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Books by Alan Durant
Meaning in the media: discourse, controversy and debate.
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.
Language and media: a resource book for students.
"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.
How to write essays and dissertations: a guide for English literature students. 2nd edition.
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.
Literary studies in action.
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
The linguistics of writing: arguments between language and literature.
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.
Conditions of music.
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.
Ezra Pound, identity in crisis: a fundamental reassessment of the poet and his work.
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.
Papers by Alan Durant
Peter Goodrich, Advanced Introduction to Law and Literature (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton MA, USA), 2021.pp. 119
Law and Literature, Jan 6, 2022
The legal scholar Peter Goodrich has added an Edward Elgar “advanced introduction to law and lite... more The legal scholar Peter Goodrich has added an Edward Elgar “advanced introduction to law and literature” to his wide-ranging list of publications, which includes the ground-breaking Reading the Law (1986), a book which drew to attention the centrality of rhetoric and hermeneutics in law, as well as more recent works on legal iconography, symbolism and vision; on the law related to friendship and love; and on the general relation between law and humanities. Elgar’s “Advanced Introductions” series aims to provide succinct guides which “pinpoint essential principles of a particular field” and “offer insights that stimulate critical thinking.” This article reviews Goodrich's new book
Interpretive variation
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 4, 2010
Music Production
The Musical Times, 1986
Historical Development of Legal English
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
‘Legal Language’ as a Linguistic Variety
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Same Law, Different Texts
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Disputing ‘Ordinary Language’
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Perspectives on Legal Interpretation
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Pragmatics and Legal Interpretation
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Making Legal Language Comprehensible
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Speech in the Courtroom
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Deciding Legal Meaning
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Meaning in the media: discourse, controversy and debate.
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.
Language and media: a resource book for students.
"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.
How to write essays and dissertations: a guide for English literature students. 2nd edition.
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.
Literary studies in action.
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
The linguistics of writing: arguments between language and literature.
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.
Conditions of music.
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.
Ezra Pound, identity in crisis: a fundamental reassessment of the poet and his work.
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.
Peter Goodrich, Advanced Introduction to Law and Literature (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton MA, USA), 2021.pp. 119
Law and Literature, Jan 6, 2022
The legal scholar Peter Goodrich has added an Edward Elgar “advanced introduction to law and lite... more The legal scholar Peter Goodrich has added an Edward Elgar “advanced introduction to law and literature” to his wide-ranging list of publications, which includes the ground-breaking Reading the Law (1986), a book which drew to attention the centrality of rhetoric and hermeneutics in law, as well as more recent works on legal iconography, symbolism and vision; on the law related to friendship and love; and on the general relation between law and humanities. Elgar’s “Advanced Introductions” series aims to provide succinct guides which “pinpoint essential principles of a particular field” and “offer insights that stimulate critical thinking.” This article reviews Goodrich's new book
Interpretive variation
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 4, 2010
Music Production
The Musical Times, 1986
Historical Development of Legal English
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
‘Legal Language’ as a Linguistic Variety
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Same Law, Different Texts
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Disputing ‘Ordinary Language’
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Perspectives on Legal Interpretation
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Pragmatics and Legal Interpretation
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Making Legal Language Comprehensible
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Speech in the Courtroom
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Deciding Legal Meaning
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Persuasion in Court
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Bilingual and Multilingual Legal Systems
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Bilingualism and Jury Service
Language and Law
Understanding Legal Speech Acts and Rules
Language and Law, 2017
Legal Genres
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Forensic Evidence
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Legal Speech Acts
Routledge eBooks, May 8, 2017
Reading cases in interdisciplinary studies of law and literature.
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.
How does substantial similarity of expression in infringement actions look from a linguistic point of view?
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’.
How can I tell the trade mark on a piece of gingerbread from all the other marks on it? Naming and meaning in verbal trademark signs
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.
Orality and literacy
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.
Comprehension and problem-solving in the literature classroom.
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.
Facts and meanings in British Cultural Studies.
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.
'Making one's language as one goes along': Wong Phui Nam's 'Ways of Exile'.
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.
A new day for music? digital technology in contemporary music-making.
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.
Improvisation in the political economy of music.
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.