarly journals THE STATE'S RESPONSIBILITY IN THE WELFARE OF PEOPLE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN THE FACE OF COVID-19 FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS

1970 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-198
Author(s):  
Serlika Aprita ◽  
Lilies Anisah
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Problem Solver ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

The Covid-19 pandemic was taking place in almost all countries around the world. Along with the increasingly vigorous government strategy in tackling the spread of the corona virus that was still endemic until now, the government had started to enforce the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) with the signing of Government Regulation (PP) No. 21 of 2020 about PSBB which was considered able to accelerate countermeasures while preventing the spread of corona that was increasingly widespread in Indonesia. The research method used was normative prescriptive. The government put forward the principle of the state as a problem solver. The government minimized the use of region errors as legitimacy to decentralization. The government should facilitated regional best practices in handling the pandemic. Thus, the pandemic can be handled more effectively. The consideration, the region had special needs which were not always accommodated in national policies. The government policy should be able to encourage the birth of regional innovations in handling the pandemic as a form of fulfilling human rights in the field of health. Innovation was useful in getting around the limitations and differences in the context of each region. In principle, decentralization required positive incentives, not penalties. Therefore, incentive-based central policies were more awaited in handling and minimizing the impact of the pandemic.    

scholarly journals The IGNITE Trial: Participant Recruitment Lessons Prior to SARS-CoV-2

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric D. Vidoni ◽  
Amanda Szabo-Reed ◽  
Chaeryon Kang ◽  
Jaime Perales-Puchalt ◽  
Ashley R. Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Trial Participant ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Brain Health ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Phase Iii Trials ◽  
The Face ◽  
Comprehensive Test

AbstractFull and diverse participant enrollment is critical to the success and generalizability of all large-scale Phase III trials. Recruitment of sufficient participants is among the most significant challenges for many studies. The novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic has further changed and challenged the landscape for clinical trial execution, including screening and randomization. The Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) study has been designed as the most comprehensive test of aerobic exercise effects on cognition and brain health. Here we assess recruitment into IGNITE prior to the increased infection rates in the United States, and examine new challenges and opportunities for recruitment with a goal of informing the remaining required recruitment as infection containment procedures are lifted. The results may assist the design and implementation of recruitment for future exercise studies, and outline opportunities for study design that are flexible in the face of emerging threats.

"THE PLAGUE" BY A. CAMUS AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: HUMANITY IN THE FACE OF AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Ryazantsev ◽  
◽  
Alexey V. Smirnov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Albert Camus ◽  
Nobel Prize Winner ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
World Tourism Organization ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Tourism Organization ◽  
The City ◽  
Second World

The novel of the Nobel Prize winner in literature Albert Camus "The Plague" became one of the most widely read books in Europe during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. A number of researchers consider Camus to be an existentialist writer. Existentialism arises, after two bloody wars, to give answers to questions that concern humanity. Since Albert Camus wrote the novel during the Second World War, he understands the plague not only as a disease, but also as German soldiers, whom the inhabitants of France called the "brown plague" because the invaders wore brown shirts. As the inhabitants of the city of Oran resisted the plague on the pages of the work, so the inhabitants of France fought against Nazism and fascism. A. Camus in the novel "The Plague" describes the quarantine measures that take place in the city of Oran in the 40s of the XX century. The consequences of the epidemic and the behavior of the residents described in the novel have much in common with modern coronavirus realities: the decline of the economy, the growth of the number of unemployed, protests against the quarantine measures introduced; the introduction of curfews, the creation of new medicines, etc. In Russia, as in the pages of the novel, there is a decline in the economy. Thus, during the pandemic in Russia, the number of registered unemployed increased from 1.3 million people to 4.8 million, and the appeal to employment centers for support measures increased from 20% to 80%. Camus in his novel writes about the creation of an anti-plague serum, in Russia, the first in the world, a vaccine against coronavirus infection "Sputnik V" was created. The director of the hotel, described in the work, said that due to the epidemic and quarantine, the tourist business disappeared. According to the World Tourism Organization — tourism at the end of 2020 it has decreased by 77% compared to 2019, which is equivalent to the tourist activity that was recorded in the late 80s. Stray animals were shot in Oran, because they believed that they could be carriers of infection. In China, during the Covid-19 pandemic, pets were thrown out of windows because people believed that they could be the source of Covid-19, and in Denmark, more than 11 million minks were exterminated for the same reasons. The authors of this article attempted to analyze the development of the epidemiological process in the novel and plot the mortality rate from the plague according to the data of the work.

Introduction to Critical Modesty

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Thom Dancer
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Fiction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Special Position ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
The World ◽  
Philosophical Pragmatism ◽  
Key Terms

The Introduction examines Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go to explore how the modest and minor mode of thinking practiced in it might be broadened to an emerging set of contemporary fiction, criticism, and theory. Drawing on the work of philosophical pragmatism, the Introduction argues that modesty as a temperament in novels entails the principle that fiction holds no special position outside the world from which to speak about it, and therefore, it frames novelistic expression as a process of thinking. Crucially, recognizing the novel as a process of thinking with the world requires a reciprocal critical modesty in which we understand critical work as something that happens in collaboration with the novel rather than to it. Critical modesty is not a theory or method to be applied but a temperament sourced from the ways texts model their own relations. Thus, the Introduction offers an account of the book’s key terms that follow from the ways that novelists and critics practice critical modesty.

Relocate People to Safer Ground

2019 ◽  
pp. 169-188
Author(s):  
Hill and
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Sudden Onset ◽  
Economic Opportunity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Slow Onset

Whether the world is prepared for it or not, climate change will drive large-scale migration. The impacts of climate change—both slow-onset changes, such as sea-level rise and drought, and sudden-onset events, such as extreme storms and wildfires—push people from their homes. Managed well, migration can yield enormous benefits, offering greater opportunities for those who relocate and injecting new talent and energy into receiver communities. But climate change threatens to unleash “disruptive migration,” that is, sudden migration that could strain social, economic, and political stability. The task ahead in the face of climate change is to encourage managed, gradual migration that minimizes disruption, moves people out of harm’s way, and turns displacement into economic opportunity. This chapter outlines the strategies and tools that exist to make this possible.

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