Abstract Although separated by about seven decades, this paper explains that Man Ray and Sally Mann are both 20th century photographers whose work has been preoccupied with surrealist imagery. It looks at how both artists have gone against the grain of popular styles, defying trends in their individual ways. Both were concerned with romanticism and both strove to capture an altered reality in their work. It concludes that the absurdity of fashion and the disembodied female form held Ray's interest, while for Mann, the absurdity of childhood and parenting occupies her stills.
From the Paper "Early in his career as an artistic pioneer in a variety of media, Man Ray was a founder of the Dadaist Movement of New York with Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. [1] However, some of his most interesting work was done during his time as a fashion photographer for the great design houses of Paris. For Ray, the world of fashion was attractive because of its strange metaphors: reality vs. fantasy, and the thin line that holds them apart. Ray's style was couched in his ideas of the unreality of fashion, yet it stood in stark visual contrast to the surrealist aesthetic of the time, which also liked to challenge the "reality" of standard fashion."
Abstract The paper discusses the American Presbyterian minister Horace Grant Underwood's profound effect on Korean society to which he went on mission in 1884. The paper describes how Underwood strove for a long-term, practical role that was suitable for Korea.
From the Paper "The Korea to which Underwood went in 1884 faced grave political instability, which helped open it to missionaries. Earlier, Korea had persecuted missionaries, the earliest of whom were Catholic priests.4 By the 1880s, however, the political situation compelled a change in attitude. Korea was a weak and poverty stricken nation, and her neighbors, China and Japan were competing to reduce her to colonial status. Recognizing his nation's vulnerability, a progressive Korean diplomat urged the king to open relations with the United States. He argued that with its democratic traditions and its comparative isolation from Korea, America might be an ideal patron for Korea."
Abstract This paper analyzes "Death in Venice" by Thomas Mann's with an emphasis of how the book and characters parallel the writer's own life experience.
From the Paper "This second critic notes Mann's use of this method he called "myth plus psychology" which plots Aschenbach's descent into a chaotic heap where both myth and psychology play equally important roles. (SparkNotes) He describes the idolized Tadzio mythically in the same level and manner as Greek sculpture, the god of love, Hyacint and Narcissus and Plato's character Phaedrus. He also likens Aschenbach's cruise into a lagoon in Venice to that across the River Styx in the Underworld, where ?strange red-haired figures appear and reappear to Aschenbach to symbolize demons, probably also the furies of his moral conscience. As to the psychology part, Aschenbach always has a firm control and repression of his libido through the years of maturity. But this undue control and denial of something vibrant and powerful underneath merely leads such force to show up in other and indirect ways, per Freudian explanations. These indirect expressions include intense dreams and visions and the worship of a strange god. (SparkNotes) Moreover, this "orgiastic worship" of the strange god (SparkNotes) is likely an epitomizing of the Freudian desire to ultimately abandon oneself to such longing in and through death."
Abstract This paper analyzes Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice" and discusses the plot line and the moral decline of the protagonist. It also looks at major characters, references to ancient Greece and the symbolism of the book.
From the Paper "In Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice, the aging protagonist Gustav von Aschenbach is symbolic of the pursuit of aesthetic beauty and his ensuing moral decline is symbolic of the decadence and moral decline in turn of the century Europe in what is known a ..."
Abstract This paper explains that, in Susan Mann's "The Talented Women of the Zhang Family", the Zhang family sustains trial after trial while moving to different provinces in nineteenth century China. The author points out that, as the empire is made vulnerable by attacks from both foreign nations and domestic rebels, the Zhang women must overcome cultural, economic, and social devastation. Each woman, in this matrilineal genealogy, finds strength in her ability to cope with struggles adversely affecting her natal family or her married-into family. The author highlights the life of Zhang Yaoqing, or Tang Yaoqing as she is referred to in her maiden years, because of the six women detailed in this historical family narrative, she is believed to face the greatest challenges.
From the Paper "Interestingly enough, life had not always been filled with exertion and strife for Yaoqing. In her early years under the roof of her Aunt Tang, Yaoqing enjoyed a carefree lifestyle surrounded by cheerful family members. Yaoqing's ties to her father speak volumes in their relationship throughout her youth. Their mutual admiration for one another results in her scrupulously arranged betrothal and her delayed marriage. Disturbed at the thought that marriage would take her away from them, Yaoqing's parents do not rush to marry her off."
Abstract A review of the book Negro Education in Alabama: A Study in Cotton and Steel by HoraceMann Bond. By understanding the cultural points that lay within the education of blacks in South, we can understand how this author approaches this system with clarity.
This paper discusses the issue of exploitation in Sally Mann's collection of photographs "Immediate Family", which portrays her three children in ways that are simultaneously provocative and comforting, disturbing and familiar.
Abstract This paper explains that study of Mann's photography "Immediate Family" reveals an exhibitionist treatment of her subjects, which is publicly revealing of the exceptionally private. However, this is not necessarily a condemnation, because a significant portion of artistic photography is driven by the desire to reproduce the normal in a light that is extraordinary, shocking or taboo. The author states that there is nothing unethical in Mann's treatment of her subjects. Mann's pictures are directed at a group without coherent ethics, a complex group of spectators. The paper concludes that the scope of her collection is a testimony to her passion for the children, for the land they inhabit and for the thin slice of time in which the world is their playground.
From the Paper "In "Immediate Family", Mann revisits the myth of beautiful, innocent youth and shatters it. Some of the pictures speak to the naivete of children: Virginia sleeping on the porch with a crocodile approaching behind her, Jessie smiling in a tutu next to a freshly-shot deer in the bed of a pickup truck. Yet any parent worth their salt will have seen what is portrayed in "The Wet Bed", or "Emmett's Bloody Nose". Many pictures show the children covered in dirt, caked in baking flour, spattered with leaves and garden rubble. In a particularly impressive shot, "He is Very Sick", Jessie and Emmett lounge in perfect boredom next to the bed of a dying man. Their faces beg for their parents to take them home, to stop subjecting them to the misery of death."
Abstract The paper reviews and discusses the book, "1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus", by Charles Mann. The paper explains that the book reveals how the "New World" for the Europeans was not new at all. The paper relates Mann's revelation that archaeologists and anthropologists have verified that at least 100 million people lived in the Americas before Columbus arrived. The paper relates that Mann explores findings in three specific areas: Indian demography (Part I), Indian origins (Part II) and Indian ecology (Part III).
From the Paper "The most interesting aspect about 1491 is that Mann compiles information from a large number of reputable sources, which has never been done before. Many anthropologists and archaeologists have written studies on the topics contained in the book, but they remained in academia and not for the layman. Mann not only assembles many of these scientific findings (he apologizes that it would be impossible to cover everything written), but writes about them in an understandable and appealing fashion. At times, he gets the readers muddled with too much technical information and names of tribes, but most often it is just an interesting read."
Abstract Taking Horace's "Carmen Saeculare" as its theme, this paper considers the poem's role in the cultural developments of the Augustan period, particularly those around the year 17 BCE. Specifically, the paper gives attention to the interrelationships between Horace's work and the social, political, ideological, and visual culture of the Augustan age, demonstrating how the "Carmen Saeculare" was not merely a response to the new era, but also actively helped shape it.
From the Paper "The ludi saeculares are rooted in an old Etruscan tradition, which maintained that the life of a people or nation was cyclical. This concept is linked to the idea of a greater renewal; when an older generation has passed away, a new generation, a new age, rises up to take its place. Inasmuch as Augustus had been spearheading a complex program to radically transform Rome since he had "freed the republic oppressed by the tyranny of a faction," whereby he was reshaping the Roman political, visual, and religious landscape, it is not surprising that the ludi saeculares appealed to him as an effective tool to further this process. Thus, the Secular Games should not be seen as the starting point of the nascent golden age, but rather, a significant milestone along the road that added to the process of ideological transformation that was well under way even before Actium. "
Abstract Thomas Mann, as a novelist, is considered uniquely gifted in his ability to convey philosophical insight through the deployment of a character's specific perspective in the context of a town, family, or hospital community, even the ailment afflicting the hospital community itself in the case of his novel, "The Magic Mountain". The paper shows that even when the character in question, such as Claudia Chauchat herself, lacks a level of profound self-knowledge and insight because of her location in the particular community of the sanatorium at the heart of the novel, the reader is still capable of being on the receiving end of profound insights about the contrasting nature of health and illness from Mann's point of view.
From the Paper "For Mann, thus, the mind/body "problem" or distinction is really no problem or distinction at all. Human beings are not merely minds or bodies, with one dominating the other. Even a highly physical aliment such as tuberculosis affects different individuals in different ways. Clearly, suffering from an illness can change a person's life--if it were not for TB Claudia would never have withdrawn from the whirl of her social, aristocratic Russian world, and the nature of the illness seems to heighten her senses at times, as is noted in the chapter when she seduces Hans, entitled "Walpurgis" or "Witches" Night,? implying that her sensuality has an almost supernatural level. But Claudia does not use it as an excuse to withdraw from living a full, human, and physically involved and sexual life like Hans Castorp."
Abstract This paper examines how Thomas Mann's "The Child Prodigy" effectively explores differences of perspective among a group of individuals, all of whom are experiencing the same phenomena. Through an analysis of the different characters, it discusses how Thomas Mann contends that a separation between persona, the person we present to others, and the genuine person who dwells within is an inescapable part of being a human being.
From the Paper "Unlike Bibi, the reader meets the impressario "in the flesh" only once in the story, and never gets to enter his thought or hear him talk to himself. We only get to see him through the other characters' eyes. Long before we meet him, we learn he is a clever showman who knows all the tricks of the trade. Only he knows Bibi's real name, for example, and keeps it a secret because the babyish name is more profitable than an adult name, which might not attract interest so effectively. He also knows how to create the impression that the child is a great artist and writes about Bibi in the style of an objective critic who "wrested these concessions from his critical nature after a hard struggle." He presents himself as a person of wealth and culture by wearing "large gold buttons on his conspicuous cuffs." The critic notes that the affection the impressario displays for Bibi is part of the show, designed to trigger a frenzy of emotion."
Abstract Art that provokes a passionate response could be considered the "best" art, because whether the emotions it stirs up are positive or negative, their intensity is profoundly connected to the depth of visual expression the artist is able to convey. Unfortunately, those who are offended by certain works of art fail to see the matter from this perspective. The paper argues that, fortunately (and quite ironically) those who attempt to censor "offensive" expressions are generally the ones that bring an artist the greatest attention. This has undoubtedly been the case for controversial photographers such as Sally Mann and Andres Serrano. The paper looks at Serrano's "Piss Christ" and Mann's photographs which depict nude and battered children.
From the Paper "Mann's most familiar, and controversial imagery focuses on the lives of her three children. They are depictions of innocence about to be shattered by the intrusion of the adult world with its lies, violence, and corruption. They are not intended to arouse the viewer sexually but to arouse thought provoking introspection regarding the pain of growing up."
Abstract This paper examines how Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray" and Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" are literary works situated in the cultural phenomenon known as decadence. This cultural phenomenon began in the late nineteenth century and involved the production of a range of interrelated aesthetic, social and sexual personae. It looks at how the most prevalent of these in the work of Wilde and Mann are the beautiful boy, the dandy and the degenerate, because they represent the "Other". It also discusses how both novels also deal with the dichotomy of the Apollonian and Dionysian artistic impulses in literature, which serve to define the calm exterior/decaying interior that codifies decadence.
From the Paper "Felski argues that Decadent literature offers "explicitly feminized male protagonists, who are identified with love of artifice, excess, and everything unnatural." This is certainly true in the case of Dorian Gray. She also mentions the "association of femininity with ornamentation and detail in Western culture." Both Dorian and Tadzio's clothing is described with much attention to the detail and adornments of the garments. Wilde's novel regards the protagonist's cultivation of sense experience, passion and sensation in the pursuit of beauty. Dorian studies exotic perfumes, collects musical instruments and precious stones, and once attended a masquerade ball wearing a costume covered with 560 pearls."
Abstract In his play, "Magic Mountain", Thomas Mann expresses the intellectual squalor of the pre-World War I era, that would inevitably lead to violence and destruction. The central protagonist of the tale is a young marine engineer who, taken singularly, is of no particular importance. The paper shows that what makes him-Hans Castorp -significant is what he represents for society: he is the embodiment of humanity, caught between the forces poised to crush individual identity and reduce it to mass conformity. The paper shows that, all together, these forces of thought, to Mann, are mere derivatives of nature, which act to shape each person's mind into a particular archetype. In this way, "The Magic Mountain" is a universal warning to the course of history and of the dangerous capacity of unbound rationality.
From the Paper "Personally, Castorp comes from a reasonably wealthy bourgeoisie family; and although his parents have both died, he remains well positioned and is "obviously on the way to important positions in his life." (Mann, 54). Largely, this is also a consequence of his association with Hamburg-an emerging port city during the early twentieth century. Symbolically, Hamburg's rising prominence comes at the expense of other, older, and better established cities. Accordingly, Castorp's path to important positions rests on the shoulders of the new age: technologies and industrial might. Additionally, Castorp's occupation makes him poised to build Germany into a naval empire, which is also a drive of the new age. Naval dominance, as seen by many of his time, was the only true way to establish Germany's rightful place within the world."
Abstract In this article, the writer maintains that Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" is often regarded by critics as one of the most important short stories of the author's creation. The writer points out that this piece of writing attracted attention because of its precise literary construction, which presented two different realities while using parallel references and opposing qualities that in the end find a common point of attraction. The writer notes that the story is apparently without any intriguing outcome, yet at a more profound level it proves to be one of psychological analysis and moral determinism. The writer concludes that "Death in Venice" is indeed a short story of great complexity and Thomas Mann succeeds in drawing the attention to the intimate conflict which arises in the human soul, between the need for self restrain and control and the desire for passion and lust.
From the Paper "The plot is rather simple and focuses on the voyage of Aschenbach, one of Germany's most renowned writers, to the southern parts of Europe, in Venice where he develops a passion for a young Polish boy staying in the same hotel with his family and companion, Jashu. During his stay, cholera infects the city and Aschenbach has the possibility to leave the place. Instead he decides to stay and finds his death at the hands of the terrible disease. However, the actual sequence of events is less important for the development of the plot. What gives consistency and coherence is the main character's evolution from a rather detached and impersonal individual to a passionate degraded human soul. This evolution however is placed on an adequate background, as this element too is in contradiction and evolves from beginning till the end of the story."
