Creative Phase Research Articles

Social media and corporate innovation management—Eight rules to form an innovative organisation

This paper explores the potential of using social media to achieve a higher degree of effectiveness in innovation management in a corporate context. When using online social media platforms to increase in-house communication effectiveness for innovation processes within corporations, two complementary worlds have to be considered separately, but have to be combined and harmonized as they are closely intertwined: the creative phase of flexible and uncontrolled information exchange, as well as the linear process world that is needed to steer the financial and business management issues of a company. So far, the general discussion has mainly focused on certain aspects of social media, such as the mass-scale networking of users of different self-portrayal and interaction platforms, such as LinkedIn and Xing, or the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ effect for large scale idea platforms, or as a marketing tool to reach target groups with dedicated messages. However, there are essential cultural and motivational issues, which have to be given due consideration as a prerequisite for the implementation of social media as an in-house communication platform in the context of corporate innovation management. Social media mechanisms are principally based on information sharing. In a corporate environment, however, shared information does not necessarily translate into equal benefits for all those involved. Such a mismatch could lead to significant drawbacks for staff members and consequently hinders effective innovation processes. Thus, the barriers to effective innovation performance have to be promptly identified and duly considered when implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) tools based on online social media functions. The findings of the study, described in this paper, which are based on the practical observation of the real-world behaviour of employees within an organisational context, will contribute to better understanding when and how to use online social media tools within organisations. They also clearly demonstrate that the implementation of new IT systems within organisations is not only a mere technology issue. The paper proposes as conclusion eight recommendations to form an innovation-supportive organisation culture as a prerequisite for an effective online social media usage within firms.

Optimalisasi Anggaran Biaya Proyek Pembangunan Villa Grand Sinensis Menggunakan Metode Value Engineering

Along with the time, the rise of development in various cities in Indonesia is also increasing. This phenomenon leads to the increase of development demands in all fields, especially in developing cities. One specific place in Malang City that is under the elite settlements construction is the one that located in Tegal Rejo Street 22, Ketindang, Lawang. Based on the previous description, it is very important to implement value engineering in the construction project of Grand Sinensis Villa which is expected to bring alternatives to replace old work items as recommendations for the relevant parties, which provides benefits in the form of cost savings. In the process of budget analysis using the value engineering method, there are 4 stages that will be analyzed, namely: Information Phase, Creative Phase, Analysis Phase and Recommendation Phase. From the results of analysis using Value Engineering method, there are obtained several alternatives that can be proposed, namely: work of concrete items using floordeck with cost savings of: 30,910,797 rupiahs and the installation of water heather using GAS with cost savings of 3.230.000 rupiahs.

GENERALIZED METHOD OF DESIGNING UNMANNED REMOTELY OPERATED COMPLEXES BASED ON THE SYSTEM APPROACH

Self-propelled underwater systems belong to the effective means of marine robotics. The advantages of their use include the ability to perform underwater work in real time with high quality and without risk to the life of a human operator. At present, the design of such complexes is not formalized and is carried out separately for each of the components – a remotely operated vehicle, a tether-cable and cable winch, a cargo device and a control and energy device. As a result, the time spent on design increases and its quality decreases. The system approach to the design of remotely operated complexes ensures that the features of the interaction of the components of the complex are taken into account when performing its main operating modes. In this paper, the system interaction between the components of the complex is proposed to take into account in the form of decomposition of “underwater tasks (mission) – underwater technology of its implementation – underwater work on the selected technology – task for the executive mechanism of the complex” operations. With this approach, an information base is formed for the formation of a list of mechanisms of the complex, the technical appearance of its components is being formed, which is important for the early design stages. Operative, creative and engineering phases of the design of the complex are proposed. For each phase, a set of works has been formulated that cover all the components of the complex and use the author's existence equations for these components as a tool for system analysis of technical solutions. The perspective of the scientific task of the creative phase to create accurate information models of the functioning of the components of the complex and models to support the adoption of design decisions based on a systematic approach is shown. The obtained results form the theoretical basis for finding effective technical solutions in the early stages of designing remotely operated complexes and for automating the design with the assistance of modern applied computer research and design packages.

A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting the Permanent ‘in between’ in Working Life

Ambiguous liminality used to exist ‘in between’, in a transition to a new social-structural order, but recently, it has gained a more permanent and normalized presence in working life, where existing boundaries are becoming blurred. However, liminality as a continuous state can be individually demanding. This paper elaborates upon a theoretical understanding of permanent and temporary liminality in working life and examines possible measures to tame excessive liminality. To illustrate the theoretical development, forms of permanent and temporary liminality in the lives of three professionals are analyzed. We found that dealing with multiple and complex work roles independently could be conducive to fracturing work routines, which we identify as habitualized, permanent liminality. Withdrawal to an alternative work environment – a rural Finnish archipelago – formed a liminal space in its original sense, a creative and reflective phase that illuminated work-related challenges. It is suggested that such spaces are designed to achieve simplicity.

The Birth of American Catholic Theology

The eighty years of Theological Studies bear witness to the birth of American Catholic theology. This article traces that development through five stages. During its first two decades scholasticism reigned and authority was watchful. Vatican II then introduced a period of change, followed by a thirty-five-year creative phase in which a modern consciousness discussed new issues. By the final period corresponding to Francis’s papacy, an American Catholic theology was in place.

The Ratatouille paradox. An inductive study of creativity in haute cuisine

Organization literature has extensively explored the crucial role of creativity in enabling organizations to survive in fast-paced environments. However, there are still substantial misunderstandings about the way in which creative processes unfold. In most studies, creativity has been analyzed using a compositional sequential model. Building on interpretive inductive research, conducted in the empirical field of Italian haute cuisine, this study develops a framework for the following creative processes, emerging within the field: improvisation, experimentation, trial-and-error, and imagination. The main difference between these processes is the relationship between four aggregate dimensions: process triggers, planning, the unfolding of creative phases, and trialing. This new framework offers a more comprehensive understanding of creativity as it is enacted, shedding light on its real potential in contemporary organizations.C: In every dish, Chef Gusteau always has something unexpected. I will show you. I memorized all his recipes.L: Always do something unexpected.C: No. Follow the recipe.L: But you just said that…C: No, no, no. It was his job to be unexpected. It is our job to… Follow the recipe. (“Ratatouille,” min. 43, Pixar, 2007)C: What are you doing? You are supposed to be preparing the Gusteau recipe.L: This is the recipe.C: The recipe does not call for white truffle oil! What else have you…? You are improvising? This is no time to experiment. The customers are waiting! (“Ratatouille,” min. 48, Pixar, 2007)

The Role of Functional Diversity, Collective Team Identification, and Task Cohesion in Influencing Innovation Speed

This article opens up the black box of innovation and examines the relationship between functional diversity in software teams and the often neglected dimension of innovation – speed, over the two phases of innovation: creativity and idea implementation. By combining information processing view and social identity theory, the authors hypothesize that when collective team identification is low, functional diversity positively affects the time spent in the creativity phase; however, when collective team identification is high, this relationship is inverted U-shaped. When task cohesion is high, functional diversity negatively affects the time spent in the idea implementation phase; however, when task cohesion is low, this relationship is U-shaped. Results from 96 IT software-teams confirmed the authors' hypotheses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Towards a Social-Ecological Urbanism: Co-Producing Knowledge through Design in the Albano Resilient Campus Project in Stockholm

If we are to promote urban sustainability and resilience, social-ecological knowledge must be better integrated in urban planning and design projects. Due to gaps in the two cultures of thinking that are associated with the disciplines of ecology and design, such integration has, however, proven to be challenging. In mainstream practice, ecologists often act as sub-consultants; they are seldom engaged in the creative and conceptual phases of the process. Conversely, research aiming to bridge the gap between design and ecology has tended to be dominated by a relatively static and linear outlook on what the design process is, and what it could be. Further, few concrete examples of the co-production of ecological and design knowledge exist. In this paper, we give an account of a transdisciplinary design proposal for Albano Resilient Campus in Stockholm, discussing how design—seen as a process and an assemblage of artifacts—can act as a framework for co-producing knowledge and operationalizing concepts of resilience and ecosystem services. Through a design-based and action-oriented approach, we discuss how such a collaborative design process may integrate ecological knowledge into urban design through three concrete practices: (a) iterative prototyping; (b) generative matrix models; and, (c) legible, open-ended, comprehensive narratives. In the conclusion, we sketch the contours of a social-ecological urbanism, speculating on possible broader and changed roles for ecologists, designers, and the associated actors within this framework.

Validation of organizational innovation as a creative learning process

Purpose Previous studies on innovation tend to view innovation as consisting of a creative phase of novel and useful ideas, and a non-creative, or at least a less creative phase, as this considered to be the mere implementation and validation of the initially created ideas. In contrast, this paper aims to stress on the significance of the process of validating a new idea as being a creative, learning, exploratory process that shapes the degree of novelty of the innovation as a whole. Design/methodology/approach In driving this argument, this study deductively builds on a theoretical pre-understanding derived from extant literature related to management innovation and organizational legitimacy, and inductively draws on information gleaned from three in-depth case studies. Findings The study shows that the validation phase in the innovation process is a creative process, rather than just being a set of activities that relate to the mere execution of the created ideas. Viewing the validation process as an exploratory search for new knowledge, this study establishes a relationship between the form of knowledge mobilized, vertically within an organization or horizontally from outside, and the form of legitimation required. Validation based on internally generated knowledge is effective in terms of achieving pragmatic (efficiency-driven) objectives. Inter-organizational knowledge inflows are associated with cognitive legitimacy – a form of legitimacy that leads to changes in the stakeholders’ beliefs about a the product. In contradistinction, horizontal, socio–cultural inflows of knowledge are likely to improve on the product itself, thereby generating more traction for validation. Research limitations/implications This research is based on data collected from three firms only. Practical implications The idea developed here can provide business organizations a better understanding of the validation process of management innovations. This study suggests that successful innovation often requires managers to be prepared to seek knowledge beyond the confines of their own organizations. Originality/value This study contributes in three ways: it submits that there is a dynamic interplay between the moments of creation and validation, which is largely shaped by the novelty of the mobilized knowledge, depending on whether it is internal top–down or external horizontal; relatedly, the effectiveness of validation is shaped by the novelty of the knowledge garnered to justify the initial ideas; and the present paper has extended Suchman’s (1995) framework by linking the effectiveness of the various forms of legitimacy to the source of knowledge mobilized in the validation process.

An experiment of used palm oil refinery using the value engineering method

Palm Oil is one of prime materials which very necessary for Indonesia. In the development of palm oil industry the constraint which faced is raw material availability and the economic crisis that attack Indonesia which cause increasing of cost industry so that the salaes price become very expensive . With using alternative raw material namely used palm oil them be made palm oil design to solve this problems. In the designing which comply the consideration of good pal oil planning aspect be use value engineer study. While the criteria parameter of hygienic palm oil which obtained from the questioner area free fatty acid, water content, Iodine number, peroxide number, odor, taste and the color. The research which use value engineer study is throught any phase that is information phase, analyzes phase, creative phase, development phase and presentation phase. This research began with doing the identification of palm oil demand, continued by methodology development in order to measure oil design. By using creative process could be obtained flow rate position, the amount of adsorbent and the best settling time for palm oil alternative that is in the flow rate 70 ml/sec, 4% of adsorbent and the 70 minute for the settling time with free fatty acid value: 0.299. While the best palm oil alternative are palm oil with free fatty acid value = 0.299, water content = 0.31, Iodine number = 40.08, Peroxide number = 3.72, odor and taste = Normal, the color = Normal. The Evalution which done by value engineer study generate the value from alternative palm oil is 1.330 and market palm oil 1.392. Thus, can be conclude thet the value engineer study can be good implemented in the alternative palm oil planning so that alternative palm oil can be produced largely because they have better value that market palm oil and appropriate for little industries.

Frammenti inediti di epistolario carducciano: Domenico Gnoli, Giuseppe Chiarini e un dedicatario ignoto

This article presents three documents by Giosuè Carducci housed at the Biblioteca di Storia e Cultura del Piemonte “Giuseppe Grosso” [Giuseppe Grosso Library of Piedmontese History and Culture] in Turin. The first is a dedication page bearing the date 1868 but no recipient; the second is a letter sent to Domenico Gnoli in 1884, and the third document is the final page of a letter most likely addressed to Giorgio Mariotti and written in 1856, though both the date and the addressee are missing. These last two documents represent two distinct time periods and spheres in which Carducci operated. While the letter to Gnoli bears witness to Carducci’s formal role within the Ministry of Education, the letter to Mariotti highlights the creative phase as Carducci worked on his Saggi di un canto alle Muse ovvero della poesia greca, offering some food for thought on Carducci’s poetics and on his views concerning poetry of the ancient and recent past.

Value engineering practices in infrastructure projects: a case study of Ilam Gas Refinery's water transmission system at Reno Mountain, Iran

ABSTRACTConstruction projects play an important role in the economic development of every country. Nevertheless, review of projects documents indicates that in most cases, particularly in developing countries, the design of these projects is such that the whole life-value is not achieved. One of the suitable tools for the compensation of this drawback is the use of Value Engineering (VE) practice. In this paper, through a case study, it is presented that the use of organized framework for the VE practice in the initial phase of a project generates good ideas in order to increase the project value. For this purpose, the special strategies in the creative and evaluation phases are used. The case study is about water supply to Ilam Gas Refinery. A thoroughly systematic VE study proved it possible not only to save as much as 41% in the overall costs of the construction work, but also reducing environmental damages to one-fifth by adapting a different alternative track to cross the Reno Mountain.

Approccio partecipativo e valutazione di outcome: l'uso del brainstorming nella definizione dei criteri per valutare l'efficacia dei percorsi adottivi

In line with a constructivist approach and a pratical participatory evaluation, the paper used brainstorming technique to define effectiveness’ criteria of children adoption. 26 judges of the Juvenile Court of Bari took part in the evaluational brainstorming, which have been organized in a creative phase, a classification step and a final relevance analysis and group discussion. Applying the Lawshe formula, it has been possible identify the most shared success standards (children well-being: self-esteem, adjustment and secure attachment; adoptees’ and parents’ skill to revise their life story; adoptees’ scholastic and social integration; a good parents-adoptees relationship) and failure ones (parents reject adoptees or adoptees abandon adoptive family). The study highlights suggestions regarding the flexible use of brainstorming technique and underlines the potentials to use a shared evaluation procedure in order to improve both adoption research and practices.

Hetényi, Zsuzsa Nabokov regényösvényein (review)

SEER, 95, 2, APRIL 2017 350 (for Drews’s overview of Heine’s interactions with and reactions to the Slavs, see pp. 9–24 and also 346). What is important is the fact that Slavonic responses to Heine frequently set in motion mysterious mechanisms of literary progress, in some cases contributing to the processes of cultural self-determination. Having secured for himself a lasting afterlife far from the homeland he left but not abandoned, Heine continues to be interpreted and reinterpreted to fit the needs of cultural and often frankly political agendas, which account for so much of the energy ensuring the existence of a Slavonic semiosphere as a discrete entity. Drews should be complimented for describing one such power source in nearly exhaustive depth, yet his advances are not restricted to the level of Weltliteratur. As a student of a singular, if highly representative, case of Heine’s enduring popularity in Russia — namely Heine’s significance for Vladimir Nabokov — I have found Drews’s book to be extremely useful. Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages & Literatures S. Shvabrin The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hetényi, Zsuzsa. Nabokov regényösvényein. Kalligram, Budapest, 2015. 926 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Appendix. Index. HUF 3,990. Aiming to integrate the author’s plentiful original insights with every major development in Hungarian and international Nabokov scholarship of the past four decades or so, On the Paths of Nabokov’s Novels (as it would be in English) is an awe-inspiring enterprise in its sheer dimensions. With its wealth of biographical, exegetical and theoretical lore densely filling every last paragraph of its 900-odd pages, Zsuzsa Hetényi’s huge undertaking reminds one of Lewis Carroll’s fictional map envisaged by its would-be makers to have the scale of a mile to the mile. And yet the first monograph written in Hungarian on the Russian-American novelist does not aspire to become the Nabokov-book to end all Nabokov-books — and not only because of its language. More important than the linguistic limits on its accessibility is the welcome fact that Hetényi’s huge guide is clearly intended to suggest just as many untrodden paths as it meticulously charts. Hetényi deliberately spares the reader all biographical narrative beyond an explanatory minimum, and she also forgoes any methodical discussion of Nabokov’s copious output in genres other than the novelistic. What is offered insteadisarichlycontextualizedreadingofeveryNabokovnovel(twentyofthem by Hetényi’s count, including the key novellas The Eye and The Enchanter, and the mock autobiography Look at the Harlequins!) as well as the posthumously published torso, The Original of Laura. That task is performed in two large REVIEWS 351 sections separately treating the Russian and the English novels. These two parts are connected to each other by a chapter addressing the implications of the symmetrical relationship of non-superimposable counterparts called chirality, which is seen to relate Nabokov’s first major creative phase to the second. This is then capped with a concluding chapter surveying the scholarly and popular reception of Nabokov’s oeuvre in Hungary. Finally, a set of appendices full of carefully categorized biographical and bibliographic information, together with multiple indexes directing the reader to the looked-for name or concept, turn Hetényi’s work into a serviceable handbook for both the ‘general’ and the expert reader — the Hungarian reader, that is. But what is it that may recommend Nabokov regényösvényein to non-speakers of Hungarian, the vast majority of Nabokov’s international following? Why would Hetényi’s fellow-Nabokovian in Helsinki, St Petersburg or London want an English translation? Comprehensive and up to date as it may be, the philologicalinformationcontainedbetweenitssturdycoverswouldnot,initself, render an English version of Hetényi’s book an indispensable replacement of a Garland or a Cambridge Companion. No doubt, her credentials as Professor of Russian Literature at Hungary’s foremost university guarantee that Zsuzsa Hetényi’s comments on just about every figure in Nabokov’s Russian pantheon are always reliable and very often truly original. Whether pertaining to Zamiatin’s likely influence on the use of the ‘time-spiral’ as a key motif and an organizing principle in Invitation...

REKAYASA NILAI PEMBUATAN TERHADAP WAKTU DAN SPESIFIKASI PEKERJA PADA PEMBANGUNAN PERUMAHAN PESONA TUGU RANTE RESIDENCE TYPE 45 KABUPATEN BLITAR

due torecent economic situation, contractors have een required to be able to minimize cost and the same time to also maintain the quality of the project. One of the methods that can be apllied as an alternative to achieve it is value engineering. The aim of this studyis to apply this method in a construction project. The construction project ofHousing development in charm tugu rante type 45 residence district blitar Rp 99,792,000.00Value engineering method consist of 4 ( five ) phases. It covers information phase, which contains of identification of the high-cost work and the unnecessary cost ( function analysis ); creative phase; analyzing phase which includes the selection of alternative dealing with the analysis of its benefit and cost, it project life cycle cost and the selection of alternatives by using AHP method; and Recommendation phase.By implementing thismethod,the project cost can be minimized in 5 area of wark,woll work Rp1,902,459,wall strucco work Rp3,941,693,the work of the faundotion stone,soil excavation Rp211,616,excavation work Rp782,012,ceramic work Rp294,775. Thus total reduction cost that be achieved by using this method is upto

REKAYASA NILAI PEMBUATAN TERHADAP WAKTU DAN SPESIFIKASI PEKERJA PADA PEMBANGUNAN PERUMAHAN PESONA TUGU RANTE RESIDENCE TYPE 45 KABUPATEN BLITAR

due torecent economic situation, contractors have een required to be able to minimize cost and the same time to also maintain the quality of the project. One of the methods that can be apllied as an alternative to achieve it is value engineering. The aim of this studyis to apply this method in a construction project. The construction project ofHousing development in charm tugu rante type 45 residence district blitar Rp 99,792,000.00Value engineering method consist of 4 ( five ) phases. It covers information phase, which contains of identification of the high-cost work and the unnecessary cost ( function analysis ); creative phase; analyzing phase which includes the selection of alternative dealing with the analysis of its benefit and cost, it project life cycle cost and the selection of alternatives by using AHP method; and Recommendation phase.By implementing thismethod,the project cost can be minimized in 5 area of wark,woll work Rp1,902,459,wall strucco work Rp3,941,693,the work of the faundotion stone,soil excavation Rp211,616,excavation work Rp782,012,ceramic work Rp294,775. Thus total reduction cost that be achieved by using this method is upto

Modernity of Slavic impulses (the dialogue author - hero) in the poetic opus of Desanka Maksimovic: Ontological premises of 'Slavic brotherhood'

Synthetic outcomes of poetic and hermeneutic aspects of Desanka Maksimović's poetry are effectuated in a new reading by emphasizing (besides the recognizable aesthetic components of her lyrical speech) the palimpsestic reach of the spirituality of the Slavic culture, which, in the outcomes of her early lyrics and later reflections, is emphasized by the dynamics of the discourse and dialogism of the poetic thought in its illuminative, anthropological and ontological givenness. By comparative analysis of the first and third creative phases, by dynamics of cyclicity of small and large poetic forms (a part - the whole and the whole - a part) the multiplied motif structure and idealist standpoints are expressed on the plane of form by deepening the lyrical substance, by increasing the epic potential in the reflexive miscellanies of the third period, by apostrophizing the relation author-hero, 'sense of religion' and iconic nature of a poetic image, by which immediate contacts are made with Russian poetry and culture - not only on the poetic but also on a deeper level, in illumination of medieval canons and mythical and historical consciousness. Expectations of hermeneutic research point to ontological closeness of poetess's zeniths (I Plead for Amnesty) to Bakhtin's comprehension of responsibility of the poet and poetic act as particular forms of creative aesthetization of the moral attitude.

Neurosyphilis in Anglo-American Composers and Jazz Musicians.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted, systemic disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum. The most common mechanism of transmission is sexual intercourse. Although there are several hypotheses, the exact origin of the disease remains unknown. Newly published evidence suggests that the hypothesis supporting the theory of the American origin of the disease is the valid one. Among 1500 analyzed pathographies of composers and musicians, data on ten Anglo-American composers and jazz musicians having suffered from neurosyphilis (tertiary stage of the disease) were extracted for this report. In this group of Anglo-American composers and musicians, most of them died from progressive paralysis while still in the creative phase of life. Additionally, diagnoses of eleven other famous neurosyphilitic composers, as well as basic biographic data on ten less known composers that died from neurosyphilis-progressive paralysis are also briefly mentioned. In conclusion, neurosyphilis can cause serious neurological damage, as well as permanent disability or death, preventing further work and skill improvement.

Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Introduction by David Wallace

Reviewed by: Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Introduction by David Wallace Megan E. Murton David Wallace. Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xiv, 172. $19.95. David Wallace's Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Introduction lives up to its name in inviting its readers to look anew at Chaucer, seeing in him not the founding father of English letters but "the poet of an unfinished Englishness" (142). Wallace shows how Chaucer's Middle English absorbs influences ranging from scientific treatises to "urban noise" (44) to become a capacious and flexible poetic medium. The experimental quality of Chaucer's language is, Wallace proposes, a reason why his works are enjoying a far-reaching appeal now, in a world where English has become dominant. Wallace's dual focus on language and global reception makes his book a thought-provoking read that not only introduces its audience to Chaucer's writings but also demonstrates their present-day significance and vitality. The introductory chapter, "Beginnings," covers both theoretical and contextual ground. It opens with a discussion of audience and persona, concepts Wallace presents as integral to Chaucer's art and to current criticism of it. The chapter then shifts, via Terry Eagleton's description of Chaucer as a "class traitor" (10), to an overview of the poet's life and times. The thesis here is that Chaucer was "first and foremost a European" (12), a claim that Wallace, of all Chaucerians, is ideally suited to expound and defend. He first makes a compelling and admirably condensed case for Chaucer's continental focus, and then vindicates the cosmopolitanism of the Middle Ages more broadly. The chapter ends with a section on war as the dark underside of the interconnected medieval world. Insightful references to Chaucer's writings are sprinkled throughout the introductory chapter, but more developed readings begin in the second, "Schoolrooms, Science, Female Intuition." This is one of two thematic chapters that bracket a more or less chronological tour of Chaucer's writings in the book's middle three chapters. This structure is complex but effective, as it allows Wallace to trace both Chaucer's recurrent engagement with certain topics and his trajectory of development as a poet. The second chapter examines Chaucer's interest in ways of knowing. After a brief overview of Scholasticism and exegesis, Wallace describes Chaucer's scientific expertise and his readiness to make fun of it; The [End Page 387] House of Fame, for instance, is "perched somewhere between science and farce" (33). The chapter then pivots to the relationship between women and Latinate intellectual culture, introducing the Wife of Bath as "a tissue of … anti-feminist texts" (36) and then, in the space of a few pages, examining gendered presentations of knowledge in The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Second Nun's Tale, The Merchant's Tale, Troilus and Criseyde, and The House of Fame, with references to As You Like It and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight along the way. This section is typical of the book as a whole in the expert way in which it charts a path through Chaucer's writings while referencing other medieval poems and later works of English literature. The chapter concludes with the claim that, for Chaucer, "women are different" (42) in a specifically epistemological sense. Readers who are familiar with Chaucer criticism will appreciate this chapter's illuminating perspective on his treatment of gender. The third chapter, "A Life in Poetry," begins the chronological section of the book. Living in a world where "'English poetry' was a contradiction in terms," Chaucer "aspires to" this label in his early works (43). The chapter examines how this aspiration leads Chaucer to learn from French models and then Italian ones, though Wallace cautions that French and Italian do not represent fully distinct creative phases. The core of the chapter discusses Machaut alongside The Book of the Duchess and Dante alongside The House of Fame. The conclusion focuses on The Parliament of Fowls as a case study in Chaucer's response to Italian metrics, which Wallace describes as a "liberatory" influence that may have led Chaucer to invent rhyme royal (57). Rhyme royal provides a transition...

Semiotic and Synergistic Approaches in the Study of Musical-Theatrical Productions as Synthetic Art Texts

In today's art criticism there is an increasing necessity in searching for new methodological approaches to the analysis of literary texts, based on the synthesis of various art forms. This paper highlights the need for an integrated approach to the study of musical and theatrical genres (opera and ballet), taking into account the stage interpretation phase. For this sake musical-theatrical work is regarded as a synthetic literary text, understood as the result of a gradual multi-level interpretation of the text from literary source (the composer creativity phase) and interpretation of the musical score (the staging incarnation). The semiotic approach can explain the multiplicity of meanings in a musical- theatrical text - both the original and interpretative source; reveal the text intention as generating meanings, the text being seen as an incentive to the emergence of new staging versions. For the first time ever to analyze the musical and theatrical genres the author used a synergistic ap-proach that allows understanding the synthetic literary text of Opera/Ballet as an open system with features of self-organization. At the same time artistic interpretation of the composer and producers is considered a manifestation of its instability and the subsequent establishment of a new order in the newly formed text (whether it is a composer score, opera or ballet performances).