Haunted by Horrors: Image and Superscription and Spartacus

Lewis Grassic Gibbon ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781789620627.003.0006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 59-68

Author(s):

William K. Malcolm

Keyword(s):

Roman Republic ◽

Historical Novel ◽

Historical Event ◽

Unsuccessful Attempt ◽

Picaresque Novel ◽

Philosophical Scepticism

Mitchell himself confessed that he was vexed to a near-pathological extent by ‘horrors’ – incidences of human cruelty in past and present – which provided the emotional and ethical drive for his writing. This chapter explores the two novels that most acutely highlight this aspect of the author’s mindset. Image and Superscription, his bracing picaresque novel of Rebirth, is presented as an unsuccessful attempt to dramatise and come to terms imaginatively with mankind’s propensity for cruelty. While visceral scenes depicting human brutality in contemporary times are overstated, however, the graphic treatment of historical atrocities points forward to the success of Spartacus. The historical novel dealing with the legendary uprising of the slaves against the Roman Republic is adjudged a triumph in conception and execution. It is appraised as both a realistic account of an inspirational historical event and an emblem of revolutionary ardour. Further, Mitchell’s permeating humanism is productively allied with a deeper lying philosophical scepticism to sustain a sanguine vision of humankind’s destiny.

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God, King and Country: The Depiction of National Identity in Danish Historical Novels for Children

International Research in Children s Literature ◽

10.3366/e1755619808000082 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 27-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

ANNA KARLSKOV SKYGGEBJERG

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

Thirteenth Century ◽

Power Relations ◽

Historical Novel ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Historical Event ◽

Historical Novels ◽

National History ◽

Strong Emphasis ◽

Hayden White

This article charts the depiction of national identity in the historical novel for children. The introduction defines the historical novel in general (with a review of theories by Georg Lukács and Hayden White), and then reflects upon the function of this genre in children's literature (drawing on studies by John Stephens, Åsfrid Svensen and Anna Adamik Jáscó). To cast light on the structure and development of national identity there is an analysis of two Danish historical novels for children: Marius Dahlsgaard's Thorkilds Træl[Thorkild's slave] (1932) and Lars-Henrik Olsen's Sagaen om Svend Pindehugger [The saga of Svend Pindehugger] (1993). These books deal with the same historical event – the conquest of Estonia in the thirteenth-century – and both novels are based on a national historical legend about the Danish flag. The article argues that the historical novel for children has moved away from purely heroic images and eulogies of king and nation, but is still rooted in national history and incorporates a strong emphasis on power relations fought out in wars.

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Numantia

The Journal of Roman Studies ◽

10.2307/295863 ◽

1911 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 180-186

Author(s):

G. L. Cheesman

Keyword(s):

Roman Republic ◽

Military History ◽

Historical Event ◽

English History ◽

History Of ◽

Roman Military

The important excavations conducted at Numantia by Dr. Schulten represent one of those rare cases in which the work of the archaeologist is brought into direct connexion with that of the historian. The patient and methodical exploration of the Celtiberian stronghold and the Roman siege-works surrounding it has yielded results which are not interesting merely to the specialist in Roman military history, but add largely to our knowledge of an important historical event and furnish a topographical commentary to our literary records. In view of these facts it is somewhat surprising to find that in a recent English history of the Roman republic, both detailed and elaborate, Dr. Schulten's work is ignored and the site of Numantia is said to be only known by conjecture.

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Waverley

10.1093/owc/9780198716594.001.0001 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Walter Scott ◽

Kathryn Sutherland

Keyword(s):

Civil War ◽

Historical Novel ◽

First Century ◽

Unsuccessful Attempt ◽

American Novel ◽

Twenty First Century ◽

Modern Form

‘The most romantic parts of this narrative are precisely those which have a foundation in fact.’ Edward Waverley, a young English soldier in the Hanoverian army, is sent to Scotland where he finds himself caught up in events that quickly transform from the stuff of romance into nightmare. His character is fashioned through his experience of the Jacobite rising of 1745-6, the last civil war fought on British soil and the unsuccessful attempt to reinstate the Stuart monarchy, represented by Prince Charles Edward. Waverley's love for the spirited Flora MacIvor and his romantic nature increasingly pull him towards the Jacobite cause, and test his loyalty to the utmost. With Waverley, Scott invented the historical novel in its modern form and profoundly influenced the development of the European and American novel for a century at least. Waverley asks the reader to consider how history is shaped, who owns it, and what it means to live in it - questions as vital at the beginning of the twenty-first century as the nineteenth.

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Fine Structure of Cytochalasin Induced Polyploid Cells

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100100354 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 122-123

Author(s):

Awtar Krishan ◽

Nestor Bohonos

Keyword(s):

Fine Structure ◽

Cytochalasin B ◽

Present Report ◽

Cell Monolayer ◽

Polyploid Cell ◽

Specific Cell ◽

Nuclear Surface ◽

Unsuccessful Attempt ◽

Daughter Cells ◽

Polyploid Cells

Cytochalasin B, a mould metabolite from Helminthosporium dermatioideum has been shown to interfere with specific cell activities such as cytoplasmic cleavage and cell movement. Cells undergoing nuclear division in the presence of cytochalasin B are unable to complete the separation of the resulting daughter cells. In time-lapse studies, the daughter cells coalesce after an initial unsuccessful attempt at separation and form large multinucleate polyploid cells. The present report describes the fine structure of the large polyploid cells induced in Earle's L-cell monolayer cultures by exposure to cytochalasin B (lγ/ml) for 92 hours.In the present material we have seen as many as 7 nuclei in these polyploid cells. Treatment with cytochalasin B for longer periods of time (6 to 7 days, with one medium change on the 3rd day) did not increase the number of nuclei beyond the 7 nuclei stage. Figure 1 shows a large polyploid cell with four nuclei. These nuclei are indistinguishable in their fine structure from those of the cells from control cultures but often show unusually large numbers of cytoplasmic invaginations and extensions of the nuclear surface (Figure 2).

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