| Papers [1-15] of 29 :: [Page 1 of 2] | | Go to page : 1 2 —> | Search results on "BARTH JOHN": |
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"October Light" ( John Gardner ), "The Floating Opera" ( John Barth ) & "The Counterlife" ( Philip Roth ), 1994.
Compares protagonists & the way three novels deal with reality, life, death & suicide.
1,800 words (approx. 7.2 pages), 3 sources, $ 63.95
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From the Paper
"This study will describe and compare the main characters in John Gardner's October Light, John Barth's The Floating Opera, and Philip Roth's The Counterlife. The study will consider the ways the protagonists in these novels deal with reality, life, death and suicide. Essentially, the study will argue that, despite the differences in the lifestyles, philosophies, and personalities of the three protagonists, they are finally quite comparable in terms of the ways they relate to life and death. The differences remain, but at heart each of the main characters have a cynical, skeptical, absurd, or otherwise generally negative attitude toward reality and life, and each of them are struggling in various ways to arrive at some perspective which would allow them to, at the very least, be more accepting of life and death."
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Roland Barthes and Language Theory, 2002.
Examines the structuralist semiotic theory of sociologist Roland Barthes.
1,676 words (approx. 6.7 pages), 5 sources, MLA, $ 54.95
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Abstract
In Roland Barthes' structuralist semiotic approach to sociology, it is clear that much insight into the character of society and culture can be derived by linguistic analogy. The paper shows that Barthes develops the view that language has a dual function that is public, available for all to see in a social context on one hand and on the other a psychological, i.e., private or imaginative, function. Creative and imaginative processes are associated with the impulse to respond to and express or interpret the public or social meanings that are made in and by language in its cultural function. The paper shows that much of what the individual experiences as either social or personal begins with language--identity, features of experience, narrative, communication with others and so on.
From the Paper
"Thus Barthes looks at how linguistic forms, whether advertisements, art, rhetoric, or forms of social organization that function as communication, are actually used, with a view toward showing how their function indicates or signifies meaning for the (personal and private) experience of society. In other words, Barthes is looking at what social, public expressions intend to accomplish, with a view toward exposing the truth of or agenda behind those communicative processes. Signs and symbols, including language but also images, art, sounds, and so on, are the media of communication. The signs may be psychological or physical or both, and either manifestly or by way of some kind of code meant to convey (or conceal) meaning, these signs (signifiers) refer to or stand for (signify) some thing. The semiotic sociology, then, seeks to account for, or so to speak "decode," what is seen or expressed overtly. It is necessary because all linguistic designations come from somewhere."
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Barthe's "The Face of Garbo", 2007.
This paper discusses "The Face of Garbo" by Roland Barthes and examines the looks of the great Greta Garbo and the vanity of society.
1,254 words (approx. 5.0 pages), 6 sources, MLA, $ 42.95
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Abstract
In this article the writer addresses the current issue of cosmetic surgery and vanity as it relates to societal expectations. The writer explores the work of Roland Barthes titled "The Face of Garbo" to illustrate the long impact that vanity and facial looks have on society even today. The writer concludes that the work by Barthes, aims to exploit, explain and examine the issue of good looks and the societal reverence for good looks in the era of Garbo, but one can easily see that the issue of good looks is still present today.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Writing
References
From the Paper
"This is underscored by Barthes in his writing when he examines the lack of expression in the eyes but raves over the beauty in the plaster like facial beauty.
This is a work that easily relates to the contemporary issue of vanity as the world watches Spain get heavily criticized on its recent mandate that models who are too thin will not be allowed to walk the fashion show runways.
It doesn't matter to current society what one is doing to one's health or what one's dreams and ambitions are as long as one looks good. Today, women in the news field have to constantly maintain their youthful looks while their male peers are allowed to age before the camera. A few years ago a woman broadcast anchor sued a major network for firing her because she began to age, however it continues to happen".
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Barthes and the Bourgeoisie, 2002.
A Marxist critique of Barthes' works and texts.
775 words (approx. 3.1 pages), 2 sources, $ 30.95
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Abstract
This paper details the Marxist critique of Roland Barthes of the works, "From Work to Text" and "The Communist Manifesto".
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Identity, 2006.
A look at the theme of the quest for identity in "Lady Oracle" by Margaret Atwood and "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor" by John Barth.
1,428 words (approx. 5.7 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 47.95
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Abstract
This paper explains how Margaret Atwood's "Lady Oracle" and John Barth's "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor" are both concerned with a mythical and psychological search for identity. More specifically, the paper explains that in both books we come across characters that are searching for a sense of identity through various means-usually by adopting new roles.
From the Paper
"Since Joan knows them all, she also understands that what became of school dancers and other hot-shots. Most of them turned into tired wives and badly needed escape just the way she did. "Escape literature ... should be an escape for the writer as well as the reader" (p. 155) Escape was something Joan sought through her identity as a writer because she felt that writing could enable her to understand just who she was just the same way her audience could benefit from her work: "Escape wasn't a luxury for them, it was a necessity. They had to get it somehow. And when they were too tired to invent escapes of their own, mine were available for them at the corner drugstore, neatly packaged like the other painkillers" (p. 34). Joan also feels her writing did not only have a palliative effect but could indeed turn women like herself into what they desired to be. She felt her books had the "the power to turn ... pumpkins to pure gold." By offering "a vision of a better world, however preposterous" (p. 35), Joan was only embarking on a voyage of self-discovery."
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"Notes from Underground" and "Lost in the Funhouse", 2002.
A paper which analyzes and draws similarities between the novels "Notes from Underground" by Dostoevsky and "Lost in the Funhouse" by John Barth.
1,040 words (approx. 4.2 pages), 0 sources, $ 36.95
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Abstract
The paper shows that both novels, "Notes from Underground" by Dostoevsky and "Lost in the Funhouse" by John Barth relate to the central theme of realism. The paper analyzes other similar central themes of both books as well as analyzes the main characters.
From the Paper
"Consider what each character truly desires. Both fundamentally want to fit in and be normal, and it is the impossibility to achieve this that alienates them so completely. Underground Man goes to dinner to impress the other men. He wants to be respected and admired and, basically, accepted the way in which other people are. At dinner, however, he can only be rude and embarrassing, thus further ensuring that every attempt he makes actually worsens his position. Ambrose "imagined himself years hence, successful, married, at ease in the world, the trials of adolescence far behind him." He, too, does not romanticize his seat of alienation or his marginal status. He wants what he understands to be regular; he wants to enjoy the Funhouse, but he cannot."
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An Author's Truth, 2002.
Examines the common themes in John Barth's "The Floating Opera", John Gardner's "Grendel" and Philip Roth's "The Ghost Writer".
1,600 words (approx. 6.4 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 52.95
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Abstract
This paper examines how these three novels focus on some of the same points having to do with the responsibility of the writer to his subjects as well as to the current and future audiences of their work. It stresses one theme that runs through each of the works is to what extent does telling the truth empower the writer to get away with hurting people.
From the Paper
"This relative nature of truth is most dramatically underscored by Gardner, who reminds us that every heroic tale leaves out the tears and terrors of the victims of that heroism. Beowulf forms the very edge of literary consciousness in historical terms for speakers of English. It is our literary bedrock in many ways. Gardner fundamentally disrupts that sense of bedrock by asking us what if Beowulf does not tell us the truth? What if this is not a heroic epic but a tale of the slaughter of the innocents?"
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Minimalism, 1990.
This paper examines the late 20th Century literary style of minimalism in contemporary short fiction such as the short fiction of Donald Barthelme, Ann Beattie, John Barth: Style, themes and philosophy of life.
3,600 words (approx. 14.4 pages), 19 sources, $ 127.95
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From the Paper
"The purpose of this research is to examine the literary style of minimalism in contemporary short fiction. The plan of the research I will be to set forth the origins and characteristics of minimalistic literature as a response to previous modes of literary style, and then to discuss the principal practitioners of narrative minimalism. In particular, reference will be made to the style, themes, plot development, and symbology contained in various short works of Ann Beattie, who is viewed as perhaps the foremost minimalist author. As appropriate, comparisons of Beattie's work will be made to the work of other minimalistic writers, with a view toward offering an assessment of the position and strength of the movement.
The literary style known as minimalism attained currency from 1970 onward, and has been both lauded and attacked as a ... "
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Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park', 2002.
This paper is an analysis of Austen's 'Mansfield Park' using Roland Barthes' literary criticism book 'S/Z'.
1,748 words (approx. 7.0 pages), 0 sources, $ 56.95
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Abstract
The following paper examines the five codes and ideas that appear in Roland Barthes' 'S/Z' and applies it to Jane Austen's novel 'Mansfield Park'. Barthes' codes apply both on the small scale, to the language and on the larger scale, to the whole novel. This paper demonstrates the application of the codes, specifically the cultural and symbolic code, to both the novel as a whole and to certain selected texts.
From the Paper
"Roland Barthes writes about different characters in Sarrasine fitting into different roles, such as passive/active or mother/father. In Mansfield Park, many of the characters fit into these roles or actant. Fanny can definitely be classified as "passive". She is not a radical, she stands for silence, tradition, tranquillity, manners and for acting upon what one knows, not what one feels. Mary Crawford is "active" and an advocate of change. She acts on her emotions and stands for movement, modern ideas, progressiveness and speaking one's mind instead of remaining silent."
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Photography, 2005.
A discussion regarding Roland Barthes' criticism of photography.
2,025 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 2 sources, $ 80.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses the criticism of Roland Barthes as applied to the photographic image and the concepts of the stadium and the punctum as they help explain the effect of an image on the viewer. The paper then applies them to two images from John Szarkowski's book "Looking at Photographs," suggesting where Barthes may not fully explain the way photographs reach the viewer and how they carry meaning.
From the Paper
"The photographic image has been described as a momentary capturing of reality, based on the false dictum that the camera never lies. In truth, the camera may lie, and it may alter "reality" in the process of capturing it. Critic Roland Barthes has written extensively on the meaning of the image and on how the image achieves its effects on the viewer, and so how the image conveys meaning. Meaning can also be imposed by the viewer, and the process is not always easy to sort out by those who want to know which came first. The concepts offered by Barthes will be discussed first, followed by an application of them to two images from John Szarkowski's book Looking at Photographs."
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Mythology, 2005.
This paper provides a summary of Barthes' account of myth.
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 4 sources, MLA, $ 31.95
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Abstract
The paper offers a summary of Roland Barthes' account of myth. The paper explains how myth is understood in modern Western culture. The paper includes Barthes' definition and analysis of what myth means and what its components are.
From the Paper
"Barthes' essay "Myth Today" shows how myth makes meaning in modern Western culture. To get to that objective, he undertakes an extended project of definition and analysis of what myth itself means and what its components are. He begins with the obvious point that myth is a type of speech although he includes in that a range of communication activities. Myth involves the communication speech artifact which comes in a certain form."
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Images and Meaning, 2007.
This paper explores Roland Barthes' and Victor Burgin's analysis of photographic images.
1,223 words (approx. 4.9 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 41.95
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Abstract
The paper presents a comparative analysis of two images from Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida photographic images; Andre Kertesz' "The Violinist's Tune" and Nicephore Niepce's "The Dinner Table". The paper shows how an artist such as Victor Burgin would disagree with Barthes' view that photographs lack codes and would contend that even innocuous images can contain complex ranges of political and ideological codes.
From the Paper
"Barthes' reading of The Violinist's Tune is particularly interesting for it allows us to understand how Barthes conceives of the reading of images as often a highly personalized affair. While he situates his reading in terms of his theoretical apparatus of studium and punctum, it is important to note that his response to this image cannot be precisely determined by this theoretical frame. Barthes defines the concept of studium as a taste or interest in a thing: "a kind of general, enthusiastic commitment" (Barthes 26)."
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"Lost in the Funhouse" and "Echo", 2002.
A look at the question of identity in the short stories "Lost in the Funhouse" and "Echo" by John Barth.
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 1 source, $ 35.95
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Abstract
Thispaper examines the stories "Lost in the Funhouse" and "Echo" by John Barth. The purpose of the paper is to explore how identity and meaning of life are portrayed in both. It takes the particular position that Barth's understanding of our self-perception is one which is built upon lies created to protect our selves from being discovered.
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Analysis of Vietnam War Tensions Through Theory and Song, 2001.
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, $ 73.95
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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."
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Netherlandish Art.
This paper applies Roland Barthes's theorizing of word-image relations and the operation of systems of signs to Netherlandish art.
1,815 words (approx. 7.3 pages), 7 sources, MLA, $ 58.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that Roland Barthes relates that the knowledge a viewer needs to understand the meaning of the image is bound up with perception and association, intangible and fluid cultural products, rather than with the stable carriers of meaning that constitute language. The author explores two Netherlandish paintings using this theory: "Still Life with Fruits and Flowers" by Balthasar van der Ast (late 1620s), which is in the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California, and "Banquet Still Life" by Abraham van Beyeren (1667), which is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California. The paper concludes that these still life paintings immediately present the viewer with two layers of potential meaning: The decorative and the symbolic, with the latter very often embodying religious messages.
From the Paper
"Van der Ast's painting has as its focal point a large shallow bowl filled with fruit, partially encircled by a ring of fruit, shells, insects and other objects, while on the left of the picture is a glass jar containing flowers. Flowers and fruit possessed a particularly wide range of significance, as well as being regarded as attractive objects in their own right, and accordingly they are often found in still life paintings of this period. On an aesthetic level the image is an appealing one, with a balanced but lively composition, depicting attractive objects, and providing the eye with a variety of textures and colours. This aesthetic level of appeal is itself a carrier of meanings - that such an image, of such content, was seen as appealing in the society of its time itself tells us something about the symbolic as well as the directly artistic nature of this image. It is a painting of goods rather than people, produced in a commercial society, and as Richard Leppert has observed, "still life's attention to goods - possessions, things one could 'have' and by having in part define oneself -guaranteed its popularity with and significance for an audience of principally rich buyers". The nature of this type of art, the "time-consuming, meticulous work" that such elaborate pictures demanded, was expensive and thus in itself symbolized wealth. The physical nature and appearance of the painting is thus tied to the layers of meaning that can be excavated below its surface."
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