Abstract In this article, the writer looks at the author John Grisham, who has become famous for his law filled suspense novels. The writer discusses whether Grisham's background as a lawyer affects his literary career. Further the writer examines if there are any other factors that affect the choices he makes as an author. Finally, the writer discusses what the future may hold for this author's literary career.
From the Paper "The name "John Grisham" is nearly synonymous with the courtroom/law suspense novel, a genre he and Scott Turow dominated at the end of the twentieth century. Before becoming a best-selling author, Grisham was a lawyer who billed dozens of hours a week from a small Mississippi law office. Today, he puts in as many hours at his desk, creating detailed--if sometimes convoluted--tales of situations that would no doubt cause real life lawyers to reconsider their career choices if such cases truly crossed their desks. Does Grisham's background as a lawyer affect his literary career? What else, if anything affects the choices he makes as an author? What does the future hold for this author's literary career?"
This is an essay showing the role of the author in three different texts: "The Expedition of Humpry Clinker" (Tobias Smollett), "The Merchant Of Venice" (William Shakespeare) and "Oedipus the King"(Rex) (Sophocles).
Abstract This paper comprises the studies of the role of the author and the authority he has over his text once it is read, from a module covering issues of intertextuality, reader and authors role, the printing process, critical studies and critical approaches. The main argument is that a reader brings ideas as does the author to the text from previous texts read.
From the Paper "The role of the author is based on preconceptions that many people hold. The notion that an author is creative, original and spontaneous are challenged by theories that no author can be unaffected by cultural activities and experiences and that the reader plays a crucial role in negotiating and constructing meanings and values.#
A text often shows the opinions of an author by conveying balanced or un-balanced arguments or viewpoints. The perspective the author takes when producing a text may often be more bias to one argument than another.# The author is affected by other texts he may have read and drawn meaning from. Social conditions and life experience also affect how an author will write a text, making it difficult to claim that any text is ever truly original. For example, William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, derives in large part from a story in the fourteenth-century Italian collection Il Percorone."
Abstract This paper examines how Robert Dahl has devoted his professional life to the study and analysis on the issues of democracy and how among his countless publications is the book "After the Revolution: Authority in a good Society". It looks at how the central theme of this volume is the discussion about the problems, strengths and weaknesses of democracy and democratic authority. It show how in the same way as philosophers Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes and Rousseau did, Dahl explores two basic questions in the world as to: who governs and to what ends do they govern. Also, it analyzes some questions over the limits of power given to people and explains he meaning of justice and sovereignty.
From the Paper "Further, the Criterion of Economy states that ?a process my be less perfect than other alternatives according to the first two criteria but, on balance, more satisfactory simply because it economizes on the amount of time, attention, and energy.? Dahl said, that ideal state is never reached in practice; therefore we are satisfied with the most acceptable, closest one to ideal, solution, which is an optimal system for making decisions. Finally, the Principle of Affected Interests states that ?everyone who is affected by the decisions of a government should have the right to participate in that government.? As was mentioned earlier, Dahl wrote that most associations use some sort of majority rule to make decisions. Hence, the all of the three criteria and the Principle of Equality my be violated for some members of the association. Thus, it needs to be considered how will democracy protects minorities. Dahl suggests three modifications to his fundamental criteria and principles."
Abstract A paper on how man rejects authority as shown in the book of Genesis. Human nature is predisposed to reject authority, even God's; the book of Genesis details the tragic consequences of Adam and Eve's actions.
Abstract This paper relates that Stanley Milgram was a pioneer researcher on obedience to authority. The author points out that his ground-breaking and shocking studies conducted at Yale in the 1960s are still relevant today. The paper provides historical background on Professor Milgram, a full description of the obedience studies, their results and their applications to society and humanity.
From the Paper "Written in 1974, Stanley Milgram's Obedience to Authority revealed shocking truths about human nature--particularly with respect to how easily people could be manipulated to perform horrible acts on innocents when induced by a perceived legitimate authority figure. "...the most fundamental lesson of our study: ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process." (Stanley Milgram, 1974, as quoted in Blass, 2004, xvii). While his groundbreaking research was conducted in the 1960s, his findings are relevant today in the field of psychology and in many other fields. His work continues to be studied and applied (Blass, 2004). Just what were these experiments, and what did they find?"
Abstract This paper is an analysis of the play "Antigone" written by Sophocles and its main themes. It discusses mainly the concept of legitimate authority and how it is portrayed in the play. In the play we see a very strong distinction between the laws of the gods and the laws of Creon, the king of Thebes. The play tells of Antigone and Ismene and their brothers Eteocles and Polyneices. It compares the play to "Letter from Birmingham" which was written by Martin Luther King, Jr. after he had been jailed in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The letter was a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen urging the black community to withdraw support from demonstrations taking place in Birmingham.
From the Paper "Letter from Birmingham deals with a situation different from, but the same as, that in which Antigone found herself. The letter was written by Martin Luther King, Jr. after he had been jailed in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. He had broken the law by participating in a demonstration against the treatment of blacks in the community. The letter was a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen urging the black community to withdraw support from demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. The statement of the clergymen appealed for law and order and common sense to be used in dealing with the racial problems faced by the blacks of Alabama. They believed these matters could be handled in the courts, and that the decisions made by the courts should be obeyed. They deemed the demonstrations, some of which were being lead by outsiders as unwise and untimely."
Tags: Antigone, Sophocles, legitimate, authority, Martin, Luther, King, Jr., Creon, Thebes, United, States, Government
Abstract The paper examines the drama "Six Character in Search of an Author", written by Luigi Pirandello, which is play within a play. The paper shows Pirandello's theme throughout the play that life is a script with people fixed to patterns that are evident in everyday workings of life and through the history of previous lives.
From the Paper "The drama Six Characters in Search of an Author, written by Luigi Pirandello, is a play within a play, full of reality philosophizing, which shows how people are real in the same way that characters are. These two themes are highly reflective on what it means to be a play, by comparing it to life, and what it means to be a person, by comparing what it means to be a character. The drama is an assemblage of a play, put together on the spot, when six characters enter another play's rehearsal in search of an author who will manifest their roles by writing a script to their drama. This is their one bent purpose in life, to live on the stage, in their world in which they are real. Though they seem alive, as they are in their search, they are not fulfilling the purpose of filling their roles. They need to tell their stories, they desire reaffirmation of existence and for this they need their fixed reality, the stage. Their script is this means of existence and acting the script out is a means of living or being real. People in the same way are doomed to be scripted; identical to characters, they live only within their fixed play, that which acts itself out from birth to death."
Abstract A paper discussing respect for authority in the military with reference to the video series "Ethics in America", the portion "Under orders, Under fire".
Abstract The authors discussed in this paper (James Arthur Baldwin and Pablo Neruda), of course, did not know during their youth, that they would one day be famous personalities and authors, and they could not know how the world and their societies would change so that their opinions and projects became very important in cultural circles, and to large and international audiences.
Abstract This paper is written about famous women and immigrants. From the beginning of American history women have played an active role in seeking rights for immigrants, African Americans, and their own rights.
The author uses theorist Roland Barthes and his claims about culture to argue that the article by Terry and the song by Dylan are both representations of the culture of that decade.
2,395 words (approx. 9.6 pages), 3 sources, 2001, $ 73.95
Abstract This paper looks at the article by Wallace Terry, "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans," Wallace Terry, which gives the reader a different perspective of what the war was like in the eyes of a black veteran in the Vietnam War, and Bob Dylan's famous anti-war song "Master of War." To many people, the war against Communism seems natural, that the "myth" or ideology of Democracy is correct, however, theorist Roland Barthes claims that this myth was socially and historically constructed to make people believe this. The author uses theorist Roland Barthes and his claims about culture to argue that the article by Terry and the song by Dylan are both representations of the culture of that decade.
From the Paper "Wallace Terry's article and Bob Dylan's song were not what people just read and listen to in that decade, it was the expression of how the people felt about the Vietnam War. Terry's article reveals to the public the ongoing slaughter of innocent people in Vietnam, and the traumatic experiences these soldiers were going through. Dylan's song, too, reveals how tired the people are of the military authority training men to fight a war they do not want to be involved in. Terry's article and Dylan's song exemplify the ideological tensions of the Vietnam War between two groups, those for the war and those against the war. Those who were against the war were mostly the young generation who didn't want to fight in the war because they felt that they should not be drafted to war at the age of eighteen when they were not even allowed to vote until the age of twenty-one. Many young minorities such as the blacks did not want to fight in the war because they did not want to give their lives for a country that did not even give them their freedom and respect. With implications of anti-war themes, the article and song also illustrate the tensions of the larger society, the people who were for the war. Those who favored war counter-argued that this war would bring economic prosperity to the US, and also reasoned that it was for a good cause, to stop Communism from spreading like wildfire in the world."
Tags: anti-authority, generation, military, racial, tension, war
Abstract This paper examines the double standard that has been applied within the literary world. It takes the lives of three women authors: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mary Rowlandson, and Anzia Yezierska, and examines the commonality of their struggle to find and secure the women's identity.
From the Paper "Women's literature has long been characterized by the struggle to establish the feminine experience in accordance with accepted standards within the context of the world at the time of writing. Women have long been repressed to a very small section of the literary world and as such, they have had to struggle with preconceived notions, cultural standards, and intellectual bigotry against them, which is reflected in their writing. Women authors have perceived themselves, particularly those from previous two centuries, as having to nearly shout to be heard."
Abstract This paper discusses the famous French philosopher and writer, Michel Foucault and his understanding of authorship, according to one of his most well known and controversial essays, "What is an Author?". It discusses his argument that our current social understanding of authorship is fundamentally flawed. The paper then looks at the validity of his statements and suggests that his argument remains largely compelling.
From the Paper "Altogether, Foucault determines that authorship has only manifested itself in artistic and intellectual expressions which possess the potential to threaten the basic power structures of our society. This is why it does not affect all forms of expression in the same manner or to the same degree. Since he has argued that it is essentially a worthless way to attempt to genuinely understand a piece of literature and even the individual human being who is responsible for producing it, he is left with the conclusion that it must be useful for limiting the spread of information and keeping power mechanisms within society properly functioning: "How can one reduce the great peril, the great danger with which fiction threatens our world? The answer is: one can reduce it with the author. The author allows a limitation of the cancerous and dangerous proliferation of significations within a world where one is thrifty not only with one's resources and riches, but also with one's discourses and their significations," (Foucault)."
Abstract This paper takes a brief look at the life of Ernest Hemingway. The author describes his childhood in Illinois, working at the Kansas City Star newspaper and his involvement in World War I. The paper discusses Hemingway's influences as he began his career as a writer in Paris, surrounded by many talented expatriates, and examines the speculation over his depression and death in 1961.
From the Paper "If literary genius can be described as one person's ability to influence the thinking of others and to do it only with written words, then Ernest Miller Hemingway was certainly deserving of the title. With his direct, declarative and streamlined style of writing, a style he first learned while writing as a newspaper journalist, Hemingway observed the world around him and the people in it, and then wrote of his observations on the nature of mankind. "
Abstract The paper discusses the disorder of paranoia in general and then the specific haunting apparitions and life changing events experienced by Ray Bradbury as a child. The paper suggests that these paranoia impacted greatly on his work and that the evils he witnessed in his youth are reflected throughout his writings and portrayed within his plots, characters, and settings. It also posits that his writing actually provided him with a form of treatment to escape from his fears. The paper uses Bradbury's seminal work, "The Martian Chronicles", to display how the author expresses his fear of technology through the story.
From the Paper "Ray Bradbury's paranoia started at a young age. Throughout the first ten years of his life, he was tormented by a variety of fears, nightmares, and frightening fantasies (Moritz 41). He was afraid of the dark and was often haunted at the thought of ghosts, skeletons, and dead men (Chenes 16). It is most likely that Bradbury wrote the way he did because of these childhood fears. He once said, ?you have to know fear and apprehension in some form before you can write about it thoroughly.? Due to this, Bradbury was able to write about the many evil things found in his books exceedingly well."
