The Henry Wiggen Novels of Mark Harris Essay -- Southpaw Drum Seamstit

The Henry Wiggen Novels of Mark Harris  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   There can be no question that sport and athletes seem to be considered less than worthy subjects for writers of serious fiction, an odd fact considering how deeply ingrained in North American culture sport is, and how obviously and passionately North Americans care about it as participants and spectators. In this society of diverse peoples of greatly varying interests, tastes, and beliefs, no experience is as universal as playing or watching sports, and so it is simply perplexing how little adult fiction is written on the subject, not to mention how lightly regarded that little which is written seems to be. It should all be quite to the contrary; that our fascination and familiarity with sport makes it a most advantageous subject for the skilled writer of fiction is amply demonstrated by Mark Harris. In his novels The Southpaw (1953), Bang The Drum Slowly (1956), A Ticket For A Seamstitch (1957), and It Looked Like For Ever (1979), Harris chronicles the life of Henry "Author" Wiggen, a great major-league baseball star. Featuring memorable characters and deft storytelling, these books explore the experience of aging, learning, and living in time, with baseball as their backdrop. Henry's first-person narrative is the most important element of these stories. Through it he recounts the events of his life, his experiences with others, his accomplishments and troubles. The great achievement of this narrative voice is how effortlessly it reveals Henry's limited education while simultaneously demonstrating his quick intelligence, all in an entertaining and convincing fashion. Henry introduces himself by introducing his home-town of Perkinsville, New York, whereupon his woeful g... ...ause they are so well written. The expertly devised narrative voice, easy humour, compelling characterization, and thoughtful, even philosophical storytelling combine to create a series of books which compare favourably to many included on the Modern Library's recent list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century, which seems not to contain a single novel set in the world of sport. It is a curious prejudice, this apparent lack of respect for literature concerned with sport, to which these novels represent a pointed and hearty rebuke. Works Cited Harris, Mark. A Ticket For A Seamstitch. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. ---. Bang The Drum Slowly. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. ---. It Looked Like Forever. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. ---. The Southpaw. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.   

Logistics and Project Planning Essay

The mission of elc was to provide consumers with access to the Internet at the lowest cost. Despite the excellent support and recognition from the public, elc was experiencing adversity of keeping their business profitable after the Internet Investment bubble burst. The original concept of owning many of the large stand-alone cafes with 250-500 PC terminals at each cafe was not working well. elc undertook a dramatic restructuring of the company by downsizing the cafes. Many of the large, original stand-alone elc stores will be run by franchisees. These franchised stores will become smaller stores which have 20 to 30 PCs terminals at each cafe and with no staff required except for regular maintenance. Less involvement with store operations allows elc to concentrate on activities of their core competence and outsource all the non-core activities. Their core competence was to continue building their ‘easy’ brand and applying the yield management model to the Internet cafe business. Their business goal was to open 4 new franchises per week over the next 3 years. In order to achieve the goal of growing their franchised Internet cafes business, an efficient, flexible and cost-effective logistics system is what they need for the provision of equipment to the franchisee. Since logistics is one of the non-core activities that is perceived as a bottleneck for scalability, the present logistics system of elc will be reviewed and findings of whether to outsource the logistics system will be presented to the management team. Background of easyGroup Stelios Haji-loannou, the founder of easyGroup, is the renowned Greek entrepreneur who utilized his family money to launch a serial of ventures. His first venture, Stelmar Tankers was found in 1992. The company very soon went into the public sector and was listed on New York Stock Exchange. In 1995, he found easyJet. easyJet was a no-frills, low cost airline company and later grew to become the largest no-frill airline in Europe and was listed on the London stock exchange in 2000. Building on the success of easyJet and to extend the ‘easy’ brand further, he formed the holding company easyGroup in 1998. easyInternetcafe was his first venture under the umbrella of the easyGroup. Other companies in the group included easyJet, easyCar, easyCinema, easy. com, easyMoney and easyValue, easyBus, easyPizza, easyCruise, and easyDorm. Low price and no-frill is the key elements of the ‘easy’ brand. Yield Management Model Stelios is an enthusiast of Yield Management Model and he applies the model to his business. According to Wikipedia, yield management is the process of understanding, anticipating and influencing consumer behavior in order to maximize revenue or profits from a fixed, perishable resource (such as airline seats or hotel room reservations). Stelios believes that lowering the price will increase the demands of the customers significantly. By locating all the large internet cafes in high traffic areas, elc aimed to capture the maximum revenue by providing internet services with a variety of price points at different points in time (peak hours or off peak hours). The price for Internet access varies based on demand, raising the price in dollar per hour in mid-afternoon, when stores are nearly full. That gives bargain hunters an incentive to visit in the non-peak hours, when price is dropping. The model is well suited for business with high fixed cost and perishable supply. The large numbers of computer equipments inside the Internet cafes are capital intensive for elc. The empty seats inside the cafe in a certain time period cannot generate any revenue and thus can be said to have perished. elc uses one of their capital proprietary products, CVM, to monitor how seats are occupied and react accordingly, for example by adjusting the price to offer discounts when it appears that large amount of seats are remaining empty. However, this model is not working for elc as it does for airline and hotel industries. The customers’ willingness to pay for using the internet access at theses internet cafe is impulsive and their demands are not easy to predict. The yield management model works well for airlines and hotels mainly because their customers usually plan ahead of time on their journey. Therefore, airlines and hotels are more likely to predict their customer demands and adjust the prices accordingly. They still have time to attract customers by offering last minute deals. But for internet cafes, customers do not make reservation for their usage of Internet in advance. Customer demands are thus very hard to predict. Even though the CVM can adjust the pricing based on the vacancy of the cafe, it is difficult to attract enough customers in a short period of time to fill up the empty usage of the internet access. Since Internet was still a new technology at that time, Internet access was not yet considered to be an essential product. Customers were likely to learn when to visit the cafes so that they can pay less compared to other time period.

Feudalism began in England during the medieval period....

Feudalism began in England during the medieval period. Times were hard, people needed help from a rich land owner to survive. The kingdom would offer safety to those who worked for the kingdom, along with other beneficial perks needed for the survival of the peasants. If you fight for the kingdom then you will receive great amounts of land, but people who farmed didn’t receive as much in return. It kind of shocks me because they had a hard enough time getting food let alone having to provide an army to protect its people against a possible invasion from another kingdom. If they could have just focused on necessary things to survive they would have been a lot richer in the form of resources. Having land was important to people back then†¦show more content†¦Life was not exactly the best for the common person during the medieval period, things seemed dark and depressing. There were a lot of health problems for people at this time; disease was spreading around like a wil dfire. They didn’t have the right medical knowledge to treat or help the people so simple sicknesses were actually life threatening. It was hard for them to keep ahead of the game (having resources readily available for the future). Too many people were getting sick, there were not enough able bodies to perform all of the tasks that needed to be completed. Once nobles were able to pay for soldiers instead of fighting themselves they started to hire mercenaries. These were people that were professionally trained to fight and they were feared by much of Europe because they were so deadly. It worked well for mercenaries and the nobles. The nobles didn’t want to risk their lives because they had enough money to pay for someone else to protect the kingdom, not to mention most of them were far too weak to fight. This all occurred right after England was striped with a devastating loss of one third of their entire population, due to Black Death. Life wasn’t too pleasa nt for the peasants. They didn’t want to do anything for the kingdom, things weren’t getting done. Everything started to fall apart and then people lost all hope. The people then rebelled against the kingdom, they wanted aShow MoreRelatedTo What Extent Did Feudalism Affect the Societies in the Middle Ages?1518 Words   |  7 PagesTo what extent did feudalism affect the societies in the Middle Ages? Plan of Investigation The investigation assesses the significance of the feudal system in the middle ages. In order to evaluate the feudal system’s significance, the investigation evaluates each role of the social classes in a Middle Ages society. This includes the kings, nobles and lords, knights, and peasants and serfs. Articles and secondary sources are mostly used to evaluate the feudal system’s significance. Two of theRead MoreAn Analysis of the Reasons for Hamlets Tragedy3211 Words   |  13 Pagesremarkable work by Shakespeare in his dramas. The story tells of the previous king of Denmark –old Hamlet-who has been assassinated by his brother Claudius, who has inherited the throne and married his brother’s widow Gertrude. There is also trouble from abroad—on the ramparts of the castle at Elsinore, sentinels stand guard against a foreign threat of invasion by the prince of Norway. The ghost of the murdered king appears there ,asking to be avenged .Hamlet promises t o obey ,and while seeking evidenceRead MoreInstitution as the Fundamental Cause of Long Tern Growth39832 Words   |  160 Pagescountries. Economic institutions determine the incentives of and the constraints on economic actors, and shape economic outcomes. As such, they are social decisions, chosen for their consequences. Because different groups and individuals typically benefit from different economic institutions, there is generally a conflict over these social choices, ultimately resolved in favor of groups with greater political power. The distribution of political power in society is in turn determined by political institutionsRead MorePoverty and Social Work Essay example8858 Words   |  36 PagesFrom Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America- Walter I. Trattner Chapter 1: The Background The chapter traces the origin of welfare practices and caring for the needy from primitive times to the Elizabethan Poor Laws. References include Hammurabi, a Babylonian ruler who included protection of the vulnerable a part of his code in 2000 BC and the ancient Greeks and Romans (including Aristotle, 384-322 BC) who considered giving to charity a virtue. Perhaps more importantRead MoreChristianity as a Unifying Influence in the History of Europe6059 Words   |  25 Pagespart in the lives of many people. Throughout history Christianity has been both a unifying force and also a force for disunity. During the Dark Ages it was the only unifying force. By the Middle Ages people defined themselves by their religion and in Europe this religion had become Christianity. Through its missionary work, its monasteries, its education, it pilgrimages, its crusades, its influence on art and architecture and its Papacy it had united the peoples of Europe. By the thirteenthRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 Pagesfundamental wide-ranging issues. The bursting of the high-tech bubble both in many start-up companies and in major segments of established firms dissipated many entrepreneurial efforts and the large sums of money that were spent to create organizations that never earned a profit and were of ten hugely unsuccessful as business entities. However, this enormous cost to some companies also created beneficial impacts for many other companies in dealing with these fundamental wide-ranging issues. These beneficial

Messages to the Reader in Jane Eyre, a Novel by Charlotte...

Jane Eyre, a novel by Charlotte Brontà «, contains several notable themes and messages sent to its readers. Jane Eyre is a coming of age novel that is a story of a girls quest for equality and happiness. A common theme that recurs throughout the novel is the importance of independence.Charlotte Brontà « utilizes several techniques to convey this message, incorporating her personal experiences, as well as including symbolism and motifs. Charlotte Bronte subjects Jane to several conflicts that occur because of Jane’s desire for independence and freedom, such as love, religion, and gender inequality. Jane Eyre is a story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued and belonging. However, this search is constantly hindered by her need for independence. She starts of as an unloved orphan who is desperate to find love and a purpose. For example, Jane says to Helen, â€Å"to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest†. However, over the course of the novel, Jane learns to gain love without harming herself in the process. Although she is despised by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, she finds parental figures throughout the book. Miss Temple and Bessie care for Jane and give her love and guidance. However, Jane does not feel as though she has foundShow MoreRelatedRole Of Childhood In Jane Eyre1118 Words   |  5 PagesDiscuss the prese ntation of childhood in Jane Eyre and Hard Times It is important to appreciate historical context when studying literature in order to gain as thorough understanding of the text as possible. 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In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses the archetypical symbol of nature in order to indirectly convey the feelings and future of Jane Eyre; similarly, this same archetype appears in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as well because nature expresses the appallingRead MoreMarxist Criticism On Charlotte Bronte s Jane Eyre1467 Words   |  6 PagesComposition March 18, 2016 Marxist Criticism on Charlotte Brontà « s Jane Eyre Some novels will not let the reader escape the social setting, and Charlotte Brontà « s Jane Eyre is no acceptation. The author implements a symphony of details that strikes the reader as a full blown portrait of society. The novel s surroundings profoundly influence the thoughts, emotions, and actions of every character, which makes out the setting to be as important to the novel s development as the characters and personalitiesRead MoreExplore How Bronte Has Created an Anti-Christian Theme in Jane Eyre1677 Words   |  7 PagesSupernaturality, love, as well as hypocrisy as a sub unit of religion,are dominant themes combined in the retrospective novel Jane Eyre. The novel depicts characters, such as Mr Brocklehurst and St.John Rivers that are challenges to the ideal christian way and faith throughout the novel. The eccentric romantic gothic genre and the surrounding supernatural presence lurks around crowds of chapters. The contrastive saint Helen Burns used as a reverence to the good aspect and purity of christianityRead More Charlotte Bronte Critiques Victorian Culture in Jane Eyre Essay1816 Words   |  8 Pagesa unique voice to covertly instill some of the contentious messages in the mind of the general public. Charlotte Brontà «, through her telling Jane’s life story, conveys controversial concepts about Victorian Society in an acceptable way. She illustrates her scorn for the rigid class structure, her disillusionment with devout religious ideals, and her belief that women deserve more rights than what they are allocated in her society. Brontà « also contends that Victorian values of money and superficialRead MoreJane Eyre Feminist Analysis1045 Words   |  5 PagesJane Eyre is recognized and acclaimed as a classic feminist novel, a bold social commentary penned by a daring woman intent on shedding light on the hypocrisy that riddled Victorian society. This view is indeed accurate. However, Charlotte Brontà « only dares so much; she only sheds so much light. In â€Å"â€Å"The Maniac Bellowed†: Queer Affect and Queer Temporality in Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre†, Carolyn Marjorie Davis asserts that the arms of Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s feminism do not embrace women who fail to fulfill certainRead MoreLiterary Techniques of Charlotte Bronte Essay2169 Words   |  9 Pagesthe methods Charlotte Bronte uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novels literary context. In the novel, Jane, an orphan girl, is victimised and suffers many hardships in her daily life at the hands of the Reed family. With the Reed family, she is a victim of constant verbal, emotional and physical abuse Charlotte Bronte uses many techniques to make the reader empathise withRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1552 Words   |  7 Pagesdignified† are the first words the audience are shown that can cause the reader to wonder whether it will be satisfying or if they would be able to comprehend the author’s message. Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre deals with a young orphan girl who lives a very repugnant life; the transition from her childhood to adulthood makes the reader effectively understand the character’s struggles and accomplishments. When reading this novel, a reader’s imagination can travel back to the Victorian age in EnglandRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1554 Words   |  7 Pagesdignified† are the first words the audience are shown that can cause the reader to wonder whether it will be satisfying or if they would be able to comprehend the author’s message. Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre deals with a young orphan girl who lives a very repugnant life; the transition from her childhood to adulthood makes the reader effectively understand the character’s struggles and accomplishments. When reading this novel, a reader’s imagination can travel back to the Victorian age in EnglandRead MoreComparison Of Jane Eyre And Pride And Prejudice 2081 Words   |  9 PagesContrast the Social Caste System and Personal Ideations in the books â€Å"Jane Eyre† by Emily Bronte and â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† by Jane Austin Two names that ran the gauntlet of 19th century romance and changed the way on how it was written and depicted forever. These two history changing authors names were Jane Austen and Emily Bronte. Two well-known novels of the 19th century (â€Å"Jane Eyre† by Emily Bronte and â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† by Jane Austin) both have similarities, but also differences on how the characters

Preventing Teen Pregnancy - 694 Words

Big idea: Preventing teen pregnancy Recently, there has been a great deal of controversy about abstinence education in schools. Proponents of this type of sex education insist that it is the only way to reduce the teen pregnancy rate and that including information about birth control will confuse the pro-abstinence message. As a teen, I beg to differ with this simplistic characterization of how teens make decisions. First and foremost, although I have many friends who did make the decision to have sex before marriage, none of them, so far as I know, decided to do so because my sex education class told me it was okay. Teens make the decision to become sexually active because of complex social and psychological reasons. Schools can try to educate teens about the risks of engaging in sexual activity so teens can make more informed decisions, but schools should not use scare tactics nor should they deliberately withhold valuable information from teens that can make teens decisions safer. Despite the fact that some teens b elieve they know everything about birth control, there is still a great deal of misinformation in the media, including the idea that you cant get pregnant if you have your period or if it is your first time having sex. Sex education in schools can have a powerful role in ensuring teens have the correct information. Talking honestly about the risks of unprotected sex, like pregnancy and STDs, and the emotional consequences of being pressured intoShow MoreRelatedPreventing Teen And Unplanned Pregnancy865 Words   |  4 Pagessupport them? According to a new study from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, the teen birth rate is nearly one-third higher in rural areas of the United States than it is in more populous areas of the country, and teen pregnancy rates have been much slower to decline in rural counties over the past decade. The advocacy organization notes that while no single reason explains the difference in teen birth rates across regions, adolescents in rural areas likely have particularRead MorePreventing Teen Pregnancy : Tierra T. Banks1740 Words   |  7 Pages Preventing Teen Pregnancy Tierra T. Banks Southwest Tennessee Community College Abstract The purpose of this research paper is to provide different ways to prevent teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy has become a very common thing with young girls nowadays. There are many ways to decrease the number of young girls getting pregnant. Evidence shows that a lot of time teens who get pregnant are usually poverty stricken or dealing with some type of struggle in life. 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Dracula a novel of fin Essay Example For Students

Dracula: a novel of fin Essay It is only in the latter half of the twentieth century that Dracula has begun to receive serious critical attention instead of being dismissed as lightweight sensationalist Victorian popular fiction. It has become apparent that the novel is not simply a conventional work of Gothic horror but, as with its contemporaries Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray, this revival of a genre typical of the earlier half of the nineteenth century has some significance with regard to contemporary events. Dracula is less a straightforwardly titillating story of adventure and mythical monsters than a study of the undermining of the psychic and social categories upon which the security and comfort of the Victorian middle-class world depended. This resurgence of the Gothic came at a time when the boundaries which had previously seemed so unshakeable were beginning to crumble, when the general self satisfaction and supreme confidence in the age was being eroded by troubles both at home and further afield within the Empire and thus it is hardly surprising, as David Punter observes, that the period saw a burst of symbolic energy as powerful as that of the original Gothic1. The Gothic tradition is interested in the forbidden, it seeks to explore the desires and fears that society represses in order to maintain stability, it deals with the blurring of certainties and above all with transgressions of the norm, and all of these are clearly relevant to the late Victorian crisis of faith in previously indisputable beliefs. Dracula clearly belongs to the Gothic with its continual transgression of social, psychic and realistic limits. Eve Kosovsky Sedgwick2 has identified the distinctive features of Gothic literature as follows; the setting is often a Catholic European country, and includes an oppressive ruin or castle in a wild landscape, it is likely to feature a sensitive heroine tyrannised and imprisoned by an older man intent on rape and murder, who is rescued by her impetuous lover. There is often an interest in religious institutions, sleep or deathlike states, the damaging effects of guilt, family ties, and hints of incest. The form of the novel is discontinuous and convoluted in order to emphasise the theme of the difficulties of communication. Even on superficial reading it is obvious that Dracula conforms to some extent to these guidelines, although there is a variation of convention in that it is initially Jonathan Harker who represents the trapped victim, and Mina who plays the shadowy lover present only within his consciousness, a role reversal with connotations of one of the central anxieties of both the novel and the time -that of gender. Thus as a novel set firmly in the Gothic tradition Dracula is concerned with that transgression of boundaries which was the cause of the fin de sià ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cle anxiety infecting England. Sally Ledger characterises the period as one when the monolithic certainties of mid-Victorian Britain3 suddenly began to be eroded. This atmosphere of doubt was reflected in the form of the novel -one-volume novels and novellas were overtaking weighty three part works, and it was becoming less and less likely that the reader would be able to rely on the security of one omniscient narrator. Admittedly this had been the case previously, notably in the story within a story told by multiple narrators of earlier Gothic fiction, but ultimately a complete explanation was usually provided. The narrative structure of Dracula is an example of the changes typical of the fin de sicle form; although the many separate narratives are prefaced by an explanatory note which seeks to underline their authenticity this lacks confidence, admitting that the story is almost at variance with the possibilities of latter day belief4 and it is difficult to have faith in a narrative made up of so many different voices, none of whom have the privilege of omniscience. .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 , .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .postImageUrl , .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 , .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:hover , .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:visited , .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:active { border:0!important; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:active , .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599 .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ufb1c683896c2f09c870dee1f118dc599:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: An Inspector Calls - A Review EssayThe collected contents of the book purport to prove the fantastic, the existence of vampires in nineteenth century England, yet it is only Jonathan Harker at the very end of the novel who points out that the papers hardly constitute proof of so wild a story (page 378). Whilst this series of first person narratives, newspaper clippings and letters increase the proximity of the horror and bewilderment and give the story its immediacy, it also denies the reader certainty and perhaps could be said to mirror a similar prevailing mood of doubt and confusion in contemporary Britain. However, some critics have commented that the fact that the main narrators are all (with the exception of Mina) young, middle class male professionals means that they all seem to speak with one homogenous voice, and it is certainly true that Stoker fails to develop his characters or bestow any extraneous individualising traits upon them, in this vein Senf notes that  With the exception of Dr. Van Helsing, all the central characters are youthful and inexperienced -two dimensional characters whose only distinguishing characteristics are their names and their professions; and by maintaining a constancy of style throughout and emphasising the beliefs which they hold in common, Stoker further diminishes any individualising traits. This sidelining of character development can be seen as both a product of the mythical nature of the tale, as characters are less important than the basic premise of the story in such a genre, and of their importance as symbols of fin de sià ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cle decline. Stoker was writing at a time when gender relations were under intense scrutiny, and when many people felt that the traditional roles of men and women were being threatened, to the detriment of society as a whole. The suffragette movement and the rise of the New Woman challenged what many felt to be the almost sacred role of the The Angel in the House, as the popular poet Coventry Patmore christened the feminine ideal, and at the same time the decadent movement and dandyism, as well as the scandal of Oscar Wildes trial and conviction, focused public attention on homosexuality as undermining conventional masculinity. Therefore the similarity between the principle narrators could be seen as the future leaders of society (i.e. the young middle class professionals) bonding against a common enemy, with the Count representing homosexuality and a myriad of other sexual perversions including incest, and the female vampires the predatory voluptuous sexually liberated female. Although Dracula himself is not overtly homosexual, the hovering anxiety of the novel, articulated from the very beginning, is his initial interest in Harker himself. The Counts ultimate desire to possess and drain another male, evident in his reaction when Harker cuts himself shaving and when he finds him with his vampiric sisters  How dare you touch him, any of you?

Waltz in three dimensions Essay Example For Students

Waltz in three dimensions Essay Paula Vogel always encourages the students in her MFA playwriting workshop at Brown University to write plays that can be staged for under $100. The exercise is less concerned with teaching her novice playwrights how to negotiate the deplorable state of funding for the arts than it is to get them to rethink the theatrical form. In one way or another, nearly all of Vogels own plays including Desdemona, The Oldest Profession, And Baby Makes Seven and The Baltimore Waltz exhibit just such a rigorous rethinking of theatrical forms. (I also firmly believe that, payment to artists excepted, each of these plays could be staged without compromise for less than $100. But thats another article.) Vogels plays are seldom what they appear to be on first reading, but they utilize an exuberant theatricality that subverts naturalistic conventions and theatregoers expectations at every turn. We will write a custom essay on Waltz in three dimensions specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Three mountings of The Baltimore Waltz, all of which opened within two months of each other this season, provided a unique opportunity for observing the versatility of Vogels work from the point of view of design. The plays premiere production, a cooperative venture of New Yorks Circle Repertory Company and Houstons Alley Theatre with support from ATT: OnStage, turned out to be two distinctively different stagings, both supervised by director Anne Bogart and designed by Loy Arcenas; Center Stage of Baltimore followed with a production directed by Michael Greif and designed by Donald Eastman. Like Angels in America, Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Marvins Room, The Baltimore Waltz is part of a growing body of work identified as second-generation AIDS plays. In contrast to the earnest, exhortatory tone of first-generation AIDS plays like The Normal Heart and As Is, these second-,generation works are often angry, seldom sentimental, occasionally abstract and always funny. Angry, unsentimental, abstract, funny The Baltimore Waltz to a T. On one level, the play appears to be a brittle comedy about a young woman, an elementary-school teacher from Baltimore, who receives the grim news that she is terminally ill with ATD (Acquired Toilet Disease). Knowing that there is no known cure, Anne and her brother Carl, a childrens librarian, go on a whirlwind tour of Europe in pursuit of an unorthodox miracle cure, black-market drugs and uninhibited sexual pleasure. The reality, however, is something else entirely. As Michael Feingold put it in his Village Voice review of the play, This transparent absurdity is the mirror image of the actual story being told: Anna is perfectly healthy, her brother Carl is dying of AIDS in a Baltimore hospital (as the authors brother Carl in fact did); the European trip is one they planned but didnt take. For Frank Rich of the New York Times, The Baltimore Waltz is that rare AIDS play that rides completely off the rails of documentary reality, trying to rise above and even remake the world in which the disease exists. The stage directions for The Baltimore Waltz (as printed in the September 91 issue of American Theatre) indicate that the play takes place in a hospital (perhaps in a lounge, corridor or waiting room) in Baltimore. Vogel, however, provides an additional, liberating clue in her introduction to a letter from her brother, written to her shortly before he died, which is printed in its entirety with the script and usually reprinted in the program Here, Vogel describes the Baltimore Waltz as a journey with Carl to a Europe that exists only in the imagination. NEW YORK, Feb. 11 Circle Reps association with The Baltimore Waltz actually began more than a year ago, when the theatre offered Vogel and her director of choice, Anne Bogart, a chance to stage a workshop production of the script is part of its Circle Lab program. Although the workshop allowed Bogart to test-drive some of her ideas about the play, surprisingly little of what was seen in the workshop is used in the subsequent production. the lone set element shared by both is a white curtain, tautly, stretched across the entire width of the stage, which serves variously as front curtain, projection screen and hospital curtain. After Anna and Carl are introduced to the audience in the narrow space in front of this curtain, they fling it back to reveal Arcenas full set: a sterile, impersonal, contemporary waiting room, pale green in color, with solarium windows and one nondescript, six-foot cough (just the kind one would expect to find in a waiting room). A downstage left door leads to a corridor; another door upstage left opens onto a closet, or perhaps a bathroom, into which the third member of the cast disappears periodically to make costume changes with Irma Vep-velocity. .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 , .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .postImageUrl , .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 , .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:hover , .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:visited , .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:active { border:0!important; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:active , .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0 .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uad85e8cdf7d5b3e425d7903887ee26f0:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Eva Smith Original Writing Piece EssayAlthough the set contains a good deal of detail electrical outlets, sprinkler fixtures, wooden handrails, a sound-absorbent tile ceiling, even simulated grime around the baseboards little about it suggested a hospital waiting room. Little, that is, except for an ominous gurney that sits in the up left corner of the stage. That item of grim reality not withstanding, it is the fanciful use of the couch which clues the audience that what they are watching is no ordinary trip through Europe. While the waiting room does double duty as a variety of hotel rooms, bistros, cafes and public squares in France, Holland and Germany, the single couch, repositioned at the beginning of each scene, is used to represent assorted double beds, bars, an airports security checkpoint, the private compartment of a train, even the Eiffel Tower. To further emphasize the fantasy, lighting designer Dennis Parichy illuminates the set with a rich, ever-changing array of lush colors, including lavenders, pinks, greenish-blues and salmons a palette more closely associated with romantic comedies than plays about AIDS. Only near the end of the play, when Anna returns to the hospital to find her lifeless brother on the gurney (now positioned center stage), does Parichy drain the light of all its color. The effect, in tandem with an abrasive buzzer and low rumblings constructed by sound score designer John Gromada, is genuinely shocking. Like Parichys lighting, Walter-Hicklins costumes take the fantasy by the throat. Anna is dressed in a full black slip and trenchcoat whenever she isnt in bed, where she wears only the slip. Except for his appearance at the very end of the play (in what the script describes as Austrian military regalia), Carl wears flannel pajamas, a blue blazer and, for the exterior scenes in Europe, a trenchcoat. The character identified in the script as the Third Man/Doctor impersonates all the characters Anna and Carl encounter on their fantasy tour of Europe, including Harry Lime (the elusive villain from the Carol Reed-Graham Greene thriller The Third Man) American function,tries and various European stereotypes. Hicklins costumes for these characters draw the audience deeper and deeper into Annas fantasy world. Minor changes, like slapping an official-looking patch on the arm for the Airport Security Guard or adding a brocade vest for the Garcon, are at first made in full view of the audience; after the convention for introducing new characters is securely established, the Third Man is able to make a complete costume change, becoming the little Dutch Boy at Age 50, without it appearing incongruous. This also sets up the audience for Dr. Todesrochein, the last and most bizarre of Annas fantasy characters by the time he makes his entrance, preposterously dressed in a blood-spattered lab c oat, thick glasses, ludicrous fright wig and a single black rubber glove, one is prepared to accept almost anything as part of the plays skewed universe. HOUSTON, April 8 While this citys production of The Baltimore Waltz retains much of the spirit of the New York production, the set has to be completedly redesigned for the Alleys Neuhaus Arena Stage, which seats the audience on four sides of an approximately 25 by 25 acting area. Arcenass new set is far less specific than his antiseptic, claustrophobic waiting room at Circle Rep: here there are only two institutional double-hinged doors in opposite corners of the stage and a pair of backless benches, which, like the couch in New York, are periodically repositioned to suggest a change in location. With much of the action reblocked to occur on the diagonal between the doors, the production often appears to be set in a hospital corridor. The gurney is sitting on stage as the audience enters, but it is wheeled out just prior to the first scene and then, carrying Carl, wheeled back in for the end of the play. .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 , .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .postImageUrl , .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 , .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:hover , .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:visited , .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:active { border:0!important; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:active , .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7 .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u38c08790590b1d54c82b890d8034fbf7:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Made in Montgomery: sighting heroes and villains on ASF stages, and off EssayParichys lighting has to be rethought in terms of the arena staging, of course, but aesthetically it changes little; Hicklins costumes and Gromadas soundscore are identical. But there are other important changes: Due to scheduling conflicts, Cherry Jones, Richard Thompson and Joe Mantello (who played Anna, Carl and the Third Man/doctor, respectively) have been replaced by Alma Cuervo, Willis Sparks and Arnie Burton. Since the Houston set has no curtain that can serve as a projection surface, Carls slides are shown on two masked screens, one in each of the two corners not occupied by the swinging doors. Finally, while the Circle Rep production used one stagehand dressed as a hospital orderly to assist the three principals with couch, prop and costume changes, the production at the Alley uses two orderlies. (The idea for dressing a stagehand as a hospital orderly is Bogarts; the character does not appear in Vogels script.) Still, audiences in New York and Houston saw basically the same production. The variations are the result of Neuhauss arena configuration, which, for example, makes Anna, Carl and the Third Man appear to be addressing the audience more directly and more often. Consequently, the Houston production may be experienced as more intimate, personal and emotional than the one seen in New York; I also suspect that the Houston set, which leaves more to the imagination than did the set used in New York, encourages audiences to take a more active role during the performances. These variations illustrate how a single production, imaginatively staged, can be presented in two very different theatres, be equally effective and still preserve the playwrights intentions. BALTIMORE, April 8-Michael Greif takes a more realistic approach to The Baltimore Waltz, but places it within a more abstract setting. Donald Eastman has pared the plays environment down to a 12-foot white curtain hung from a circular track in the center of the stage, masked in black. By eliminating all architectural detail and then introducing select furniture and props readily associated with either a European hotel or a contemporary hospital, the production simultaneously evokes the fantastic and the concrete qualities of the play. Anna (Kristine Nielsen), Carl (Jonathan Fried) and the Third Man/doctor (Robert Dorfman) make their initial entrances from under the curtain. When Anna begins her fantasy tour of Europe, the curtain is pulled aside to reveal an elegant double bed and chair, which represent 19th-century hotels and other locales. (The ferris wheel scene, for instance, in which Carl finally meets Harry Lime is staged with the characters standing on the bed.) As Annas anxiety about her brothers condition escalates, more and more items from the sterile, metallic world of the hospital surface in her fantasy. By the time she finally realizes that Carl has in fact died, the hotelroom elements have been completely replaced with those from Carls hospital room including a gurney instead of a regular hospital bed. James F. Ingalls took his cue for the lighting from The Third Man and approaches the production as film noir. This is particularly apparent during the fantasy sequences, in which the light is projected at sharp angles, using venetian blind templates and no overt use of color. Throughout much of the production, the lighting changes in direct response to the sound, a mix of European music and hospital effects designed by Mark Bennett. The sound and light interconnection often makes Annas trip through Europe seem like a reaction to or escape from the mostly unpleasant ambiance of the halls of a hospital. Like the lighting and sound, Paul Tazewells costumes are pointedly exaggerated and cartoonish: here Dr. Todesrocheins sinister black rubber gloves reach all the way up his shoulders. Seeing these three productions of The Baltimore Waltz as well as photographs from the original workshop production, directed by Annie Stokes-Hutchison at Perseverance Theatre in Douglas, Alaska confirms my conviction that while Vogels non-naturalistic script includes both realistic and abstract elements, it is the relationships among the three characters that determines the success of a production. In other words, it is the emotional clarity and intensity with which the characters and story action are presented, rather than the specificity of the setting, which make The Baltimore Waltz such a powerful experience for so many theatregoers.