Theognis’ Unoriginal Didactic Failure

Section 1 argues that Theognis embodies a robust conception of literary authorship and that his authorial unoriginality is inextricable from his moral authority. Section 2 interprets Theognis’ failure to instruct Cyrnus as integral to his didactic message and as part of a strategy whereby the poet’s relationship to his addressee prefigures his relationship to larger audiences. An appendix provides a statistical analysis of the citation history of the Theognidea and argues that at some point after the classical period an original collection was supplanted by something like the strange text that we read today.

Performing Authorship in the Music of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters

<p>This thesis explores the dynamic and oftentimes puzzling relationship between singer, song, and listener in the music of contemporary singer-songwriters. I argue that this relationship is simultaneously understood through and confused by the use of indeterminate pronouns in song lyrics. The crossing over of language from speech to song leads to a multiplicity of “readings” of music and artists, where the “I” of the song’s narrator is elided with the “I” of the composer and the “I” of the performer. In this research I highlight the importance of listener experience in the ways these “I”s are contextualized and examined, shedding light on the dynamic and varied ways listeners are already engaging with this music. I also explore how these understandings ultimately impact listeners’ broader perceptions of the often-gendered values of emotional honesty and truthfulness of singer-songwriters. This research brings together original ethnographic research and theoretical explorations of musical and literary authorship and interpretation, focusing on the creative work of three singer-songwriters – Amanda Palmer, Hera Hjartardóttir, and Katie Morton. By drawing on these diverse research areas and musical repertoires, I propose an interdisciplinary model that highlights the active role listeners play in the creation (or discovery) of musical meaning. My hope is that this thesis opens up a space for future discussions to take place that examine the many layers of live performance that impact and inform interpretations of narrative, while also giving a voice to the listeners and fans whose engagement forms a crucial element of these singer-songwriter performances.</p>

Performing Authorship in the Music of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters

<p>This thesis explores the dynamic and oftentimes puzzling relationship between singer, song, and listener in the music of contemporary singer-songwriters. I argue that this relationship is simultaneously understood through and confused by the use of indeterminate pronouns in song lyrics. The crossing over of language from speech to song leads to a multiplicity of “readings” of music and artists, where the “I” of the song’s narrator is elided with the “I” of the composer and the “I” of the performer. In this research I highlight the importance of listener experience in the ways these “I”s are contextualized and examined, shedding light on the dynamic and varied ways listeners are already engaging with this music. I also explore how these understandings ultimately impact listeners’ broader perceptions of the often-gendered values of emotional honesty and truthfulness of singer-songwriters. This research brings together original ethnographic research and theoretical explorations of musical and literary authorship and interpretation, focusing on the creative work of three singer-songwriters – Amanda Palmer, Hera Hjartardóttir, and Katie Morton. By drawing on these diverse research areas and musical repertoires, I propose an interdisciplinary model that highlights the active role listeners play in the creation (or discovery) of musical meaning. My hope is that this thesis opens up a space for future discussions to take place that examine the many layers of live performance that impact and inform interpretations of narrative, while also giving a voice to the listeners and fans whose engagement forms a crucial element of these singer-songwriter performances.</p>

Mary Shelley and the Conception of the Monstrous Vegan

Chapter 1 argues that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) marks the origins of the ‘monstrous vegan’ trope. The chapter establishes the vegetarian contexts influencing Shelley’s novel before outlining the principal defining traits of the monstrous vegan. First, the monster’s refusal to eat meat is evidenced and explored in relation to Romantic vegetarianism. Second, his hybrid physiognomy, composed of remnants from the slaughterhouse and charnel house, allows for close attention to acts of visual recognition throughout the novel. Third, the creature’s birth outside of the confines of heterosexual reproduction is explored in relation to his challenge to reproductive futurities, with vegetarianism seen to offer a circular return to a Golden Age of humankind. Finally, the creature’s relation to literary authorship establishes that monstrous vegans bring to the fore the difficulty of inscribing ethical identities onto bodies.

Conclusion

This conclusion draws together the findings of individual chapters. It establishes that the political animus behind Pope’s verse can be traced back to his engagement with poets who have been lost to posterity; that his allusions to the great authors of the seventeenth century—Waller, Denham, Dryden, and Cowley—were usually refracted through the literary critical judgements of his milieu; that he consistently returned to the topic of dynastic politics through his early poems; that he emerged from his milieu because, unlike some of his contemporaries, he was willing to distance himself from politics by constructing himself as an aloof literary author. The conclusion explores the significance of this shift from political authorship to literary authorship and its influence on our modern ideas about the literary canon.

Ingo Berensmeyer, Gert Buelens and Marysa Demoor (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship. Cambridge University Press, 2019

A review of Ingo Berensmeyer, Gert Buelens and Marysa Demoor's (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Ingo Berensmeyer, Gert Buelens and Marysa Demoor (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship. Cambridge University Press, 2019

A review of Ingo Berensmeyer, Gert Buelens and Marysa Demoor's (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Ingo Berensmeyer, Gert Buelens and Marysa Demoor (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

A review of Ingo Berensmeyer, Gert Buelens and Marysa Demoor's (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship. Cambridge University Press, 2019.