“My Skin Is Not Me”: The Transformations of William Shakespeare’s Othello in Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) and Djanet Sears’s Harlem Duet

Both Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (1990) and Harlem Duet (1997) are Canadian feminist appropriations of William Shakespeare. Both deal, at least partly, with Othello, and both can be considered subversive re-visions of Shakespeare’s play which aim to articulate oppositional intervention in the canon. These similarities notwithstanding, the plays have not often been studied concurrently. Also, while several critics have explored them, mostly separately, in terms of their adaptation/appropriation of Shakespeare, seeking to spell out the transformations they have brought to the “original” text, little has been said about how the iconic figure of Shakespeare still holds sway in these new dramas, albeit in different ways and to varying degrees. Likewise, their dramatization of the character of Othello remains rather understudied. This essay explores the “new” Othellos of the two plays, contending that their positioning in the two texts evinces some similarities while their characterization differs widely, given the plays’ generic difference, but mostly the two playwrights’ rather divergent feminist perspectives which, in turn, substantially shape the plays’ respective appropriation techniques.

Aluminium toxicity on the activities of antioxidant enzymes in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seedlings grown in hydroponic culture

Effects of four different concentrations of aluminium (10, 50, 100 and 150 μM) on some antioxidant enzyme activities like peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase of the seedlings of rice and chickpea grown in hydroponic culture showed aluminium toxicity which caused a dramatic increase in peroxidase and catalase activities in the root and shoot of rice seedlings. Al (150 μM) caused eight to nine-folds increase in peroxidase and catalase activity, respectively, in the root of rice seedlings. On the contrary, Al stress decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the root and shoot of rice seedlings. In chickpea seedlings, Al stress caused a few-folds increases in peroxidase, catalase and SOD activities in the roots and leaves. A dramatic 14.8 and 14.6-folds increase in SOD activity was recorded in the roots and leaves of chickpea seedlings, respectively. It is noted that there is a generic difference between rice and chickpea with respect to the effect of Al stress on SOD activity.

‘FACT’ AND ‘FICTION’ IN ROMAN HISTORICAL EPIC

In the second half of the third centurybceRoman historical epic (notably that written by Naevius and Ennius) and Roman historiography (notably that of Fabius Pictor) came into being at roughly the same time. Whether and in what ways these two literary forms may have mutually influenced each other in their early development is a matter of debate, but it is obvious that there are both similarities and a generic difference, demonstrated by the use of prose or verse respectively and the accompanying style. Such characteristics enable a distinction between different types of narrative, even if the same events in Roman history are covered.

CAESAR'S SISENNA

Caesar'sCommentariihave hardly been studied within the historiographical tradition – probably because of their generic difference fromhistoriaand, more generally, alleged overall sparseness, famously and influentially compared to nudity. While their relationship to Greek historians has received some haphazard attention, their possible debt to antecedent Roman historians is an even less explored question – admittedly compounded by the fragmentary state of early republican historiography. In the following pages, however, I will suggest that there is ample evidence of Caesar's familiarity with, and even imitation of, theHistoriaeby Lucius Cornelius Sisenna.

In the Kingdom of Whomever: Baldwin’s Method

James Baldwin is not only one of the more notable Anglophone twentieth-century novelists to attempt continually and with minimal success to enter the theater. He is also one of the major inheritors of the aesthetic and political problematic we have repeatedly encountered in the course of this book. Baldwin is perhaps the most important twentieth-century novelist to seriously explore what it means to make interiority the bearer of collective desire. This chapter argues that the novel of interiority reaches an impasse and a breakthrough in the work of Baldwin precisely when the contradictions inherent in the attempt to think collective problems through sexual interiority becomes unavoidably insistent—and does so through Baldwin's negotiation with the generic difference of the theater. His career makes clear that if the novel relentlessly personalizes collective issues, its theatrical preoccupation constitutes a record of the political costs of that reduction, one that demands to be read at the level of form.

Annihilating love and heterosexuality without women: Romance, generic difference, and queer politics in Supernatural fan fiction

This essay examines the differing generic tropes and sexual politics evident in Supernatural slash and in J2 fan fic. We argue that while some stories within Supernatural fan fiction provide happy endings to the characters that are denied them in the show's canon, dark!fic instead focuses on the intensity and exclusivity of Sam and Dean's love, thus illuminating dangers at the heart of the one-true-love trope. We also argue that RPS written within the Supernatural fan community demonstrates greater adherence to conventional romance tropes and normative sexualities, and thus reveals important ideological constructs of heteronormativity.

Fibricola ramachandrani (Betterton, 1976) Palmieri, Krishnasamy and Sullivan comb. nov. from Malaysian rodent hosts with a special note on intraspecific morphological variation

ABSTRACTNeodiplostomum (Conodiplostomum) ramachandrani Betterton, 1976 has been reported from four species of rodent hosts: Echinosorex gymnurus (Raffles): Rattus whiteheadi (Thos); R. muelleri (Jentink) and Callosciurus notatus (Boddaert). A comparison of trematodes recovered from these hosts revealed patterns of host-induced morphological variation taking place. Because N. (Conodiplostomum) ramachandrani shows little generic difference from Fibricola intermedius (Pearson, 1959) Sudarikov, 1960 it is transferred to the genus Fibricola and is now designated Fibricola ramachadrani (Betterton, 1976) Palmieri, Krishnasamy and Sullivan.