Alan Durant | Middlesex University (original) (raw)
Books by Alan Durant
Manasori Toyota and Shigeo Kikuchi (eds), New Horizons in English Language Teaching: Language, Literature and Education (Kansai Gaidai University Press, pp.1-35., 2013
In a slight departure from academic custom, I thought it might be a useful way into assessing the... more In a slight departure from academic custom, I thought it might be a useful way into assessing the cluster of issues in language teaching, the role of literature in such teaching, and wider educational questions with which this book is concerned if I discuss the topics I wish to raise from a more or less personal point of view, at least initially. I propose, therefore, to begin by outlining some relevant aspects of my own involvement, over a period of what is now roughly thirty years, in the movement usually referred to as 'language through literature', or sometimes 'pedagogic stylistics'. I intend to use this more personal account as nevertheless a way into considering the field of pedagogic stylistics more generally: how it emerged, how it developed, the kinds of achievements that have occurred within it over a period of over quarter of a century and the challenges which it still faces and which make it contested within the field of English language teaching. I'll then assess arguments in favour of incorporating the study of literary texts in English language (L2) courses, as well as some arguments commonly made against. Finally, I will focus on some challenges which are distinctive to the present phase of English language teaching and the challenges within that which face literature in that field. Those challenges range from broad educational and cultural challenges, especially concerning a necessary vocational quality in contemporary education, through to specifics of course delivery and pedagogy. Such issues, I will argue, are necessary professional preoccupations for those who believe that a cultural dimension is needed in English language education. Beginnings of an interest I can be fairly precise about when my own interest in literature in the foreign language teaching of English began: in 1983, roughly thirty years ago. How can I be so precise about this? Until that period I had been involved in literary studies in English, including writing a Ph.D. about the American poet Ezra Pound and publishing my first book (about Ezra Pound in poetic modernism), and been preoccupied with questions of the Modernist fragmentation of poetic language; the development of images from which inferences and meanings are derived; and a topic that has a particular relevance in Japan, namely the partial understanding and sometimes misunderstanding of haiku as incorporated into Western poetic traditions. Those topics were particularly interesting to me because they formed part of the cultural horizon of the literary environment in which I was living. My interest was effectively in poetry I wanted to read, and which others around me were reading and discussing. But in time I moved from a combination of research and teaching to a new post at another university, in order to develop a program in postgraduate literary linguistics (setup at the University of Strathclyde with two colleagues). The students who registered for that program were a combination of native speakers plus about 50% of non-native speakers from other countries who were interested in literature teaching as a part of the wider teaching of English language, forming part of applied linguistics courses in various countries around the world. That was the moment-in designing a curriculum for the first time-at which my interest turned to thinking about questions of literature and literature teaching not in a self-centred way, in relation to my own native-speaker experience of books and the language and culture I inhabit, but in relation to other to needs, values and aspirations of those working in English from other languages and cultures. A tension between these two kinds of interest-I hope a productive one-has persisted in my work, as well is the work of many colleagues, ever since.
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Forensic Linguistics, volume 3 number 2, 195-210. ISSN 1350-1771, 1996
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Marco Wan (ed), The Legal Case: Cross-currents between Law and the Humanities (Routledge, 2012), pp.11-28., 2012
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Journal of English Language and Literature (JELL), 63 (4) . pp. 623-640. ISSN 1016-2283 , 2017
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In: Meaning and Power in the Language of Law. Leung, Janny H. C. and Durant, Alan , eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 32-70. ISBN 9781107112841., 2018
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Meaning in the Media addresses the issue of how we should respond to competing claims about meani... more Meaning in the Media addresses the issue of how we should respond to competing claims about meaning put forward in confrontations between people or organisations in highly charged circumstances such as bitter public controversies and expensive legal disputes. Alan Durant draws attention to the pervasiveness and significance of such meaning-related disputes in the media, investigating how their 'meaning' dimension is best described and explained. Through his analysis of deception, distortion, bias, false advertising, offensiveness and other kinds of communicative behaviour that trigger interpretive disputes, Durant shows that we can understand both meaning and media better if we focus in new ways on moments in discourse when the apparently continuous flow of understanding and agreement breaks down. This lively and contemporary volume will be invaluable to students and teachers of linguistics, media studies, journalism and law.
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"Language and Media" is a comprehensive introduction to how language interacts with media. It inv... more "Language and Media" is a comprehensive introduction to how language interacts with media. It investigates the forms of language found in media discourse; how patterns in such language use contribute to recognisable media genres and styles; and, broader social themes and consequences that arise from media language. It uses a wide variety of real texts from the media that include: newspapers covering events such as the Asian tsunami, speeches, blogs, emails, advertisements and interview transcripts from television talk shows including Oprah. It provides classic readings by the key names in the discipline including David Crystal, Norman Fairclough, David Graddol Allan Bell and Theo van Leeuwen. It is accompanied by a supporting website. Written by two experienced teachers and authors, this accessible textbook is an essential resource for all students of English language and linguistics.
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Provides the reader with the tools to analyse and interpret the meanings of literary and non-lite... more Provides the reader with the tools to analyse and interpret the meanings of literary and non-literary texts. Including exercises and examples, this fourth edition is divided into six sections which cover: techniques and problem-solving; language variation; attributing meaning; poetic uses of language; narrative; and media texts.
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The first book that literature students should read, this guide reveals the distinct set of skill... more The first book that literature students should read, this guide reveals the distinct set of skills, conventions and methods of essay and dissertation writing. Taking students through the various stages of writing, from planning to final submission, it offers specific guidelines and a lively, detailed commentary on actual examples of student work at each stage.
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Literary Studies in Action is a new kind of textbook: a combination of workbook and handbook. Ins... more Literary Studies in Action is a new kind of textbook: a combination of workbook and handbook. Instead of just outlining the discipline of literary studies, Literary Studies in Action helps the student to answer questions about its history and current practice: about what to do and how to do it, and why literature has been and can be studied. In doing so, it attempts to develop an informed view of where the object of our study in literary studies' fits into larger patterns of knowledge and thought. The numerous examples chosen for analysis range over the last thousand years of writing in English throughout the world, and include a variety of different kinds of texts. Literary Studies in Action also contains over a hundred practical activities for the student, to develop practical analytical skills and structure theoretical work. This is a textbook for the times, which addresses itself brilliantly to the twin phenomena of expanding horizons and diminishing resources of English studies.' - David Lodge
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Revised and edited version of an academic conference held at the University of Strathclyde, July ... more Revised and edited version of an academic conference held at the University of Strathclyde, July 1986. Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
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Music is performed, reproduced, and heard differently today as a result of twentieth-century tech... more Music is performed, reproduced, and heard differently today as a result of twentieth-century technology. A new consideration of these changes is a practical and cultural necessity. In Conditions of Music, Alan Durant extends Deryck Cooke's Language of Music, placing the insights of Cooke into a much wider sociological and historical framework. Conditions of Music provides a basis for detailed commentary and criticism of music. Unlike literature and painting, around which illuminating critical techniques and theories have developed, little common ground exists for music criticism. The appraisal argument adopted here implies a major revision of accepted ways of thinking about contemporary directions of music.
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This monograph on Ezra Pound's poetry and thought explores how Pound’s notions of language, sexua... more This monograph on Ezra Pound's poetry and thought explores how Pound’s notions of language, sexuality and politics intersect in the programme for poetic modernism that Pound followed in his own work and advocated in the work of others. Contains detailed discussion of the writing of Ernest Fenollosa and Rémy de Gourmont, among other figures who were major influences on Pound’s thinking, and analyses the role of metaphor and metonymy in Pound’s view of the poetic image through detailed commentary on the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.
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Papers by Alan Durant
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
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Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
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Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
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Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
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Manasori Toyota and Shigeo Kikuchi (eds), New Horizons in English Language Teaching: Language, Literature and Education (Kansai Gaidai University Press, pp.1-35., 2013
In a slight departure from academic custom, I thought it might be a useful way into assessing the... more In a slight departure from academic custom, I thought it might be a useful way into assessing the cluster of issues in language teaching, the role of literature in such teaching, and wider educational questions with which this book is concerned if I discuss the topics I wish to raise from a more or less personal point of view, at least initially. I propose, therefore, to begin by outlining some relevant aspects of my own involvement, over a period of what is now roughly thirty years, in the movement usually referred to as 'language through literature', or sometimes 'pedagogic stylistics'. I intend to use this more personal account as nevertheless a way into considering the field of pedagogic stylistics more generally: how it emerged, how it developed, the kinds of achievements that have occurred within it over a period of over quarter of a century and the challenges which it still faces and which make it contested within the field of English language teaching. I'll then assess arguments in favour of incorporating the study of literary texts in English language (L2) courses, as well as some arguments commonly made against. Finally, I will focus on some challenges which are distinctive to the present phase of English language teaching and the challenges within that which face literature in that field. Those challenges range from broad educational and cultural challenges, especially concerning a necessary vocational quality in contemporary education, through to specifics of course delivery and pedagogy. Such issues, I will argue, are necessary professional preoccupations for those who believe that a cultural dimension is needed in English language education. Beginnings of an interest I can be fairly precise about when my own interest in literature in the foreign language teaching of English began: in 1983, roughly thirty years ago. How can I be so precise about this? Until that period I had been involved in literary studies in English, including writing a Ph.D. about the American poet Ezra Pound and publishing my first book (about Ezra Pound in poetic modernism), and been preoccupied with questions of the Modernist fragmentation of poetic language; the development of images from which inferences and meanings are derived; and a topic that has a particular relevance in Japan, namely the partial understanding and sometimes misunderstanding of haiku as incorporated into Western poetic traditions. Those topics were particularly interesting to me because they formed part of the cultural horizon of the literary environment in which I was living. My interest was effectively in poetry I wanted to read, and which others around me were reading and discussing. But in time I moved from a combination of research and teaching to a new post at another university, in order to develop a program in postgraduate literary linguistics (setup at the University of Strathclyde with two colleagues). The students who registered for that program were a combination of native speakers plus about 50% of non-native speakers from other countries who were interested in literature teaching as a part of the wider teaching of English language, forming part of applied linguistics courses in various countries around the world. That was the moment-in designing a curriculum for the first time-at which my interest turned to thinking about questions of literature and literature teaching not in a self-centred way, in relation to my own native-speaker experience of books and the language and culture I inhabit, but in relation to other to needs, values and aspirations of those working in English from other languages and cultures. A tension between these two kinds of interest-I hope a productive one-has persisted in my work, as well is the work of many colleagues, ever since.
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Forensic Linguistics, volume 3 number 2, 195-210. ISSN 1350-1771, 1996
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Marco Wan (ed), The Legal Case: Cross-currents between Law and the Humanities (Routledge, 2012), pp.11-28., 2012
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of English Language and Literature (JELL), 63 (4) . pp. 623-640. ISSN 1016-2283 , 2017
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In: Meaning and Power in the Language of Law. Leung, Janny H. C. and Durant, Alan , eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 32-70. ISBN 9781107112841., 2018
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Meaning in the Media addresses the issue of how we should respond to competing claims about meani... more Meaning in the Media addresses the issue of how we should respond to competing claims about meaning put forward in confrontations between people or organisations in highly charged circumstances such as bitter public controversies and expensive legal disputes. Alan Durant draws attention to the pervasiveness and significance of such meaning-related disputes in the media, investigating how their 'meaning' dimension is best described and explained. Through his analysis of deception, distortion, bias, false advertising, offensiveness and other kinds of communicative behaviour that trigger interpretive disputes, Durant shows that we can understand both meaning and media better if we focus in new ways on moments in discourse when the apparently continuous flow of understanding and agreement breaks down. This lively and contemporary volume will be invaluable to students and teachers of linguistics, media studies, journalism and law.
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"Language and Media" is a comprehensive introduction to how language interacts with media. It inv... more "Language and Media" is a comprehensive introduction to how language interacts with media. It investigates the forms of language found in media discourse; how patterns in such language use contribute to recognisable media genres and styles; and, broader social themes and consequences that arise from media language. It uses a wide variety of real texts from the media that include: newspapers covering events such as the Asian tsunami, speeches, blogs, emails, advertisements and interview transcripts from television talk shows including Oprah. It provides classic readings by the key names in the discipline including David Crystal, Norman Fairclough, David Graddol Allan Bell and Theo van Leeuwen. It is accompanied by a supporting website. Written by two experienced teachers and authors, this accessible textbook is an essential resource for all students of English language and linguistics.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Provides the reader with the tools to analyse and interpret the meanings of literary and non-lite... more Provides the reader with the tools to analyse and interpret the meanings of literary and non-literary texts. Including exercises and examples, this fourth edition is divided into six sections which cover: techniques and problem-solving; language variation; attributing meaning; poetic uses of language; narrative; and media texts.
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The first book that literature students should read, this guide reveals the distinct set of skill... more The first book that literature students should read, this guide reveals the distinct set of skills, conventions and methods of essay and dissertation writing. Taking students through the various stages of writing, from planning to final submission, it offers specific guidelines and a lively, detailed commentary on actual examples of student work at each stage.
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Literary Studies in Action is a new kind of textbook: a combination of workbook and handbook. Ins... more Literary Studies in Action is a new kind of textbook: a combination of workbook and handbook. Instead of just outlining the discipline of literary studies, Literary Studies in Action helps the student to answer questions about its history and current practice: about what to do and how to do it, and why literature has been and can be studied. In doing so, it attempts to develop an informed view of where the object of our study in literary studies' fits into larger patterns of knowledge and thought. The numerous examples chosen for analysis range over the last thousand years of writing in English throughout the world, and include a variety of different kinds of texts. Literary Studies in Action also contains over a hundred practical activities for the student, to develop practical analytical skills and structure theoretical work. This is a textbook for the times, which addresses itself brilliantly to the twin phenomena of expanding horizons and diminishing resources of English studies.' - David Lodge
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Revised and edited version of an academic conference held at the University of Strathclyde, July ... more Revised and edited version of an academic conference held at the University of Strathclyde, July 1986. Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
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Music is performed, reproduced, and heard differently today as a result of twentieth-century tech... more Music is performed, reproduced, and heard differently today as a result of twentieth-century technology. A new consideration of these changes is a practical and cultural necessity. In Conditions of Music, Alan Durant extends Deryck Cooke's Language of Music, placing the insights of Cooke into a much wider sociological and historical framework. Conditions of Music provides a basis for detailed commentary and criticism of music. Unlike literature and painting, around which illuminating critical techniques and theories have developed, little common ground exists for music criticism. The appraisal argument adopted here implies a major revision of accepted ways of thinking about contemporary directions of music.
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This monograph on Ezra Pound's poetry and thought explores how Pound’s notions of language, sexua... more This monograph on Ezra Pound's poetry and thought explores how Pound’s notions of language, sexuality and politics intersect in the programme for poetic modernism that Pound followed in his own work and advocated in the work of others. Contains detailed discussion of the writing of Ernest Fenollosa and Rémy de Gourmont, among other figures who were major influences on Pound’s thinking, and analyses the role of metaphor and metonymy in Pound’s view of the poetic image through detailed commentary on the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.
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Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
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In: Reading the legal case: cross-currents between law and the humanities. Wan, Marco, ed. Routledge, UK, pp. 11-28. ISBN 9780415673549 , 2012
This chapter examines how far the general concept of a 'case' is coherent if extended, in the fie... more This chapter examines how far the general concept of a 'case' is coherent if extended, in the field of law and literature, beyond legal cases to literary topics and to literary works with legal themes. It is suggested that invoking an undifferentiated sense of 'case' in interdisciplinary enquiry opens up interpretive possibilities but risks major vagueness and ambiguity. The second half of the chapter focuses on 'case reports' in law: the genre of publication usually known as 'law reports'. I explore how far genre considerations associated with law reports constrain the interpretive approaches that can be usefully brought to bear on them (as Posner and others have argued is the case for statutes and constitutions). The chapter concludes that close links between the formal characteristics and purposes of law reports do place obstacles in the way of alternative readings, but that those obstacles need not undermine an extended sense of interpretation which can result in illuminating critical readings. Against Posner’s wider claim that reflexiveness in interpretation is generally unhelpful, I argue that even highly insightful literary readings of particular legal cases are less important than increased self-consciousness as regards how meanings are created by interpretive practices that differ in important ways between law and literature.
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In: Copyright and Piracy: an interdisciplinary critique. Bently, Lionel and Davis, Jennifer and Ginsburg, Jane C., eds. Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law (13). Cambridge University Press, pp. 147-193. ISBN 9780521193436 , 2010
This chapter argues that impressions of substantial similarity of expression in literary copyrigh... more This chapter argues that impressions of substantial similarity of expression in literary copyright infringement actions, including in relation to allegations of non-literal copying, can be clarified by investigating features of verbal discourse organisation that give rise to them. Reference to verbal structures might then be made in copyright actions, where helpful, in a manner resembling specialist understanding of musical composition and software design. The value of broadly ‘linguistic’ description, it is proposed, should nevertheless not be overstated, as some kind of definitive expert evidence (which would potentially interfere with and might unduly extend fact-finding efforts already made by the courts). Rather, it is claimed, greater linguistic precision in dealing with perceptions of textual similarity may help in understanding boundaries relied on in judicial opinions between verbal copying, treatment, textual architecture, and ideas, including boundaries based on general concepts such as ‘abstraction’ and ‘generality’.
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In: Trade Marks and Brands: an interdisciplinary critique. Bently, Lionel and Davis, Jennifer and Ginsburg, Jane C., eds. Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law (10). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521889650 , 2008
This chapter considers trademark signification from a broadly linguistic perspective. First, the ... more This chapter considers trademark signification from a broadly linguistic perspective. First, the canonical contrast in trademark law between 'distinctive’ and ‘descriptive’ signs is revisited, in order to explicate what might be called ‘ordinary language confusion’ surrounding the two terms. Technical meanings of the two concepts in trademark law and in linguistics are then introduced, showing how the ‘distinctive’/’descriptive’ threshold is important but problematic in legal contestation both of eligibility for trademark registration and as regards enforcement of trademark rights. The chapter concludes that the border zone between these categories calls for analysis focused on use of verbal signs in a given context rather than essentially different, stable kinds or types of sign.
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Groden, Michael and Kreiswirth, Martin and Szeman, Imre, eds. The John Hopkins University Press, pp. 714-721. ISBN 9780801880100 , 2005
Encyclopaedia entry presenting an overview of the concepts of orality and literacy, with special ... more Encyclopaedia entry presenting an overview of the concepts of orality and literacy, with special reference to the use of these concepts in literary studies and related fields.
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In: Essays in honour of Moira Linnarud. Granath, Solveig and Miliander, June and Wenno, Elisabeth, eds. Karlstad University Press, pp. 31-45. ISBN 9170630038 , 2005
There may be regular guys but there are no regular native speakers: lexis and native-speaker-li... more There may be regular guys but there are no regular native speakers: lexis and native-speaker-like competence.
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Durant, Alan (2005) There may be regular guys but there are no regular native speakers: lexis and native-speaker-like competence. In: Essays in honour of Moira Linnarud. Granath, Solveig and Miliander, June and Wenno, Elisabeth, eds. Karlstad University Press, pp. 31-45. ISBN 9170630038
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An analysis of different dimensions of meaning available to a native speaker (though with some variation across any given population of native speakers) in making judgments about English usage. Argues that research into such intuitions is essential in understanding lexis, alongside the kinds of electronic corpus analysis favoured by Swedish scholar Moira Linnarud to whom the Festschrift is dedicated.
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In: Eigo No Osie-Kata Manabi-Kata [in English: ‘Teaching and Learning English: integrating language, literature and culture']. Saito, Yoshifumi, ed. University of Tokyo Press, pp. 33-56. ISBN 4130801503 , 2003
This article suggests that, in seeking to understand and interpret literary texts, non-native spe... more This article suggests that, in seeking to understand and interpret literary texts, non-native speaker students should be encouraged to exploit general problem-solving abilities in support of their developing linguistic competence. This point is illustrated by discussion of a comprehension experiment conducted in L2 classrooms under a variety of conditions. It is suggested that interpretive abilities acquired in task-based approaches can be applied to texts other than those directly studied, and so build transferable skills rather than the specialised cultural literary knowledge usually associated with literature courses. Advocating a task-based approach to comprehension based on inference and problem-solving, the article concludes, also draws attention to wider questions regarding the usefulness of studying literature in L2 situations.
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In: Studying British Cultures: an introduction. Bassnett, Susan, ed. New Accents . Routledge, pp. 20-40. ISBN 9780415323512 , 2003
Focusing on the fundamental problem of what it means to ‘know a society’, this chapter outlines t... more Focusing on the fundamental problem of what it means to ‘know a society’, this chapter outlines theoretical and methodological parameters for the study of British culture, bringing together work in literary studies, cultural studies, and applied linguistics. An initial contrast is drawn between two different understandings of ‘British cultural studies’: as updated ‘civilisation’ courses (described in other languages as for example 'cultura inglesa' or 'Landeskunde'); and as critical analysis undertaken in a tradition developed by scholars including Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams, and Stuart Hall. The chapter concludes with syllabus-design proposals for courses which aim to develop critical cultural awareness as well as advanced language proficiency.
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In: Praxis of Language. Hidetaka, Ishida and Komori, Yoichi, eds. University of Tokyo Press, pp. 253-281. ISBN 4130840657 , 2002
This chapter, first published in Japanese, outlines the field of ‘forensic linguistics’ [as at 20... more This chapter, first published in Japanese, outlines the field of ‘forensic linguistics’ [as at 2001]. It contrasts the forensic linguistic approach to applying linguistics in legal contexts with a different tradition of analysis: that usually known as Critical Discourse Analysis and/or as Critical Legal Studies. The author examines ‘meaning’ issues in particular, as a way of showing how treatment of specific interpretive questions exposes problematic assumptions underpinning the notion of linguistic expertise. The chapter concludes with a suggestion that, in a period of rapidly changing communication technologies and formats, notions of professional authority in respect of language and meaning may need to be reconsidered.
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In: Poder-decir o el poder de los discursos. Rojo, Luisa Martin and Whittaker, Rachel, eds. Arrecife Producciones & Ediciones de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, pp. 121-147. ISBN 9788492379217 , 1998
This chapter, originally published in Spanish, addresses the ‘outcome question’ which troubles an... more This chapter, originally published in Spanish, addresses the ‘outcome question’ which troubles any practice of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA): what specific consequences, in terms of social action, are calculated or likely to follow from this form of critique? A range of strategies for social engagement commonly held to give direction to CDA are outlined, and problems inherent in such strategies are examined by means of a freeze-frame on a project in which the author was engaged.
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In: Language, literature, and the learner: creative classroom practice. Carter, Ronald and McRae, John, eds. Longman, pp. 65-88. ISBN 0582293235 , 1996
This chapter starts from college teachers’ frequent recognition that pedagogic materials, in ‘lan... more This chapter starts from college teachers’ frequent recognition that pedagogic materials, in ‘language through literature’ as in many other fields, often work best when designed with a particular group (or at least kind) of student in mind, and with sensitivity to linguistic, cultural and other factors which characterise a given teaching situation. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the value in targeting materials this way, however, not much importance is given in teacher-development or during in-service training to understanding how workshop materials can be devised rather than merely used. This chapter considers aspects of groupwork-materials design including: choice of passage; devising tasks; implementing the activity in a classroom session; and evaluating the learning which takes place. Discussion is organised around an activity (based on Elizabeth Smart’s 'By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept', 1945) which was devised by the author for a given occasion. Participants' responses, when the activity was tested in two experimental classes, are reported.
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In: Anglistische Lehre Aktuell: probleme, perspektiven, praxis. Korte, Barbara and Muller, Klaus Peter, eds. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, pp. 37-59. , 1995
Through discussion of a changing and unstable relationship between concepts of 'literacy' and 'li... more Through discussion of a changing and unstable relationship between concepts of 'literacy' and 'literature', this chapter outlines problems of aims and content in university-level English studies, and speculates about future challenges. A historically changing balance is traced between social skills of language use and interpretation (often dismissed as merely 'instrumental') and concern with a body of literature whose fostering of moral and aesthetic values is sometimes deemed essential to national belonging or a sense of being cultured. The view is presented that English studies needs, far more than at present [1995], to integrate linguistic, literary, and media work rather than prioritising any one of these strands or teaching all three, but independently of one another.
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In: William Empson: the critical achievement. Norris, Christopher and Mapp, Nigel, eds. Cambridge University Press, pp. 170-195. ISBN 9780521118866 , 1993
This chapter describes the account of word meaning advanced by William Empson in 'The Structure o... more This chapter describes the account of word meaning advanced by William Empson in 'The Structure of Complex Words' (1951). Exposition is supported by detailed historical analysis of the word wit, chosen to illustrate the possibilities, as well as difficulties, of the framework Empson devised to investigate meaning ‘equations’ that his selected words are capable of entering into. Noting the apparent likeness between 'Complex Words' and Raymond Williams’s slightly later 'Keywords' (1976/1983), including use by both authors of the term ‘keyword’, the chapter examines important differences of approach between the two authors (differences revealed especially in a review Empson published of Williams’s 'Keywords', discussed in the chapter). In conclusion, it is suggested that despite differences between them some similar implications regarding meaning follow from the work of both authors. These include the idea that, rather than merely describing distinct word meanings, or even meanings attributed to words by individual speakers, historical analyses of meaning should focus on social practices that accompany language use, including practices which find their existence and articulation in institutions. In this more social view of meaning, it is suggested, meaning and social identity are kinds of effect, or produced relation, rather than stable elements outside language with which to begin an analysis.
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In: Ways of Exile: Poems from the First Decade. Nam, Wong Phui, ed. Skoob Pacifica Series . Skoob Books Pub Ltd, London, pp. 145-157. ISBN 9781871438093 , 1993
This chapter was written as an ‘Academic Postscript’ to the first Western edition, published in 1... more This chapter was written as an ‘Academic Postscript’ to the first Western edition, published in 1993, of the Malaysian poet Wong Phui Nam’s collection 'Ways of Exile: Poems from the First Decade'. The edition also contained an introduction by the novelist K.S.Maniam and an essay of personal reflection by the poet. One of a generation of Malaysians born during the 1930s, Wong is now perhaps best known as a prominent member of the circle of 'university poets', including Edwin Thumboo, Ee Tiang Hong, and Wong himself, who were first brought together in the collection 'Litmus One: Selected University Verse', 1949-1957. These poets, the essay shows, made a highly culturally significant decision to write in English and experimented to an unprecedented degree with modernist poetic form, influenced especially by T.S.Eliot. Collectively members of the group represent an important historical moment in the development of Malaysian literature as well as having produced individually memorable works, including poems contained in this collection and discussed in the Postscript.
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In: Culture, technology & creativity in the late twentieth century. Hayward, Philip, ed. Arts Council and Libbey Press, London, pp. 175-196. ISBN 0861962664 , 1990
The relation between creativity and technology is often considered problematic in discussions of ... more The relation between creativity and technology is often considered problematic in discussions of music during the 1980s. This article reviews the emergence of digital sampling, sequencing, and other techniques which collectively redefined concepts and terminologies of music-making in that decade, introducing in effect a new kind of ‘music literacy’. Alongside stylistic changes made possible by use of new technology, the reproductive capabilities of digital music technology also transformed conditions under which earlier forms of music would now circulate, affecting the size, social characteristics and economics of audiences likely to exist for a wide range of established musical styles. Such overall restructuring of music production and distribution, it is argued, amounted to a significant shift of music ‘culture’, understood as interlocking conditions and relations in which music is produced, circulates, and is understood. The implications of specific changes in music production and reception during the period are considered in relation to wider, theoretical arguments about the role played in music culture by technological innovation.
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In: Music and the politics of culture. Norris, Christopher, ed. Lawrence & Wishart, pp. 252-282. ISBN 0853157006 , 1989
This chapter examines the role of improvisation in a range of musical styles: classical, jazz, fo... more This chapter examines the role of improvisation in a range of musical styles: classical, jazz, folk, pop. It analyses the concept of ‘improvisation’, and argues that improvised performance calls into question a number of commonly attributed characteristics of music-making, by testing - occasionally to destruction - the decision-making processes involved in musical development and the variable relation between adherence to convention and flights of individual creativity. Moving beyond musical structure, the chapter explores (in its discussion of Jacques Attali’s Noise: the Political Economy of Music) how improvisation fits at best awkwardly with dominant notions of the production and distribution of music in commodified formats. It queries how relationships involved in improvisation can be represented economically, legally and aesthetically, and concludes that improvisation raises important questions for any wider formation of music, in that it is as much practical considerations of musical performance, as conventions of composition, that determine what ‘music’ is.
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