Shining Armour Research Articles

Biochemical Characterization of Laccase from Spirulina CPCC-695 and Their Role in Estrone Degradation.

The addition of exogenous endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) like estrone, in the food chain through the aquatic system, disrupts steroid biosynthesis and metabolism by altering either the genomic or non-genomic pathway that eventually results in various diseases. Thus, bioremediation of these compounds is urgently required to prevent their addition and persistence in the environment. Enzymatic degradation has proven to be a knight in shining armour as it is safe and generates no toxic products. The multicopper oxidases (E.C. 1.10.3.2 benzenediol: oxygen oxidoreductase), laccase with the potential to degrade both phenolic and non-phenolic substrates has recently gained attention. In this study, the laccase was purified, characterized, and used to study estrone degradation. The culture filtrate (crude laccase) was concentrated and precipitated using cold-acetone and dialyzed against tris buffer (50mM) giving a four-fold partially purified form, with 45.56% yield and 204.14 U/mg as specific activity and a single peak at 250-300nm. The partially purified laccase was approximately 80kDa as estimated by SDS-PAGE preferred ABTS as substrate. Both crude and partially purified laccase showed maximum activity at pH 3.0, 40°C, and 4mM ABTS. Kinetic constants (Km, Vmax) of crude and partially purified laccase were found to be 0.83mM; 494.31mM/min, and 0.58mM; 480.54mM/min respectively. Iron sulphate and sodium azide inhibited laccase maximally. Crude and partially purified laccase degradation efficiency was 87.55 and 91.35% respectively. Spirulina CPCC-695 laccase with efficient estrone degradation ability renders them promising candidates for EDCs bioremediation.

A Double-Edged-Sword Approach to Fighting Pandemics: Patent Waivers and Incentives to Innovate

Although continents recently experienced an apoc­alyptic pandemic that posed a mortal danger to millions of people, a new, even deadlier pandemic could soon emerge… The paper seeks to address the role played by patent waivers and current contractual arrangements in the pharmaceutical indus­try in addressing the dangers caused by the current and future pandemics. The process of waiving patents is explored where it is argued that it sadly cannot amount to the knight in shining armour that everyone has been expecting. Due to the lack of coordination, the tremendously long process, and the potential block in innovation arising from pharmaceutical companies having smaller incentives, more attention must be paid to other alternative institutional solutions. Drawing from the economics literature on innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, a concep­tual framework is proposed for improved legal intervention in the case of patent waivers in international intellectual property law instruments. In addition, the paper provides a comparative law and economics treatment of current patent waivers in US, EU, and international law instruments.

A knight in shining armor: iridescence in male jewelled splitfin (Xenotoca variata).

Journal of Fish BiologyVolume 102, Issue 4 p. 739-739 BETWEEN THE JFB COVERS A knight in shining armor: iridescence in male jewelled splitfin (Xenotoca variata) William Bernard Perry, William Bernard Perry Assistant EditorSearch for more papers by this author William Bernard Perry, William Bernard Perry Assistant EditorSearch for more papers by this author First published: 14 April 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15388Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume102, Issue4April 2023Pages 739-739 RelatedInformation

Demystifying the Image of Eunuchs: A Study of Indrani Majumdar’s “The Paradox of Vantage Point”

The objective of this paper is to demystify the image of ‘Eunuchs’ in our society where they always have been defined in a derogatory manner. The novel The Paradox of Vantage Point concerns the life of three friends-Anwesha, Vikram and a Eunuch Raghubir who later plays an imperative role in their lives. The titular “paradox” eventuates when Anwesha “has to, under unavoidable circumstances, share her room with a Eunuch” who later becomes her best friend. The Eunuch’s character who was the “Knight in the shining armour” for Anwesha also becomes the object of mortification for her in public. The novel shows Anwesha’s “vantage point” from where she commiserates with Raghubir on one hand but also feels hesitant when it comes to accepting him outside the walls of her house. The character of Raghubir in the novel basically deconstructs the crippled mindset that excludes eunuchs from the mainstream society, considering them as despicable creatures. The paper also deals with the idea of how a Eunuch, even if liberates himself from the societal boundaries, educates himself and even manages to live a “cultured” life different from his community still struggles to attain the desired respect in society. It basically shows the constant intimidation of society towards a Eunuch who, leaving all his anticipatory roles, tries to fit in the “civilized” life.

Female Bodies, Male Desires: Fighting (fe)male Conventions in the Writings of J.C. Mangan, J.S. Le Fanu and Bram Stoker

Female figures in nineteenth-century writings are a controversial issue; used both as symbols for the nation and as epitomes of weakness and frailty, they tend to occupy a secondary role in the fictions of the major (male) writings. This figure, however, has not proven to be consistent, being used in some cases to strengthen the idea of a dominant, powerful nation, as in the case of the British notion of ‘Rule Britannia,’ while in others it has been used to demasculinize and disempower the other, as is the case with nineteenth-century British misrepresentations of Ireland. Such a view has been challenged by new interpretations and scholarship, as well as by literary theory, and it can be asserted that the dichotomy female/weak vs. male/dominant is not as clear-cut as it could at first seem. Postcolonial readings of nineteenth-century texts can, therefore, shed a new light in the role female characters play in interpreting those texts. The literature written in Ireland during the ‘long’ nineteenth century is no exception; the short stories of J. C. Mangan, J. S. Le Fanu and Bram Stoker present readers with a new sort of female: a decisive and powerful force, ready to bring about national change. Both J. C. Mangan and J.S. Le Fanu deploy the female figure to abrogate and subvert a symbol which had been used by the British colonisers to ease their rule over Ireland, thus ushering not only a new, modern concept of the Irish nation but also a new perception of the Irish female, empowering the notion of the female as nation, and subverting British misrepresentations of Ireland as a female in need of a chivalrous (British) knight in shining armour which had justified British colonial interventions in Ireland. This trend is continued in the writings of Bram Stoker, which anticipate later deployments of the female during the Irish Renaissance to empower the Irish nation and fight off attached connotations of feebleness and frailty which British texts had assigned the Emerald Isle.

The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry by D. Smith

Smith, Danna. The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Candlewick Press, 2017.
 The Hawk of the Castle is a picture book that tells a story centered on the practice of medieval falconry, and it is told from the perspective of a young girl whose father is the falconer of a castle. Upon picking up the book, the reader will immediately be drawn into Bagram Ibatoulline’s beautiful acrylic gouache illustrations, which not only vividly portray the content of the story, but also complement the work by depicting technical aspects of falconry that a reader might not easily imagine without visual aids. The great attention to detail and realistic style of the illustrations lends itself to the historical setting of Danna Smith’s story—a vivid world that was once as real and familiar to its medieval inhabitants as our world is to us. The author’s note communicates the dedication of Smith to her story as it not only describes her own expertise as a falconer who was trained, like the girl in the story, by her father, but also gives insight into the history and sources she consulted to provide further understanding of the art of falconry as it was in the past and as it is now.
 The book is designed with two levels of reading in mind: the primary text, written in short rhyming verses, is one that a child might easily read on their own or with assistance. The secondary text, found in textboxes on each page, provides a more challenging and technical text which could be used at an adult’s discretion in order to provide a child with a more nuanced understanding of the aspects of falconry being described. This design is effective as it illuminates, in varying levels of complexity, a subject that is unlikely to be familiar to most readers. In addition to these two levels of reading, Smith also provides a list of resources for further information, allowing her book to become a gateway to even more complex and detailed understandings of falconry and the medieval period. In this way, The Hawk of the Castle, also becomes a means for readers to learn about an aspect of medieval life and society outside of more popular stories about princesses and knights in shining armour. Together Smith and Ibatoulline have created a beautiful book that allows readers to encounter an ancient pastime through a story about medieval falconry, and for that reason it would be a good addition to both school and public libraries.
 Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Arwen Thysse
 Arwen Thysse is a graduate of the University of Alberta Bachelor of Arts program and graduate of the University of Toronto’s Master of Medieval Studies program. She is also an avid musician, and enjoys children’s books.

Zomato: a shining armour in the foodtech sector

ABSTRACTPurpose – The purpose of this case is to understand and study the life cycle of a technology start-up (Zomato in this case) right from scratch to its growth and consolidation phase. The consumer’s approach for information and the choice of decision-making related to products and services have changed considerably in the digital era. Zomato is one website/application that has pioneered the online search for information related to restaurants in India. The case tries to evaluate the opportunities and challenges faced by a start-up in an extremely competitive industry and deliberates on how an online restaurant discovery business can be monetized into a highly effective and profitable business. It also examines the diversification strategy (natural and acquisition) employed by Zomato.Design/methodology/approach – The case uses secondary research method. The information, interview excerpts and data related to the company are gathered from different sources such as online databases, magazines, personal blogs of founders and company websites. The case covers a wide range of topics and can be helpful to undergraduates, MBA students and executives in courses such as entrepreneurship, digital marketing, strategic marketing, and marketing management. Majority of the students and executives are familiar with the company and their personal experiences can definitely improve the class discussion.Findings – This case identifies the different factors that were instrumental to the success of Zomato, its various revenue sources, its development through new products and services and growth expansion through acquisitions. The company which was primarily known for restaurant reviews gradually expanded into other areas of foodtech business like online ordering and delivery of food, table bookings, and developing applications software for managing the operations of restaurants. Soon after conquering the Indian market, Zomato successfully expanded to international markets particularly Europe, US, UK, and Middle-East.Practical implications (if applicable) – India is at the cusp of a big e-commerce revolution. In the last 4–5 years, the e-commerce industry in India has witnessed a lot of activities. Many new companies have entered the arena, some got merged, a few got acquired and some had to shut up shops. The hottest trend which is driving the market today is of aggregators and one such aggregator market is the foodtech sector. In the Indian start-up e-commerce industry, Zomato is one tale that every Indian entrepreneur will want to imitate. It is one inspirational start-up that gives insights into inventive marketing techniques and services and shows how to diversify risk by getting into other similar businesses and when and how to opt for natural growth and expand through acquisition.Originality/value – The Indian technology start-up ecosystem is currently in an embryonic phase and companies are still trying to figure out the best path to success. This case gives an insight into the online restaurant discovery market and Zomato’s rise in the highly cash-risk industry. It provides a step-by-step analysis of the various strategies implemented by Zomato in different situations. The case study helps to enhance the existing research done in the field of entrepreneurship and marketing management. It provides the budding entrepreneurs and marketing practitioners a bird’s eye view to building a company from zilch.

Corporate actions and the need for market efficiency

Although positive from an economic development perspective, the increasing international interest from investors in Africa and the Middle East is also highlighting a number of gaps or opportunities in local market infrastructure and policy. Big strides are being made in the development of the capital markets, but there is still a need to align and synchronise the approach in processing functions, such as custody services, to attract more investors and larger pools of investment. Standardising regulation and policy across such diverse emerging economies is almost impossible. So what is the solution? Technology remains the knight in shining armour, with value-adding accessories in the way of SWIFT ISO systems, as well as the rather overexposed but intriguing concept of ‘blockchain’ infrastructure. This paper considers the challenges and opportunities Africa and the Middle East present from a systemic perspective.

William Smith (1769–1839): His struggles as a consultant, in both geology and engineering, to simultaneously earn a living and finance his scientific projects, to 1820.

This paper deals with Smith's, highly complex, early ‘career paths’ to 1820. His first employment was as (1) a land surveyor. Then in 1793 he became both (2) canal surveyor, and (3) engineer, to the Somerset Coal Canal Company (SCCC). These now guaranteed him a regular income. But all suddenly changed, when he was successively dismissed, first as surveyor, then as engineer, in 1799. He had now to find other means of supporting himself, and publicising the important geological discoveries, he had made in Somerset. From the mid 1790s, Smith had there done (4) land drainage and irrigation work, for the chairman of the SCCC, and immediately after these dismissals. Smith was able to generate an adequate living from such West Country work, during a period of very high rainfall. This took him to Tytherton in Wiltshire. Here he first encountered a new rock unit (the Kellaways Rock) and here the Norfolk agriculturalist Thomas Coke was able to study Smith's new skills with water. News of his competence quickly passed throughout an agricultural community, then desperate to increase food production, during a long wartime period of crisis. Smith's methods of water drainage and irrigation work were now widely taken up, first by the Dukes of Manchester and Bedford, in Bedfordshire, and then by Coke and his relatives, both in Staffordshire and Norfolk, and then by Coke's many tenants in Norfolk. On top of this, Smith's skills as an engineer meant he was soon in high demand also as (5) a Sea Breach Engineer, in attempts to keep the German Ocean (now North Sea) out of The Broads. But Napoleonic war time conditions were harsh, and bills often not swiftly paid (or paid at all). So Smith tried new careers either as (6) a failed author, whether on Irrigation, or Norfolk or as (7) a consultant mineral surveyor—the field he had pioneered. Throughout much of this period, Smith's obsessive attempts to publish his geological discoveries, which needed considerable support for such a novel publication, were thwarted, by the bankruptcies of others, and proved futile, until 1815. This paper tries to survey, for a first time, Smith's complex, and fluctuating, financial situations, over the period 1793 to 1819 (when he entered a debtors' prison). His ‘knight in shining armour’ was undoubtedly the cartographer John Cary (1755–1835) who, in 1812, agreed to publish Smith's great ‘geological’ map. Thus only by “the enterprise of [this] private tradesman…, [what] had been in vain expected from princely patronage, and the sanction of national boards” was accomplished.

A King Translated: The Writings of King James VI & I and their Interpretation in the Low Countries, 1593–1603. By Astrid Stilma. St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012. ix + 332 pp. $134.95 cloth.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)A King Translated: The Writings of King James VI & I and their Interpretation in the Low Countries, 1593-1603 . By Astrid Stilma . St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Farnham : Ashgate , 2012. ix + 332 pp. $134.95 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesJames Stuart--James VI of Scotland and I of England--was a prolific author. Beginning while still in his teens, James wrote on a variety of topics, ranging from religion to rulership to the evils of tobacco. Most modern scholarly analysis of James' writings begins with the assumption that these texts constituted a deliberate performance of a carefully wrought public persona, and Astrid Stilma's erudite new monograph does not depart from this basic supposition. Stilma's main emphasis, however, is not on James' own textual self-construction, but rather on how a particular interpretive community--in this case, Dutch Protestants--printed, sold, bought, read and (13) these texts in order to serve their own particular political and religious agendas.Stilma examines Dutch translations of James' works (translated between 1593 and 1603 from London editions) and finds that Dutch Protestants used James' ideas to create and maintain a protestant identity for themselves, and to convince themselves that James would continue Elizabeth's support of the protestant Low Countries' fight against Roman Catholic Spain. When James ascended to the English throne, he may have meant to present himself as Rex Pacificus , but the political and religious anxieties of those who translated and disseminated James' writings into Dutch shaped him into an ultra-Protestant knight in shining armour (16). This is not to say that the translators deliberately misrepresented James' ideas; Stilma establishes that overt manipulation was rare, with translators and publishers relying more on prefaces and other paratextual material to frame James' words to their and their audiences' liking.The first chapter of A King Translated introduces readers to the Dutch translators and publishers, while the second chapter offers background and context concerning the art and science of translation in early modern Europe. The remaining four chapters focus on particular texts. In chapter 3, Stilma looks at The Battle of Lepanto, James' epic poem recounting a 1571 naval victory over the Turkish fleet by a confederation of Christian navies. Much has been written about whether or not James implicitly sanctioned Roman Catholicism with his celebration of Don John, the undeniably Catholic leader of the Christians. Stilma does not think so, and argues that in approaching the poem as a Protestant allegory, Abraham Van der Myl's 1593 translation preserved the spirit and intention of the original piece when it made a case for the inevitability of protestant ascendency.Perhaps James' most well-known work is Basilikon Doron . Written as a letter to James' eldest son, Basilikon Doron was published in Scotland in 1599. …

The electronic cigarette: a knight in shining armour or a Trojan horse?

Electronic cigarettes have caused a sharp debate in the public health community, with some promoting them as a means of harm reduction for tobacco users and some taking a strong stand against them because of fear of renormalising smoking behaviour and interrupting tobacco control progress. People with mental health problems smoke at high rates and e-cigarettes seem a potentially attractive method of cessation in this population, and their use should be studied carefully.

Slash Manips: Remixing Popular Media with Gay Pornography

Slash Manips: Remixing Popular Media with Gay Pornography

Inequality and economic marginalisation: How the structure of the economy impacts on opportunities on the margins

In the face of a long-standing unemployment crisis that increasingly threatens social and economic stability, employment has at last taken centre stage in South African policy, and with this, focus is shifting to the structural constraints on employment creation within the economy. The New Growth Path, approved by Cabinet in November 2010, starts to tackle these issues. Its emphasis on inclusive growth places issues of distribution more clearly on the agenda than they have been; and the Competition Commission has become poor consumers’ knight in shining armour, tackling collusion and highlighting the negative economic (and employment) consequences of South Africa’s highly centralized core economy. What does this mean, however, for what used to be called ‘the second economy’? While much scholarship has focused on critiquing the concept of the second economy – with good reason – the stark inequalities that characterize South African society and its economy mean that policy-making processes still struggle to straddle both ends of the spectrum. What is good for the developed end of the economy can seem to be far removed from concerns in more marginalised contexts. This article argues that the sharp divides in access and opportunity need to be located within the context of structural inequality. It focuses in particular on how the highly unequal structure of the economy impacts on economic opportunities at the more marginalised end of the economy, and how common sets of processes within a single economy produce and reproduce these outcomes. This locks people into poverty in ways that cannot simply be dismissed as a problem of ‘dependency’ - despite a growing tendency to do so. The article concludes by considering what this analysis means for development strategies targeting the unemployed and those eking out survivalist incomes.

“Knight in shining armour” or “Frankenstein’s creation”? The coverage of synthetic biology in German-language media

Although still a side issue in the German-language media, attention towards synthetic biology has risen clearly during the last years, in line with the first applications being presented. This paper presents findings from a content analysis of synthetic biology coverage in German-language media over the years 2004-2009. In the media, synthetic biology is not clearly separated from gene technology. News value is attributed to established categories such as persons and events. Many metaphors and analogies used in describing gene technology can also be found in the coverage of synthetic biology; however, engineering metaphors are more prominent. In addition, playfulness constitutes an aspect rarely found in genetic engineering coverage. Overall, the picture emerging is ambivalent, which leaves prospects for the further development of public debate ambiguous.

The interest group analogy: international non-governmental advocacy organisations in international politics

AbstractWhat can models of interest group behaviour from American politics tell us about the existence, activities, and influence of international non-governmental advocacy organisations (advocacy INGOs) in International Relations? In this article I detail an analogy between traditional American interest groups and advocacy INGOs in order to suggest a new approach to theorising INGOs. American politics theories of interest groups provide insights to questions which International Relations has been unable to answer satisfactorily, including where INGOs are likely to be found; how INGOs will grow in the future; the organisational structure of INGOs; the impact of competing groups on the quality and content of foreign policy and international agreements; and the roles of INGOs in different stages of the policy process. Viewing INGOs as interest groups provides a curative to the tendency to view them as self-sacrificing knights in shining armour. Competing INGOs representing narrow interests can nevertheless contribute to the common good in the form of effective, efficient policy.

Insights from the Lily Pond: Global Economic Developments Seen from the Perspective of Limits to Growth - Featuring the Oil Enigma

The paper presents and analyses the structure and consequences of limits to growth for the global economy. Apart from the famous report for the Club of Rome, a wide range of related literature, which all caution against the idea of unrestricted growth, is also covered. In presenting side tracks in economics, major differences towards standard economic reasoning are highlighted; these are particularly centred on the concepts of technology, sustainability, and resources. One of the central conclusions is that technological progress alone cannot be the knight in shining armour to save the day amid increasing stress on the sides of sources and sinks of the global system. Further, oil production, consumption, and reserve patterns are discussed, emphasising that a continuous underestimation of the challenges ahead would be distressing. Finally, the development of non-advanced countries is hindered, as the diminishing availability of oil reserves could prove as a significant constraint.

What Did Iron Really Look Like? Patination and Coloring Treatments on Iron and Steel

Over the past century, the powerful but mythical image of knights in shining armour, with bright polished swords to match, has dominated our view of what ironwork looked like: that of a polished greyish-white metal. This impression is gained not only from descriptions and illustrations in many books but is also obvious from even a casual walk around museum collections specializing in high status ironwork (such as the Royal Armouries in Leeds). But a close examination of much of this ironwork is likely to reveal that this was not its original appearance. Many poorly preserved patinated surfaces have been mistakenly removed by restorers and conservators wishing to improve the appearance of the objects in their care, not realizing they were altering the appearance by removing surviving traces of the original surface. However, it is possible to work out what much early iron or steelwork was originally intended to look like even if very little of the original surfaces survive. This can be done by the study of a combination of things: actual surviving traces, related decorative features (such as inlays), early descriptions, pictures, and even the use of inhomogeneous metal for certain objects or the making of composite ferrous artifacts. From this we can start to find out that much ironwork was actually intended to be either one or more colors, mostly in the range black (hence blacksmith) or dark grey to brown or blue, sometimes with one color intended to show up in contrast to another, or to a decorative feature such as an inlay. The probability that induced patination on iron surfaces was also intended to serve as a protective film is also indicated by some written sources. These issues need to be examined to promote a much better understanding of this little understood aspect of early ferrous metalwork, both to find out how and why it was intended to look originally and avoid bad decisions on how it should be cared for and displayed.

Truth, Reconciliation, and Amnesia: Porcupines and China Dolls and the Canadian Conscience

The events of workshop again made news that afternoon.... In one week, Chief David, James and Jake would be known all over NWT. In two weeks, they would be forgotten. Robert Arthur Alexie Porcupines and China Dolls IN ROBERT ARTHUR ALEXIE'S 2002 NOVEL Porcupines and China Dolls, three former residential school students shock fictional hamlet of Aberdeen, NWT, when they disclose sexual abuse they suffered as young boys under care of institution. The people have gathered this day for a healing workshop to address suffering that alcohol has been causing in their community; rising action of novel is devoted to describing this dysfunction, as narrative follows main character, James Nathan, through his daily routine of drinking, casual sex, and suicide attempts. But when James and his friends Jake and David--now in their forties--finally put a name to that haunt them, they begin process of taking control of their lives and ending cycles of abuse. As David says to assembled people: I'm tired of runnin. This is where it ends. Right here 'n right now. This is where we make change for ourselves 'n for our children. I will run no more! (198). The characters' attempts to face their then becomes literalized, and what follows is an almost-apocalyptic battle scene, as beadyeyed, reeking demons begin to crawl out of walls and ceiling. The men become Warriors; they grow to impossible heights, and their voices are so mighty that the roof of community hall blew off and scattered to four winds (204). Armed suddenly with lances and swords, they take their bloody revenge on demons, dreams and nightmares that have been tormenting them (196). The community joins in epic struggle, and in an orgy of pop-culture references, victims of residential schools are re-empowered: James Nathan was like a knight in shining armour. He was like Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves. He was like Crazy Horse charging into battle. He was like Geronimo at his best. Young girls dreamed of marrying him. Young boys dreamed of becoming him. Elders dreamed they were him and cried for good old days. (205) Alexie's readers will recognize this scene as cathartic climax of healing narrative--even if it is hyperbolic beyond even what Sophocles could imagine. By finally telling their stories in a public setting, victims seem to have purged themselves of hurt that has already claimed many lives in Aberdeen. As one of elder women has told them, It's gettin' rid of it through talkin' 'n cryin' that's gonna help you. If you don't get rid of it, it'll kill you like it's done to so many of our People (105). After battle is over, a cool, cleansing wind sweeps through hall, and people soon begin to mark re-emergence of some of their traditions: they travel out onto land to carry body of an abused former student to Old People--cremating him in old way--and after decades of obeying Church's regulations, they witness return of drum. Trough storytelling, ceremony, and song, people stitch their community back together again. It comes as a surprise, then, when James wakes up morning after his disclosure and has following exchange with his girlfriend: You okay? Brenda asked. Yeah, he lied. He got up and made coffee. Snow. Whatcha gonna do today? she asked. Check for caribou. Maybe blow my brains out too. You? (219) Despite climactic events of previous day, things seem to have returned to normal. Sure enough, only a few pages later, James attempts suicide again, and he will try it several more times before novel ends. The event of community's healing, after all, occurs only two-thirds of way through book, and rather than arriving at expected denouement and hopeful, happy ending, we watch characters continue to struggle, drink, and die. …

The local impact of an international celebrity: Fritz Kreisler in Australasia

From early May to the end of July 1925 the violin virtuoso, Fritz Kreisler, toured Australia and New Zealand giving recitals in major cities to overwhelming audience and critical acclaim. Demand for tickets was so strong that an additional fifteen concerts were added to the tour even while it was underway. This article provides the first comprehensive account of Kreisler ‘s Australasian tour detailing the repertoire performed and considers evidence for the impact of this repertoire and of Kreisler himself on local performance scenes. The role of the media in shaping Kreisler's reception is explored, focusing on pervasive quasi-religious imagery that painted Kreisler as a cultural ‘knight in shining armour’ for the Antipodes.

Rossiia koldunov by Sergei Erlikh (review)

764 SEER, 84, 4, 2006 Erlikh, Sergei. Rossiiakoldunov. Nestor-Istoriia, St Petersburg, 2003. 497 Pp. Notes. Bibliography.Price unknown. THISis a highly eccentricbook, both conceptuallyand structurally.It is a little hard to discernthe author'sstatedpurpose in writingit, though it appearsto run roughly as follows: after contrasting 'militant' Russian civilization with its 'magical'Western counterpart,the work explores the 'mutualrejection'of three successive generations of Russian 'sorcerers':soothsayers, Orthodox priests and the intelligentsia.It then develops a hypothesis about the descent of 'Slav magician-priests'from 'a medieval people of sorcerers',and investigates the combination of the 'incompatible mythological structures' of Alexander Herzen's 'Decembrist legend', which conditioned the reverential reception of the Decembristsby the Russian intelligentsiafor I50 years. The book consists of three sections:'The Russia of sorcerers'(fromwhich the book takes its unhelpful title), 'The worship of soothsayers' and 'The history of a myth (Herzen's "Decembristlegend")'which accounts for over half the book. Sergei Erlikhclaims that articulatinghis 'new view' of Russian historyis a lonely businessto which the antidote is a superabundanceof citation from the work of others (p. i8). This policy, however, leads to such structural oddities as a four-page chapter buttressed by twenty pages of notes. These, moreover, are densely textured with numerous referencesexclusively to Russianliterature,pointing to an almostincontinenteruditionand containing lengthy digressionsof breathtakingself-indulgence. Erlikh'scentral idea is that the third generation of Russia's 'sorcerers',the intelligentsia,was born on the day of the Decembrist uprisingin Petersburg, 14 December I825. Its forerunnerwas Radishchev (John the Baptist')and its chief 'evangelist'was Herzen. The religiousmetaphoris extended to a parallel between the Decembrists' status as 'martyrs'and Christ'spassion. In a particularlybizarrechapter (six)Erlikhinsiststhat Russia,followingthe 'death'of the intelligentsia,is now awaiting its fourth generation of 'sorcerers'.A typically self-referentialand unconventional aside (pp.47-53) sees the author defend his hatredof Putin's'man-hating'Russianstateand proclaim,however implausibly,Moldova (where he lives and where this book was published)as the present and future repositoryof Russian civilization. If this book has a point at all, it is definitelyto be found in the Decembrist section which it would have been far better to have published separately. Here, Erlikharguesthat in Russia scholarlyinterestin the Decembristsis out of all proportion to their historical significance and attributes this to their mythicalstatusas developed by Herzen and continued by Soviet historians.It is only now that post-Soviet commentatorsare questioningthe Herzen-Soviet idealization of the Decembrists as 'knights in shining armour'. He traces Herzen's mythologizing of the Decembrists from the 'baptismal'moment of his precocious teenage oath to dedicate his life to avenging them. A lengthy section analysesHerzen's manipulationof his sourcesas he stroveto construct an unblemishedportraitof the 'heroic' Decembrists. Erlikharguesthat Herzen was concerned above all with this mythologizing process and that thereforeto call him (as many have) the Decembrists' 'first historian'is to misunderstandboth his work and its purpose. Herzen's use of sourceswas highly selectiveand he massagedthem to show the Decembristsin REVIEWS 765 an exclusively positive light. For example, he rarely mentioned Kakhovskii, the assassinof Governor-GeneralMiloradovich, even omitting him from the list of the five hanged 'martyrs',since he disapprovedof an outragewhich was wholly inconsistentwith the 'chivalry'central to his Decembrist myth. Pavel Pestel', Herzen's favouriteDecembrist, he famouslydubbed a 'socialistbefore socialism' and promoted his myth by recasting references to him in official accounts, for example playing down the alleged hostility towards him in the Northern Society. The uncriticalacceptance of Herzen's carefullyconstructed myth, Erlikh claims, in turn informed the Soviet stereotyping of the Decembristsas the 'firstgeneration'of the 'foundingfathers'of the Bolshevik state (p.39I). Unfortunately, instead of ending at this point, Erlikh appends a quirky epigraphwhich lurchesinto wider philosophicalquestionsabout the meaning and making of history, and the role of the intelligentsiain its narrationand interpretation,leading him to conclude that the only lesson that history has taught us is that we continue to learn nothing from it. In a final manifesto,he sets an agenda for future interdisciplinarycollaboration with both Russian and Westernscholarsto enrich understandingof the past and, in particular,of what he calls the 'technologiesof power'. Potentialreaders,and only those interestedin Herzen and the Decembrists, are advised to restrict themselves to pages I91 to 437...