Abstract The paper looks at the background of KarenBlixen and the tragedies she faced. The paper discusses how Blixen (known as IsakDinesen) successfully faced the odds in getting her stories "Seven Gothic Tales" published. The paper looks at Blixen's mental images in storytelling and shows how Blixen has changed the world of writing.
Outline:
The Life of KarenBlixen IsakDinesen - the Storyteller
Blixen's Mental Images in Storytelling
From the Paper ""What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine" (Donelson). Karen Blixen was best known as a storyteller who enjoyed using her imagination in her stories such as the Seven Gothic Tales. Blixen was a woman who wanted her collection of stories to be published, but she lived during the time where most publishers wanted novels. Yet, she faced the odds and she was successful in getting her stories published. Looking at her life will show that she faced tragedy, but continued to write as a woman during the days of the Depression."
Abstract This paper analyzes the work of IsakDinesen, a modern short story writer equated with Scheherazade. The paper discusses Dinesen's writing-style, which the author says is best enjoyed by those who want to read something that is neither real nor ever could be real. The paper then reviews one of Dinesen's stories, entitled "The Immortal Story", about Mr. Clay, an old, immensely rich tea trader who lives in Canton and does not have the best of a reputation. The paper shows how this story demonstrates Dinesen's powerful story-telling abilities.
From the Paper "Isak Dinesen's desire to be a storyteller and her ability to write as one, render her a modern day Scheherazade. In the book, "1001 Arabian Nights," there is a young woman named Scheherazade who had to tell stories every day in order to live. The frame tale goes that Shahryar, the King, would marry a virgin every day and he would send the wife from the day before to be beheaded. He did this because he was very angry since his first wife, of many years, had been betraying him. By the time Scheherazade came along, Shahryar had killed three thousand virgins. Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the King. When she was in the King's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she could say goodbye one last time to her sister Dunyazad. Dunyazad came into the Kinga?'s chambers and had been secretly prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the night. The King lay awake and listened with awe to Scheherazade's first story and asked for another, but Scheherazade said there wasn't time as dawn was breaking, and regretfully so, as the next story was even more exciting. And so the King kept Scheherazade alive as he eagerly anticipated each new story, until, one thousand and one adventurous nights, and three sons later, the King had not only been entertained but wisely educated in morality and kindness by Scheherazade who became his Queen."
Abstract This paper discusses two female literary protagonists, Babette from "Babette's Feast" by IsakDinesen and Sophie from Somerset Maugham's "Razors Edge". The paper examines the role of food and drink in these two stories. The paper explores these two female characters' use of food and drink in each story.
From the Paper "Food and drink are two of the great pleasures and reliefs of life's cares-along with love. So suggests the character of Babette from Isak Dinesen's short story "Babette's Feast" and Sophie from the novel Razors Edge by Somerset Maugham. But food ultimately has the power to sustain the soul, while drink, although it may provide a temporary respite, ultimately can only kill what is good inside of a person. Both Babette and Sophie are symbolic and minor, rather than fully fleshed out characters, which enable different characters in the novel to establish connections between one another that they otherwise would not have been able to. For instance, Babette's decision to have a feast brings together the elder sisters whom she serves with the rest of their surrounding community."
Abstract This paper discusses how symbolism is perhaps the defining element in modernist literature and, while the language is simple and the themes fairly complex, it is the use of intricate representations that keeps an artistic element functioning within each story. It looks at how, in two significant works composed during this time, Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and Dinesen's "Out of Africa", Africa is used as more than a simple setting. It shows how, for Conrad, the country serves as a canvas for a variety of murky, ominous symbols that help convey his ultimate theme, and how, for Dinesen, Africa is an idyllic landscape ,the last place on this earth left unsullied by human hands.
From the Paper "As Dinesen's story manifests itself as a roman a clef rather than a work of pure fiction, the symbols used are naturally more contextual in nature than those of Conrad. Lulu, the first obvious symbolic element of Out of Africa, appears early in the story, emphasizing the existing lack of boundaries between man and nature. This tiny antelope lived in Dinesen's house fearlessly, even returning on occasion after she had found a mate and birthed a fawn (Dinesen, 78). Her continued presence after a point in which most animals would forever flee only reinforces the suggested bond between animal and human. Through Lulu, Dinesen demonstrates that it is possible for man to live in tandem with beast, neither species intruding upon the territory of the other."
Abstract This paper explains that the case of Karen Leary, manager for a Merrill Lynch investment company office and Ted Chung, one of her financial consultants, raises issues of management style, the ability to recognize the value of subordinate, and the need to accommodate cultural differences. The author stresses that, given that one of the reasons for hiring Mr. Chung in the first place was to nurture business in Taiwan, the issue of cultural differences becomes especially important and must be addressed early to prevent creating hard feelings and a bad reputation in the target market. The paper analyzes the case in terms of specific elements in the behavior of both Karen Leary and Ted Chung and in light of a consideration of management principles and observed cultural differences between American business and business in Taiwan.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Summary
Karen Leary (A)
Conclusion
From the Paper "Karen Leary has to determine what to do about his request. Her own background is important to the degree that it informs this case and suggests why she reacts as show does and what decision she is likely to make. Her superiors see her as sales-oriented and as having developed an innovative sales and training program. As manager, she also oversees brokers' trades and has been praised for the way she achieves that task. Her superiors are happy that she has increased business by 30 percent, but some of her underlings are less pleased because she is a hard task master and keeps after them more than they believe she should or needs to do."
Abstract The paper discusses how Karen Horney was a leading reformer and theorist in the field of psychology and psychoanalysis and one of the first major proponents of feminine psychology. The paper looks at Horney's personal life and how she served as an inspiration to women psychologists everywhere. The paper explains that in recognizing that women had dreams of self-actualization, just like men, Karen Horney showed the world that women could also achieve and be fulfilled. The paper also discusses how her work has not received the full attention it deserves.
Outline:
Introduction
Birth and Early Childhood
Adolescence and Awakening
Student of Psychology
The Acceptance of Self-Actualization
Critiques of Horney's Ideas
Karen Horney and Women Psychologists
Summary
Conclusion
From the Paper "Karen Horney was born Karen Clementine Theodore Danielsen on September 15, 1885 in a suburb of Hamburg, Germany. As befits a child who would one day devote her adult life to understanding some of the universal themes of humanity, Horney's parents were of varied background. Her father was a Norwegian sea captain, a widower with four teenaged children of his own, and naturalized citizen of the German Empire. His second wife, and Karen's mother, was a woman of Dutch-German noble extraction (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184). Her fifty-year-old father, and thirty-two-year-old mother had already had one child together, Karen's brother, Berndt - this child would remain their favorite (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184)."
Abstract A look at the life of Karen Carpenter and the manner in which she suffered from anorexia nervosa. There are a number of factors in a person's life that can lead to a psychiatric disorder. This paper discusses how it is interesting to look at Karen Carpenter's life and what could have caused her to experience anorexia nervosa.
From the Paper "Karen Carpenter was born March 2, 1950 in New Haven, CT and moved to Downey, CA in 1963. Karen looked upon herself as a tomboy who enjoyed playing baseball and badminton. By the time Karen was 10, she had a typical and robust appetite. She was popular due to her ?funny and caring personality, but was also hurt by other kids teasing her for her tendency to chubbiness. During puberty, her parents felt that her "weightiness" did not bother her and that she accepted any teasing about it cheerfully (LeadSister.com).? However, a close friend of hers, Frank Bonito, now acknowledges "she always felt she was unattractive. Especially when she became a woman she had large hips. No matter how thin she got on top, her hips were always big" (LeadSister.com).? "
A discussion of the theories of personality development developed and established by Karen Horney, a preeminent figure and founder of modern psychoanalysis.
Abstract This paper discusses the ideas of Karen Horney regarding personality development and how they were integrated into modern psychoanalysis therapies and personality development theory. The paper explains that the foundation of Horney's study rested on the tenet that social, cultural, environmental, and parental factors, influences, and issues shape child development more so than do biological factors. The paper also points out that Karen Horney developed her theory of personality development long before social and environmental influences were deemed important to a child's psychological development and that, while not widely-received in her time, portions of her ideas have been integrated into modern psychoanalytic thought and child rearing practices.
From the Paper "During the early decades of this century, Freud and his sexual drive theories were the standard psychoanalytical theories pertaining to neurotic disorders and personality development. His stages of childhood development rested within a framework of psychosexual development. Horney, along with others, established what would later be termed the "cultural school"1 of psychoanalytic theory. This school of thought believed that biological factors did not drive the body and the mind, but rather that ruling factor in mental growth was believed to be the child's relationship with his or her parents. The child's early social experiences were considered the key factors in this mental and personality development. In Horney's analysis, biological factors were secondary to sociological variables. Culture, people, and relationships determined personality development, types, idiosyncrasies, and ultimately neurosis."
Abstract This paper summarizes Karen Armstrong's book, "The Battle for God", and explains the book's focus on the evolution of religious fundamentalism. The paper describes Armstrong's views of fundamentalism, the element of irony depicted in her work, and how she explains the fundamentalist view of secularists.
From the Paper "The book "The Battle For God" by Armstrong is based on the religious fundamentalism that has evolved over the years as the most powerful force in the 21st century. Written in the context of internationalization and imperialism, Armstrong focuses on the way the religious groups and sects organize their fundamental origins and the way these fundamental origins have challenged the secular norms of the dominant cultures of the world. This challenging facet of religious fundamentalism has along other concerns disturbed the global peace and harmony. In this book, Armstrong has focused on this evolution of the fundamentalism and what this fundamentalism is aimed to accomplish, either through actions or narration. Accordingly, ?we see the West in the sixteenth century beginning to create an entirely new kind of civilization, which brought in its wake change in every aspect of life -- often painful and violent, even if liberating. Armstrong argues that one of the things that changed most was religion."
Abstract This paper discusses the theories of Karen Horney, who was the first female psychologist of any note in a time when all of the great theorists were men. Her theories sought to uncover the causes of neuroses. The paper explores the theoretical basis of Horney's theories and then compares them to those of her contemporaries, particularly Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Erick Fromm and Carl Rogers.
Table of Contents:
Theory of Neurotic Needs
Horney and Freud
Alfred Adler
Erick Fromm
Carl Rogers
Discussion
From the Paper "Horney, Freud and Adler focused on childhood as the source of experiences that lead to neuroses. However, there was not mention in any of the theories as to whether they felt that this was the only time when neuroses developed, or whether one could develop these differences between expectations and what one felt later in life. This was a major point that was left out of almost every major theory and represents a major flaw in Horney's theory as well. It is not known if she felt that the only time to develop neuroses was in childhood.
Horney, Rogers, and Fromm emphasized that each and every person has an idea of how and what they should be. However, this view may not be realistic or attainable. The difference between normalcy and neurosis is the ability to achieve the final goal. One example of this is the perfectionist that never feels that what they do is good enough. They will never achieve their expectations and there will always be inconsistency in what they believe they should be and what they are."
Abstract This paper discusses the life and works of Karen Horney, a recognized psychologist who practiced in the early 1900s. It describes her life at home with her parents and how this influenced her work. The paper focuses on Horney's views on neurosis and discusses the ten different stages that she believed that neurotics need to attain to prevent them from experiencing great anxiety.
From the Paper "Karen Horney was born on September 16, 1885 to Clotilde and Berndt Wackels Danielson. Horney's father, Berndt, was an authoritarian and she believed that he liked her brother more then he liked her. Her mother, Clotilde, was considered to be more suave then her father, and was also 19 years younger. Her parents also came from different social backgrounds. Her father was the son of a watchmaker, while her mother was the daughter of architect. She also had a tender and possibly sexual relationship with her brother who was four years older then her. However, he rejected her when she was around 8 years of age. In her childhood she felt like she was not wanted by not only her parents, but by her brother too. This could have been because of the martial problems that were happening between her parents and the later rejection by her brother. Because of these childhood difficulties she went through a bout of depression. It was in 1904 that her parents got divorced and there is no account of her father after this point in time. In 1906 she entered medical school against not only her parents' wishes, but the whole political society. During her time in medical school she met a law student by the name of Oscar Horney whom she married in 1909. In 1911 her mother died which put a strain on Horney; however it was these events that caused her to start psychoanalysis. In 1913 she received her MD from the University of Berlin. In 1923 Oscar Horney lost his job and got meningitis. These strains of events on him lead him to become a broke, morose and argumentative individual. It was also this year that Horney's brother died. When all of these events happened it lead her to consider pursuing her thoughts of suicide. She did attempt suicide during one vacation when she swam out to a sea piling. In 1926 Horney moved to Brooklyn, NY where she developed her first theories on neurosis. She passed away after much accomplished in 1952 at the age of 67. (Paris, 1994)"
Abstract The paper explores Karen Horney's theories of personality, neurosis and sexuality and explains her emphasis on social, cultural and interpersonal dimensions of personality development and neuroses. The paper highlights the importance of her divergence from the speculative views and theories of Freudian psychology.
Outline:
Introduction
Overview of the Theory of Personality
From the Paper "The work of Karen Horney is recognized as an extremely significant contribution to the theory of personality. Her work is also acclaimed in the area of psychoanalysis and in field of feminine psychology. Horney is also known for her reformulation of Freudian theories of personality and neurosis. In essence her work is described, albeit simplistically, as presenting a,"... holistic, humanistic perspective that emphasized cultural and social influences, human growth, and the achievement of self-realization" (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184)
"Karen Honey was also the first woman to present a paper on feminine psychology at an international conference. However, more importantly, "she pioneered and developed a feminine psychology that provided a new way of thinking about women" (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184). She is credited with opening " new frontiers" in the conceptualization of personality and in psychoanalysis, which influenced a diverse range of theories, theorists and psychoanalytic practitioners; including humanists, cognitive therapists, psychoanalysts, feminists, and existentialists. (O'Connell & Russo, 1990)."
From the Paper "This study will discuss how ideas of race get worked out in an analogy between Africans and animals (primates or other animals) in the 1932 film Tarzan, the Ape Man (directed by W.S. Van Dyke and based on the characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs) and Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (first published in 1937). The study will consider the ways the two works show how the relations of whites (colonizers) to Africans are similar to he relations of whites to animals. The argument will be that both works are similar in their views on the superiority of the "civilized" whites and the inferiority of both Africans and animals. Whites in both works, in general, see Africans as beings somewhere between animals and whites. Africans are shown to be slaves, servants, and beasts of burden. They are seen as violent, exotic, often emotionless, immature, stupid beings whose purpose.."
This paper discuses the genre of travelogues by comparing Caryl Phillips' "The European Tribe" and Karen Connolly's "Touch the Dragon - a Thai Journal".
Abstract This paper states that Caryl Phillips' "The European Tribe" and Karen Connolly's "Touch the Dragon - a Thai Journal" are two very different types of 20th century travelogues. The author points out that Caryl Phillips' book is definitely superior in its attention to history and context because the author kept searching, reflecting and reporting on what he noticed in his travels in Europe. The paper concludes that Connolly's work is immature, has little to report of Thailand as a greater phenomenon but has much to account about the teenage, feminist impressions of Karen Connolly herself. The paper relates that "Touch the Dragon" does serve a growing market for travelogues produced by young people for youths who typically wish to travel as a guaranteed source of self development.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Caryl Phillips and "The European Tribe"
Karen Connolly, "Touch the Dragon - a Thai Journal"
Travel as Source of Identity
Concluding Remarks
From the Paper "She is gradually introduced to Thai etiquette, which she confesses to sometimes resenting, as in the need for great politeness or just not pointing with one's foot. The reader does wonder how some Thai people with whom she came in contact thought of their visitor. Again, there is the sense of a book not written by the best caliber of Canadian, but by a person of a certain age used to self-promotion to think that her impressions should be taken seriously or as significant, as a very unattractive feature of this book."
Abstract This paper discusses how both Lemon "Lemon Swamp and Other Places" by Karen Fields and "The Making of a Southerner" by Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin are personal histories of Southern women. It examines how both books encapsulate lived, autobiographical accounts of Southern life. It evaluates how both books look on a world from the outside in, in Lumpkin's case a white Southerner gazing at African-American life, in Karen Field's case, that of a contemporary African-American looking at African-American life of her grandmother's past.
From the Paper "Lemon Swamp also gives an alternative vision of the South as often depicted in popular fiction. However, Lemon Swamp is not a tale of the white South at all. Lumpkin's story is a tale of the South of African-Americans in some respects, but from a white perspective. In contrast, Lemon Swamp tells the story from the point of view of an African-American woman born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1888. Lemon Swamp is not in an explicit ideological conversation with a romantic ideology. It is more intent upon simply shedding light on both the everyday aspects of Field's life and the ways in which her community worked together to counteract segregation and poverty. However, in its own way, the book can be seen as a challenge to Lumpkin's perspective."
