Del infierno al cuerpo: La otredad en la narrativa y en el cine español contemporáneo, Katarzyna Olga Beoñom

A review of Katarzyna Olga Beoñom\u27s Del infierno al cuerpo: La otredad en la narrativa y en el cine español contemporáneo

Guide to the geology of Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood, Charnwood Forest

Charnwood Forest is one of the few parts of England where there are exposures of ‘basement’ rocks dating back to Precambrian time. Its locally rugged topography is caused by these highly resistant rocks protruding as craggy knolls through a surrounding cover of Triassic-age Mercia Mudstone strata and Quaternary deposits. Past workers have viewed Charnwood Forest as a ‘fossil’ hill range that was carved by erosion dating from the late Carboniferous (end-Variscan) block uplifts, was subsequently buried beneath Triassic and younger strata, and is now in the process of being exhumed. The ‘hard rock’ outcrops and distinctive scenery of Charnwood Forest, exemplified by Bradgate Park, have attracted much interest over the centuries, and Watts (1947) charts a number of publications stretching back to 1790. The lithostratigraphy of the Charnwood Forest succession was formalised after the detailed mapping and thesis of Moseley (1979), and a subsequent paper by Moseley and Ford (1985). Figure 1 shows that the Charnian Supergroup sensu stricto is divided into two principal groupings, of which the youngest, the Maplewell Group, will be visited today (localities and route are shown in Figure 2). In Swithland Wood, the strata to be visited belong to the Brand Group. This overlies the Maplewell Group, and as it is now referred to the Lower Cambrian, rather than to the Precambrian as previously thought, it is no longer included as part of the Charnian Supergroup. A Precambrian age (i.e. older than the start of the Cambrian Period, 543 million years ago) for the Charnian rocks was hinted at as long ago as 1865. It was finally confirmed following the work of Lapworth (1882), although his observation was based on similarities between Charnian rocks and the Caldecote Volcanic Formation, which is demonstrably overlain unconformably by Lower Cambrian strata at Nuneaton, 30 km to the west. Lapworth’s discovery had major implications for something that happened much later - the finding of fossils in the Charnian strata by a schoolboy, Roger Mason, when out climbing near Woodhouse Eaves in 1957. Since then, several more fossiliferous localities have been found in Charnwood Forest (eg. Boynton and Ford, 1995), including the important exposure in Bradgate Park. Their significance to Precambrian geology, and to the understanding of the early evolution of organized life, will be discussed later on. Much still remains to be clarified about the precise age of the Charnian Supergroup, in terms of a figure expressed in millions of years. Estimates of 560 - 566 Ma (Compston et al., 2002) have been determined for the fossil-bearing upper part of the Maplewell Group on the basis of isotopic analyses that measure the decay of uranium to lead in rock-forming minerals such as zircon. Given the exposed thickness of 3000 m for the Charnian sequence, however, it is clear that more isotopic determinations will be needed in order to constrain the entire age-range of the succession

Sex, the Body, and Human Subjectivity in Luis Gotyisolo\u27s Erotic Novel Escalera Hacia el Cielo

Best known for his tetralogy Antagonía, Luis Goytisolo began his literary career under the Franco dictatorship and soon developed a reputation as an intellectual\u27s writer. His intricate and sinewy prose challenged readers to follow his narrators down labyrinthine paths of extended metaphors, embedded clauses and erudite references. Interestingly enough, the novels of Goytisolo published in the last decade lack the narrative complexity and structural experimentalism characteristic of his earlier works. These 90s novels include: Estatua con palomas (1992), Mzungo (1996), Placer licuante (1997), and Escalera hacia el cielo (1999). Some might feel that his change to a more traditional narrative style indicates a compromise of his intellectual project and wonder if he has succumbed to the pressures created by the commercialization of Spanish fiction

Luis Goytisolo’s \u3cem\u3eLa paradoja del ave migratoria\u3c/em\u3e as Postmodern Allegory: A Critique of Absolutism

Luis Goytisolo’s short work of fiction, La paradoja del ave migratoria, was published in 1987 in a Post-Franco Spain and a Postmodern world. I will investigate this unusual novel as a postmodern allegory, relying on Brian McHale’s assertion that postmodern allegory challenges the “unequivocalness of traditional allegories” by problematizing the naive assumption that abstract concepts can be communicated transparently through language (1987, 141). Luis Goytisolo populates his allegory with mythical, and historical characters that hail from a dizzying array of time periods, creating a heterotopic universe in which no one context of references serves as the key to interpretation. Characters are lifted out of familiar situations, and readers are prevented from making automatic associations and must read these characters and contexts without recourse to one absolute paradigm

From Here to In\u3cem\u3eFinnerty\u3c/em\u3e: Tony Soprano and the American Way

As fellow critics have pointed out in a myriad of published studies on the series, The Sopranos challenges the traditional gangster genre formula and brings the mob closer to all of us: Tony and his gang inhabit a recognizable world of Starbucks, suburbia, and SUVs. They discuss issues of the day, the same ones we discuss when we turn off the TV after the episode. In short, they inhabit a quotidian reality that is continuous with our own, and we are prevented from drawing the neat lines that allow us a comfortable remove from the horror of the “criminal world,” as David Simon’s book Tony Soprano’s America convincingly demonstrates. Indeed, the series is an allegory that shows how the workings of the Italian American Mafia are not so different from the latest incarnation of the American way crystallized in the contemporary, corporate, middle-class consumer culture of the baby boomers, or what David Brooks has deemed “bobo culture.

Good Intentions Aren\u27t Enough: Intellectuals and Violence in Luis Goytisolo\u27s \u3cem\u3eMzungo\u3c/em\u3e

In the 1990s Luis Goytisolo explores the possibilities of popular fiction, adapting various genres (travel, mystery, erotic, historical) to accomodate his long-term project of unpacking Western Values. Indeed, Goytisolo’s flirtation with the best-selling genre fiction constitutes a postmodern gesture of “complicitous critique.”For example, in Escalera hacia el cielo (1999) Goytisolo exploits the erotic genre to challenge the traditional paradigm of the dominant male gaze and the objectified female body and to offer instead expressions of mutuality. In Mzungo (1996), Goytisolo engages the travel novel to undermine the culturally dominant position of the white European male who “discovers” an unknown culture/geography and explains it in terms of his own, which parades as universal. However, as opposed to the hopeful theme of mutuality we see in Escalera hacia el cielo, Mzungo offers a much darker vision of humanity and our potential for peaceful coexistence

Farmers and Capitalism

Most analyses of modern capitalism focus on bargains struck between workers, managers, and owners (and the different types of firms they inhabit). But considering the substantial influence of institutional inertia on modern outcomes, it is necessary to examine the origins, and to consider which actors were most important in the early construction of capitalist systems. In this regard, farmers have played a critical role. I examine four cases - early 19th Century United States, early 20th Century United States, post-WWII France, and post-WWII Japan - to assess farmers’ influence on the origins of contemporary institutions, and find that they have played an important, though frequently overlooked, role.political economy; capitalism; financial institutions; economic development

Deducing Varieties of Capitalism

One of the key criticisms made of the Varieties of Capitalism perspective advanced by Hall and Soskice (2001) is that it is functionalist. Here, I offer a deductive model of capitalism that is consistent with their framework. Specifically, I deduce the structure of nations' capitalist institutions based on distributive welfare gains to those actors representing an economy's main factors of production - land, labor, and capital. Based on the coalitions and political battles that may be fought among these actors, I derive seven capitalist ideal-types that fall along the LME-CME spectrum.capitalism; political economy; financial institutions

Global imbalances: the international monetary system and financial stability.

Understanding the link between global macroeconomic imbalances and financial stability is critical not only for understanding the recent financial crisis, but also for what could happen next. The imbalances and financial vulnerabilities that plagued the global economy before the crisis have begun to re-emerge. In a context of deficient global demand and exceptionally low interest rates in many countries, one likely result is excessively risky behaviour in the financial sector. A failure to resolve global disequilibria will ultimately undermine the global recovery and financial stability. Several lines of defence against this outcome are needed, including greater responsibility on the part of households, firms and governments to manage their debts, and enhanced financial sector supervision.