Spinoza and literature for life: A practical theory of art. This project aims to construct a Spinozistic theory of art that shows how the enjoyment of art promotes the art of living well. Many artists have celebrated the inspirational force of Spinoza’s philosophy on their works, but philosophers have denied or neglected the relevance of his philosophy to art. By working across literary and philosophical resources, this project will show how Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist writers drew on his ....Spinoza and literature for life: A practical theory of art. This project aims to construct a Spinozistic theory of art that shows how the enjoyment of art promotes the art of living well. Many artists have celebrated the inspirational force of Spinoza’s philosophy on their works, but philosophers have denied or neglected the relevance of his philosophy to art. By working across literary and philosophical resources, this project will show how Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist writers drew on his thought. This project expects to contribute to Spinoza studies, philosophy and literature and ethics, and show how and why artistic enjoyment is essential for human health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Empathy and evolution: the history of emotions and the literary and visual representation of animals. A study of emotions in human and animals is a key area of contemporary research in both the sciences and humanities. It has crucial implications for our future. This project will investigate how humans have represented the emotions in literary and visual discourses from the eighteenth-century to the present.
William Faulkner Between Cinema and Literature. Literature continues to react and adapt to an ever-more complex media environment, but there is still little in the way of detailed critical study to specify the strategies and tactics of literary survival in an audio-visual era. By attending to the unique and indicative case of William Faulkner, who wrote simultaneously for the films and the serious literary market, this project will develop a new critical model for understanding literature's ada ....William Faulkner Between Cinema and Literature. Literature continues to react and adapt to an ever-more complex media environment, but there is still little in the way of detailed critical study to specify the strategies and tactics of literary survival in an audio-visual era. By attending to the unique and indicative case of William Faulkner, who wrote simultaneously for the films and the serious literary market, this project will develop a new critical model for understanding literature's adaptation to a complex media environment. It will shed significant intellectual light on the present and future states of literary survival in advanced industrial nations like Australia. Read moreRead less
Cinematic Imaginations: American Literature and the Visual Media, 1905-1945. The advent of new visual media in the late C19th, and their rapid growth and industrialization in the 20th, obliged the traditional forms of literature to change. This project investigates that change in the American context, as a set of interlinked adaptations, in both literature and cinema, to more general social changes in an emergent mass-production economy. Arguing for a ?media ecology?, the project's originality i ....Cinematic Imaginations: American Literature and the Visual Media, 1905-1945. The advent of new visual media in the late C19th, and their rapid growth and industrialization in the 20th, obliged the traditional forms of literature to change. This project investigates that change in the American context, as a set of interlinked adaptations, in both literature and cinema, to more general social changes in an emergent mass-production economy. Arguing for a ?media ecology?, the project's originality is to establish a viable model for analysing this shift in the complexion of a culture, in terms of an explosive expansion of the cultural economy.Read moreRead less
The Visual Mediation of a Complex Narrative: TGH Strehlow's Journey to Horseshoe Bend. TGH Strehlow's biographical memoir, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, is a vivid ethno-historiographic account of Aboriginal, settler and Lutheran communities of Central Australia in the 1920's. This project intends to construct an extensive digital hub elaborating key textual thematics of Aboriginal identity and sense of ?place?, supplemented with oral histories. Consistent with the Strehlow Research Centre's missio ....The Visual Mediation of a Complex Narrative: TGH Strehlow's Journey to Horseshoe Bend. TGH Strehlow's biographical memoir, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, is a vivid ethno-historiographic account of Aboriginal, settler and Lutheran communities of Central Australia in the 1920's. This project intends to construct an extensive digital hub elaborating key textual thematics of Aboriginal identity and sense of ?place?, supplemented with oral histories. Consistent with the Strehlow Research Centre's mission in the management and preservation of the Strehlow Collection's vast archival materials, the project will provide access to and foster engagement with Strehlow's works. The project will employ innovative visual methodologies in the production and mediation of Indigenous knowledge related to the text. Read moreRead less
A History of Women's Political Thought in Europe 1700-1800. This research will contribute to Australia's reputation for innovative scholarship on women and feminism and foster the development of models of active female citizenship and political participation by deepening our knowledge and understanding of the contribution that women made to political philosophy in the pre-revolutionary period.
Australia's Forgotten Culture: the Pulp Fiction Industry 1939-1959. Australia's Forgotten Culture systematically examines the Australian 'pulp' industry (1939-1959). In 1939 imported American cultural products were banned; this ban created a vacuum in the Australian market. Sydney publishers filled the gap with paperback books written by Australians for Australians. These books sold millions of copies and inspired a plethora of cultural products such as radio serials and comics; they were also ....Australia's Forgotten Culture: the Pulp Fiction Industry 1939-1959. Australia's Forgotten Culture systematically examines the Australian 'pulp' industry (1939-1959). In 1939 imported American cultural products were banned; this ban created a vacuum in the Australian market. Sydney publishers filled the gap with paperback books written by Australians for Australians. These books sold millions of copies and inspired a plethora of cultural products such as radio serials and comics; they were also successfully exported overseas. Carter Brown alone sold over 80 million books in dozens of languages. In 1959, the bans were lifted. Overnight the industries died. This project analyses a rich but lost period in Australian culture, one that has been ignored presumably because it was popular.Read moreRead less
Psychosomatic Illness in Early Modern Italy: lessons for modern psychiatric theory and practice. This pioneering collaboration between researchers in humanities and medicine will investigate the ways psychosomatic illness was defined and spread in early modern Italy. Epidemics of such illness still occur today and have had a major social and economic impact on Australia in recent decades. Our project will draw lessons for modern psychiatric theory and practice from historical and cultural differ ....Psychosomatic Illness in Early Modern Italy: lessons for modern psychiatric theory and practice. This pioneering collaboration between researchers in humanities and medicine will investigate the ways psychosomatic illness was defined and spread in early modern Italy. Epidemics of such illness still occur today and have had a major social and economic impact on Australia in recent decades. Our project will draw lessons for modern psychiatric theory and practice from historical and cultural differences in the conceptualisation and communication of 'hypochondria'. It will shed light on a very contemporary ethical dilemma in psychiatry: should doctors lie to 'hypochondriacal' patients? It will also contribute to current debates on the role of disease labels and information in the incidence and 'infectiousness' of psychosomatic illness.Read moreRead less
The Madrid Skylitzes: Electronic reproduction and international interdisciplinary study of the first illustrated history book. With its 574 miniatures, the Madrid Skylitzes is the only known illustrated Greek chronicle (and the sole source for certain periods). But is it Europe's first illustrated history book or copied from a Constantinopolitan original? Token Greek resistance to the increasing Latinization of tri-cultural Sicily or Norman propaganda to undermine Byzantine claims to the island? ....The Madrid Skylitzes: Electronic reproduction and international interdisciplinary study of the first illustrated history book. With its 574 miniatures, the Madrid Skylitzes is the only known illustrated Greek chronicle (and the sole source for certain periods). But is it Europe's first illustrated history book or copied from a Constantinopolitan original? Token Greek resistance to the increasing Latinization of tri-cultural Sicily or Norman propaganda to undermine Byzantine claims to the island?
Isolated studies have produced starkly contradictory answers. Recent cross-disciplinary investigations by an international team have yielded better results. The collaborators will apply the methods of codicology, palaeography, stylistics, art history, historiography, computational linguistics, narratology and intertextuality to elucidate this key cultural product.
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