A Case Study of Hong Kong’s Financial Crisis

The Asian Financial Crisis was a result of massive speculative attacks in the foreign exchange market on local currencies, specifically on East Asian currencies. The problem started with the devaluation of the Thai baht in 1997 which then spread to speculative attacks on other Asian currencies. This resulted in economic crises in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Korea, Singapore, China, and Hong Kong. (Kawai, 1998)The reasons for the spread of economic decline in the countries were easily traced and the resulting effects were similar although varying in the degree of intensity. A clear difference between Hong Kong and the other Asian countries affected by the 1997-1998 economic crisis, however, was in the way that Hong Kong handled the threat to its economy.Compared to the other Asian countries, Hong Kong was able to maintain its peg when the financial crisis first broke out. This was, however, maintained at a great cost. Monetary authorities of the country spent approximately US$ 1 billion in order to defend the currency. Although other countries also undertook mass efforts to defend their currencies, Hong Kong was the only one to be able to maintain its peg. This, however, was only short-term.The economic attack continued and Hong Kong found itself needing to increase its inflation rates. Other countries such as the Philippines resorted to this strategy as well in order. What made Hong Kong different in its strategy, however, was the government’s role reversal from being a passive regulator to an active market participant.The government ended up using approximately US$15 billion in buying shares, blue-chip shares, in various companies. This active intervention insured the relative stability of the Hong Kong market as compared to the other Asian markets during that time.2) Hedge funds, by their very nature, utilize opportunistic trading strategies on a leveraged basis. For a market with a limited liquidity, such as that of Hong Kong’s, a small g amble on the part of a large hedge fund could result in a large transaction that could have large-scale effects on the said market.For Hong Kong’s economy, there have been numerous instances wherein hedge funds have tried to exploit the local market. This is not to say, however, that Hong Kong has not put up a valiant effort to protect and maintain the stability of its vulnerable market – owing to its small size and low liquidity status.According to Kara Tan Bhala (1998), the mechanism employed by hedge funds to try and make money out of Hong Kong involves two steps. Initially, Hong Kong equities and stock-index futures are sold short by speculators.Next, the speculators resort to short-selling the Hong Kong dollar. Short-selling the dollar will force the Hong Kong Monetary Association to try to maintain the peg of the Hong Kong dollar to the US dollar. This would mean resorting to an increase in interest rates and to buying the local currency.Share prices on the stock market thus decrease in value. In these instances, it is clear that all that hedge funds aim to do are to gain profit for themselves rather than to contribute to the greater scheme of advancing Hong Kong’s economy. They gain profit first from the short selling of the equities and stock-index futures.They gain the difference from the higher priced short-selling of the instruments and the resulting lower cover prices. Hedge funds gain profit secondly from a probable depreciation in the Hong Kong dollar. Again, the difference between the short and cover prices. (Bhala, 1998)Although not all hedge funds are to be frowned upon, as the presence of hedge funds is not an absolute evil on the market, these instances serve as a warning to the fact that there are markets that can be put under great threat as a result of the presence of hedge funds.ReferencesKawai, M. (1998). The East Asian currency crisis: causes and lessons. Contemporary Economy Policy, 16, 157-172Bhala, K. T. (1998). In Praise of Intervention. Far Eastern Economic Review, 9

Literary Criticism of Don DeLillo

Literary Criticism of Don DeLilloâ€Å"It's my nature to keep quiet about most things. Even the ideas in my work. When you try to unravel something you've written, you belittle it in a way. It was created as a mystery, in part.† –Don DeLillo, from the 1979 interview with Tom LeClairThere are a number of books and essays which are devoted to analysis of Don Delillo's writing. This page concentrates on the books only (for the most part), with most recent on top.Terrorism, Media, and the Ethics of Fiction: Transatlantic Perspectives on Don DeLillo (2010)Great to see the publication of this book of essays from the DeLillo Conference held in Osnabrà ¼ck, Germany in 2008 (see my page on the Conference). Edited by conference organizers Peter Schneck and Philipp Schweighauser.Terrorism, Media, and the Ethics of Fiction is published by Continuum, ISBN-13: 9781441139931, 2010 (hardcover, 264 pages).Contents include: Introduction – Philipp Schweighauser and Peter Schneck M emory Work after 9/11The Wake of Terror: Don DeLillo's â€Å"In the Ruins of the Future,† â€Å"Baader-Meinhof,† and Falling Man – Linda S. Kauffman Grieving and Memory in Don DeLillo's Falling Man – Silvia Caporale Bizzini Collapsing Identities: The Representation and Imagination of the Terrorist in Falling Man – Sascha Pà ¶hlmann Writers, Terrorists, and the Masses6,500 Weddings and 2,750 Funerals: Mao II, Falling Man, and the Mass Effect – Mikko Keskinen Influence and Self-Representation: Don DeLillo's Artists and Terrorists in Postmodern Mass Society – Leif Grà ¶ssinger The Art of Terror–the Terror of Art: DeLillo's Still Life of 9/11, Giorgio Morandi, Gerhard Richter, and Performance Art – Julia Apitzsch Don DeLillo and Johan GrimonprezGrimonprez's Remix – Eben WoodDial T for Terror: Don DeLillo's Mao II and Johan Grimonprez' Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y – Martyn Colebrook Deathward and Other PlotsTerror, Asce ticism, and Epigrammatic Writing in Don DeLillo's Fiction – Paula Martà ­n Salvà ¡n The End of Resolution? Reflections on the Ethics of Closure in Don DeLillo's Detective Plots – Philipp Schweighauser and Adrian S. Wisnicki The Ethics of FictionSlow Man, Dangling Man, Falling Man: Don DeLillo and the Ethics of Fiction – Peter Boxall Falling Man: Performing Fiction – Marie-Christine Lepsâ€Å"Mysterium tremendum et fascinans†: Don DeLillo, Rudolf Otto, and the Search for Numinous Experience – Peter Schneck CodaThe DeLillo Era: Literary Generations in the Postmodern Period – David Cowart (Sept. 6, 2010)The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008)Above is a shot of the book ‘on location' in Cambridge, with St Johns College in the background; I found the book at the Cambridge Book Shop, and the clerk told me that the book had just come in that day! (May 13, 2008)The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo is a new book edited by John Duvall, and it features articles covering much of DeLillo's work by many familiar names of DeLillo criticism. Published by Cambridge University Press, ISBN-13: 9780521690898, 2008 (paperback, 203 pages). There's a hardback as  well.Contents include: Introduction: â€Å"The power of history and the persistence of mystery† John N. Duvall Part I. Aesthetic and Cultural Influences â€Å"DeLillo and modernism† Philip Nel â€Å"DeLillo, postmodernism, postmodernity† Peter Knight Part II. Early Fiction â€Å"DeLillo and media culture† Peter Boxall â€Å"DeLillo's apocalyptic satire† Joseph Dewey â€Å"DeLillo and the political thriller† Tim Engles Part III. Major Novels â€Å"White Noise† Stacey Olster â€Å"Libra† Jeremy Green â€Å"Underworld† Patrick O'Donnell Part IV. Themes and Issues â€Å"DeLillo and masculinity† Ruth Helyer â€Å"DeLillo's Dedealian artists† Mark Osteen â€Å"DeLillo and the power of la nguage† David Cowart â€Å"DeLillo and mystery† John McClure Conclusion: â€Å"Writing amid the ruins: 9/11 and Cosmopolis† Joseph Conte It's unclear how much of this material is truly new; much may be adapted from previously published work.Beyond Grief and Nothing: A Reading of Don DeLillo (2006)Beyond Grief and Nothing is a new book by Joseph Dewey from the University of South Carolina Press. The book traces a thematic trajectory in DeLillo from his first short story to ‘Love-Lies-Bleeding'. The book examines DeLillo as a profoundly spiritual writer, a writer who has wrestled with his Catholic upbringing (the title comes from the famous line from Faulkner's ‘Wild Palms' that forms a motif in Godard's ‘Breathless') and who has emerged over the last decade as perhaps the most important religious writer in American literature since Flannery O'Connor.Dewey finds DeLillo's concerns to be organized around three rubrics that mark the writer's own cre ative evolution: the love of the street, the embrace of the word, and the celebration of the soul.Joseph Dewey is an Associate Professor, American literature at University of Pittsburgh, and heco-edited Underwords (see below). 184 pages, hardcover, $34.95.Don DeLillo: The Possibility of Fiction (2006)Don DeLillo:The Possibility of Fiction by Peter Boxall (Routledge). I don't know much about this book, except for the fact that it's expensive! Dr. Peter Boxall is a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Sussex, and has previously published on Beckett (among others).Approaches to Teaching DeLillo's White Noise (2006)Approaches to Teaching DeLillo's White Noise is a new book edited by Tim Engles and John N. Duvall. From the MLA website:This volume, like others in the MLA's Approaches to Teaching World Literature series, is divided into two parts. The first part, â€Å"Materials,† suggests readings and resources for both instructor and students of White Noise. The sec ond part, â€Å"Approaches,† contains eighteen essays that establish cultural, technological, and theoretical contexts (e.g., whiteness studies); place the novel in different survey courses (e.g., one that explores the theme of American materialism); compare it with other novels by DeLillo (e.g., Mao II); and give examples of classroom techniques and strategies in teaching it (e.g., the use of disaster films).The book is aimed at folks who include White Noise in their syllabus, and it includes pieces from Mark Osteen, Phil Nel, John Duvall, Tim Engles and many more.Benjamin Kunkel on Novelists and Terrorists (2005)In the New York Times Book Review of September 11, 2005, Benjamin Kunkel offers â€Å"Dangerous Characters†, an essay on the ‘terrorist novel' of the pre 9/11 era. DeLillo unsurprisingly features in the essay. It's worth reading in its entirety, but I pull out a couple quotes here that were of particular interest to me:Terrorists might be a novelist's r ivals, as Don DeLillo's novelist character maintains in †Mao II† (1991), but they were also his proxies. No matter how realistic, the terrorist novel was also a kind of metafiction, or fiction about fiction.DeLillo saw that novelists, like terrorists, were solitary and obscure agents, †men in small rooms,† preparing symbolic provocations to be unleashed on the public with a bang. Of course this could refer only to a certain kind of novelist, starting perhaps with Flaubert and ending, DeLillo suggested, with Beckett, whose work could be taken as an indictment of an entire civilization, and whose authority when it came to that civilization was paradoxically derived from his appearing to stand completely outside it.Don DeLillo: Balance at the Edge of Belief (2004)Don DeLillo: Balance at the Edge of Belief by Jesse Kavadlo, published in 2004 by Peter Lang Publishing (ISBN: 0-8204-6351-5). Here's how the back cover puts it:Don DeLillo – winner of the Nation al Book Award, the William Dean Howells Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize – is one of the most important novelists of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. While his work can be understood and taught as prescient and postmodern examples of millennial culture, this book argues that DeLillo's recent novels – White Noise, Libra, Mao II, Underworld, and The Body Artist – are more concerned with spiritual crisis. Although DeLillo's worlds are rife with rejection of belief and littered with faithlessness, estrangement, and desperation, his novels provide a balancing moral corrective against the conditions they describe.  Speaking the vernacular of contemporary America, DeLillo explores the mysteries of what it means to be human.Don DeLillo – Bloom's Modern Critical Views (2003)Don DeLillo was published by Chelsea House in 2003, edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom.The book consists of previously published critical essays on DeLillo:â₠¬Å"Introduction† by Harold Bloom â€Å"Don DeLillo's Search for Walden Pond† by Michael Oriard â€Å"Preface and Don DeLillo† by Robert Nadeau â€Å"Don DeLillo's America† by Bruce Bawer â€Å"White Magic: Don DeLillo's Intelligence Networks† by Greg Tate â€Å"Myth, Magic and Dread: Reading Culture Religiously† by Gregory Salyer â€Å"The Romantic Metaphysics of Don DeLillo† by Paul Maltby â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls: Don DeLillo's Americana† by David Cowart â€Å"Consuming Narratives: Don DeLillo and the ‘Lethal' Reading† by Christian Mararu â€Å"Romanticism and the Postmodern Novel: Three Scenes from Don DeLillo's White Noise† by Lou F. Caton â€Å"Don DeLillo's Postmodern Pastoral† by Dana Phillipsâ€Å"Afterthoughts on Don DeLillo's Underworld† by Tony Tanner â€Å"‘What About a Problem That Doesn't Have a Solution?': Stone's A Flag for Sunrise, DeLillo's Mao II, and the Politics of Political Fiction† by Jeoffrey S. Bull White Noise: A Reader's Guide (2003)Don DeLillo's White Noise: A Reader's Guide by Leonard Orr was published in 2003. The book is published as part of the Continuum Contemporaries series, sells for $9.95 and is 96 pages.Underwords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo's Underworld (2002)Underwords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo's Underworld is edited by Joseph Dewey, Steven G. Kellman, and Irving Malin, and published by University of  Delaware Press in Sept. 2002 (ISBN 0-87413-785-3 $39.50). Here is a picture & the blurb:Don DeLillo's 1997 masterwork Underworld, one of the most acclaimed and long-awaited novels of the last twenty years, was immediately recognized as a landmark novel, not only in the long career of one of America's most distinguished novelists but also in the ongoing evolution of the postmodern novel. Vast in scope, intricately organized, and densely allusive, the text provided an immediate and engaging challenge to readers of c ontemporary fiction.This collection of thirteen essays brings together new and established voices in American studies and contemporary American literature to assess the place of this remarkable novel not only within the postmodern tradition but within the larger patterns of American literature and culture as well. By seeking to place the novel within such a context, this lively collection of provocative readings offers a valuable guide for both students and scholars of the American literary imagination.The book contains:â€Å"A Gathering Under Words: An Introduction† by Joseph Dewey â€Å"‘What Beauty, What Power': Speculations on the Third Edgar† by Irving Malin and Joseph Dewey â€Å"Subjectifying the Objective: Underworld as Mutable Narrative† by David Yetter â€Å"Underworld: Sin and Atonement† by Robert McMinnâ€Å"‘Shall These Bones Live'† by David Cowart â€Å"Don DeLillo's Logogenetic Underworld† by Steven G. Kellman â₠¬Å"Pynchon and DeLillo† by Timothy L. Parrish â€Å"Conspiratorial Jesuits in the Postmodern Novel: Mason & Dixon and Underworld† by Carl Ostrowski â€Å"Don DeLillo, John Updike, and the Sustaining Power of Myth† by Donald J. Greiner â€Å"In the Nick of Time: DeLillo's Nick Shay, Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway, and the Myth of the American Adam† by Joanne Gass â€Å"Don DeLillo, T.S. Eliot, and the Redemption of America's Atomic Waste Land† by Paul Gleason â€Å"The Unmaking of History: Baseball, Cold War, and Underworld† by Kathleen Fitzpatrick â€Å"Underworld or: How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Live the Bomb† by Thomas Myers â€Å"The Baltimore Catechism; or Comedy in Underworld† by Ira Nadel The book also includes a bibliography of Underworld reviews and notices by Marc Singer and Jackson R. Bryer.Don DeLillo: The Physics of Language (2002)Don DeLillo – The Physics of Language by David Cowart was published in Feb. 20 02 by the University of Georgia Press. Here is a link to more info: http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/don_delillo/Cowart examines the work of DeLillo with an emphasis on language; DeLillo's use of it in the novels, and the way in which characters in the books are characterized by different types of language. He divides the novels into three groups: the tentative early novels (End Zone, Great Jones Street, Players and Running Dog), the popular fictions (White Noise, Libra and Mao II) and the works of great achievement (Americana, Ratner's Star, The Names, Underworld and The Body Artist).Throughout his twelve novels, DeLillo foregrounds language and the problems of language. He has an uncanny ear for the mannered, elliptical, non sequitur-ridden rhythms of vernacular conversation (the common response to â€Å"thank you† has somehow become â€Å"no problem†). His is an adept parodist of the specialized discourses that proliferate in contemporary society – in sport, business, politics, academe, medicine, entertainment, and journalism. The jargons of science, technology, and military deterrence offer abundant targets, too. But the author's interest in these discourses goes beyond simple parody, and it is the task of criticism to gauge the extra dimensions of DeLillo's thinking about language.Underworld: A Reader's Guide (2002)Don DeLillo's Underworld: A Reader's Guide by John Duvall was published in early 2002. The book is published as part of the Continuum Contemporaries series, sells for $9.95 and is 96 pages.The book has five chapters: The Novelist, giving background on DeLillo; The  Novel, the main section of the book with an analysis of the main themes; The Novel's Reception, on the initial reviews of Underworld; The Novel's Performance, on the subsequent academic treatment; and Further Reading and Discussion.Critical Essays on Don DeLillo (2000)Critical Essays on Don DeLillo, edited by Hugh Ruppersburg, and Tim Engles, published b y G.K. Hall, appeared in 2000. Contains a section of book reviews and a section of essays, covering each novel through Underworld.The essays are:â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls: Don DeLillo's Americana† by David Cowart â€Å"Deconstructing the Logos: Don DeLillo's End Zone† by Thomas LeClair â€Å"The End of Pynchon's Rainbow: Postmodern Terror and Paranoia in DeLillo's Ratner's Star† by Glen Scott Allen â€Å"Marketing Obsession: The Fascinations of Running Dog† by Mark Osteen â€Å"Discussing the Untellable: Don DeLillo's The Names† by Paula Bryant â€Å"‘Who are you, literally?': Fantasies of the White Self in Don DeLillo's White Noise† by Tim Engles â€Å"Baudrillard, DeLillo's White Noise, and the End of Heroic Narrative† by Leonard Wilcox â€Å"The Fable of the Ants: Myopic Interactions in DeLillo's Libra† by Bill Millard â€Å"Libra and the Subject of History† by Christopher M. Mottâ€Å"Can the Intellectual Still Speak? The Example of Don DeLillo's Mao II† by Silvia Caporale Bizzini â€Å"Excavating the Underworld of Race and Waste in Cold War History: Baseball, Aesthetics and Ideology† by John N. Duvall â€Å"Everything is Connected: Underworld's Secret History of Paranoia† by Peter Knight â€Å"Awful Symmetries in Don DeLillo's Underworld† by Arthur Saltzman American Magic and Dread (2000)Mark Osteen's book on DeLillo, American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in June, 2000. The book examines DeLillo's work from some of the early stories thru Underworld.Modern Fiction Studies (1999)Modern Fiction Studies special issue on DeLillo (Vol 45, No. 3, Fall 1999), includes 10 essays, including work from such friends of the site as Phil Nel, Mark Osteen and Jeremy Green.Undercurrent (1999)In May 1999 an all-DeLillo issue of Erick Heroux's online journal Undercurrent appeared (Number 7). It co ntains the following essays:â€Å"Celebration & Annihilation: The Balance of Underworld† by Jesse Kavadlo â€Å"DeLillo's Underworld: Everything that Descends Must Converge† by Robert Castle â€Å"The Inner Workings: Techno-science & Self in Underworld† by Jennifer Pincott â€Å"American Simulacra: DeLillo in Light of Postmodernism† by Scott Rettberg â€Å"Baudrillard's Primitivism & White Noise: ‘The only avant-garde we've got'† by Bradley Butterfield â€Å"Beyond Baudrillard's Simulacral Postmodern World:White Noise† by Haidar Eid Postmodern Culture (1994)The January, 1994 issue of Postmodern Culture featured the DeLillo Cluster, four essays all dealing with DeLillo edited by Glen Scott Allen and Stephen Bernstein.Glen Scott Allen, â€Å"Raids on the Conscious: Pynchon's Legacy of Paranoia and the Terrorism of Uncertainty in Don DeLillo's Ratner's Star† Peter Baker, â€Å"The Terrorist as Interpreter: Mao II in Postmodern Con text† Stephen Bernstein, â€Å"Libra and the Historical Sublime†Bill Millard, â€Å"The Fable of the Ants: Myopic Interactions in DeLillo's Libra†Don DeLillo (1993)Don DeLillo is a book by Douglas Keesey, a part of the Twayne's U.S. Authors  Series, published by Macmillan, 1993, 228 pages. This book has a chapter on each novel, as well as brief summaries of the stories and plays.Keesey's reading of DeLillo's work is that his novels â€Å"engage in the intensive study of media representations of reality that threaten to distance us from nature and from ourselves.† Thus he links Americana to film, End Zone to language, etc.I found the chapter on Americana quite interesting, as Keesey rebuts those critics who categorized this book as a typical first novel, poorly constructed and lacking charcter development. He argues that on closer examination DeLillo is clearly in control of the book's structure and characters, having made â€Å"fully conscious aesthetic choices.†I tried to get this book through a store, but they couldn't get it, so I ended up buying direct – call 1 800 323 7445 to order.There's an article by Keesey in Pynchon Notes 32-33 entitled â€Å"The Ideology of Detection in Pynchon and DeLillo†.Introducing Don DeLillo (1991)Edited by Frank Lentricchia, 1991. Published by Duke University Press, 221 pages. Lentricchia is the editor of South Atlantic Quarterly and Professor of English at Duke.The book consists of 12 articles:â€Å"The American Writer as Bad Citizen† by Frank Lentricchiaâ€Å"Opposites,† Chapter 10 of Ratner's Star by Don DeLillo  Ã¢â‚¬Å"An Outsider in This Society†: An Interview with Don DeLillo by Anthony DeCurtis (an expanded version of the November 1988 Rolling Stone interview)â€Å"How to Read Don DeLillo† by Daniel Aaron  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Clinging to the Rock: A Novelist's Choices in the New Mediocracy† by Hal Crowther â€Å"Postmodern Romance: Don DeLillo a nd the Age of Conspiracy† by John  A. McClure â€Å"Some Speculations on Don DeLillo and the Cinematic Real† by Eugene Goodheart â€Å"The Product: Bucky Wunderlick, Rock ‘n Roll, and Don DeLillo's Great Jones Street† by Anthony DeCurtis â€Å"Don DeLillo's Perfect Starry Night† by Charles Molesworthâ€Å"Alphabetic Pleasures: The Names† by Dennis A. Foster â€Å"The Last Things Before the Last: Notes on White Noise† by John Frow â€Å"Libra as Postmodern Critique† by Frank Lentricchia More on Frank and Don†¦Jason Camlot delivered an interesting address entitled ‘Frank Lentricchia's Don DeLillo: â€Å"Introducing†, Postmodern Modernism and the Academic Fear of Death' which was given at University of Oregon, May 1993. I am happy to say that this work is now back on the web, hosted here at Don DeLillo's America.Here's a taste:What, then, can be said to make Lentricchia's work as a critic equally relevant and eff ective? In a most obvious sense, it is the position he assumes in relation to the important author that he is introducing that works to establish his own importance. Don Delillo was already a popular author soon after 1985, and by this time he was becoming a significant object of academic attention as well, but these two facts had little bearing on one another, but rather were two distinct phenomena. At least this is what Lentricchia's role as editor and introducer seems to suggest. It is as if the true social significance of Delillo could not exist until a critic such as Lentricchia recognized it, patented it, in a way, by introducing Delillo as the last of the modernists in the postmodern era.New Essays on White Noise (1991)This is a short book of critical essays on White Noise, which is also edited by Lentricchia, published by Cambridge University Press in 1991 (115 pages).The book has five essays:â€Å"Introduction† by Frank Lentricchia â€Å"Whole Families Shopping at N ight!† by Thomas J. Ferraro â€Å"Adolf, We Hardly Knew You† by Paul A. Cantor â€Å"Lust Removed from Nature† by Michael Valdez Moses â€Å"Tales of the Electronic Tribe† by Frank Lentricchia Here's more info on the book.In the Loop – Don DeLillo and the Systems Novel (1987)By Tom LeClair, 1987. Published by University of Illinois Press, 244 pages. LeClair is Professor of English at University of Cincinnati. This is a look at all of DeLillo's novels (through White Noise) in the context of the â€Å"systems novel†. Includes a complete DeLillo bibliography.First Epigraph: â€Å"Somebody ought to make a list of books that seem to bend back on themselves. I think Malcolm Lowry saw Under the Volcano as a wheel-like structure. And in Finnegans Wake we're meant to go from the last page to the first. In different ways I've done this myself.† — Don DeLillo, â€Å"Interview,† Anything Can HappenFrom the Preface:In the Loop also de scribes the situation of the reader who has already entered a Don DeLillo novel, as my first epigraph suggests. DeLillo consistently creates polarized structures–of genre, situation, character, language, tone–that double the novel back upon itself, questioning its generic codes, its beginnings and development, its creator's position toward it, his relation with the reader, who becomes self-conscious, reflective about both his reading and himself, a mobius-stripping away of assumptions about the forms that DeLillo uses, the charged subjects he encircles with his reversals, and the act of reading from beginning to end.Here's the text of a lecture LeClair gave in March 1993 entitled â€Å"Me and Mao  II†.Other Books with DeLillo in the TitleCivello, Paul. American Literary Naturalism and its Twentieth-century Transformations: Frank Norris, Ernest Hemingway, Don DeLillo. (University of Georgia Press, 1994, 208 pages). Chapters 8-10 deal with DeLillo, End Zone and Libra in particular.Hantke, Steffen. Conspiracy and Paranoia in Contemporary American Fiction: The works of Don DeLillo and Joseph McElroy (Peter Lang, 1994).Weinstein, Arnold. Nobody's Home: Speech, Self, and Place in American Fiction From Hawthorne to DeLillo (Oxford University Press, 1993, 349 pages). Chapter 14 is â€Å"Don DeLillo: Rendering the Words of the Tribe† pages 288-315.Back to DeLillo's America Last updated: 06-SEP-2010 Send in some news!

JUVENILE JUSTICE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

JUVENILE JUSTICE - Essay Example It is also important to note that the procedure and organization found between the adult and juvenile court systems vary greatly (Snyder, 2001). In Alabama, after committing the crime, Juveniles are detained as compared to being arrested. A petition is drawn up next whereby the juvenile court’s jurisdictional authority over the detained individual and offense serves the minor’s family as notice and offers the basis for the convergence of the court, and acts as the official document for charging. The juvenile’s case is adjudicated, once it is in court, and a disposition is passed. The governmental Act that entails Freedom of Information access to everyone means that the adult records can be viewed by anyone, whereas, juvenile records are considered as sealed documents. This measure is meant for protecting the minors so that their single mistake in life does not become a barrier throughout their life. Juvenile records may be expunged once the minor offender reaches 18 years provided they meet the set state criteria. In addition, unlike the adult court procedures the juvenile courts proceedings are far less formal. The least detrimental options often form the main basis for a juvenile case disposition. Therefore, the parents’ patriae legacy remains clear (Mays & Winfree, 2000). Juvenile dispositions use of indeterminate sentencing is often a constant source of controversy for the juvenile courts. Under this sentencing, the judges are given power to determine and decide the type of sentence that will be carried out. Juveniles, in such cases, are watched during their detained periods and only when the judge completely considers them fully rehabilitated, then they can be released. This arrangement, according to critics, allows the judge to have too much discretion, and therefore should not be considered as a detrimental punishment. The three main ways that a court is typically

Classical leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Classical leadership - Essay Example Leadership is a complex reality, hence, it can constitute a shifting enigma. Tolstoy's bow-wave metaphor suggests that the leaders are mere figureheads who are propelled by events beyond their control. The main issue then is whether the leaders really lead or if they are merely pulled by the events or situation they face everyday.Grint presents a model that encompasses epistemologically and methodologically different perspectives on leadership. It is composed of four perspectives. The trait approach states that the essence of the individual leader is critical but the context is not. The contingency approach states that the essence and the context are both knowable and critical. The situational approach means that certain contexts demand certain kinds of leadership. This situation requires flexibility from the leaders. The constitutive approach, which stems from the constructivist theories in the social sciences suggests that what the situation and the leader actually are is a consequ ence of acts and interpretations. In the constitutive approach, the situation and the leader do not have essences.My personal opinion is that leadership is a key task. People demand from their leaders direction or vision, trustworthiness, and optimism. Like effective parents, good leaders make people hopeful. Warren Bennis (2001) emphasized the four competencies of leadership: technical competence, people skills, conceptual skills, judgment, and character. Bennis believes that effective leadership is primarily the function of one's character. I believe that these four leadership perspectives coincide with John Adair's approach on functional leadership. This approach suggests that leadership skills can be developed but that other qualities such as integrity and humility are essential to the makeup of an effective leader. CLASSICAL LEADERSHIP Classical Leadership was developed by four influential writers: Plato, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, and Pareto. Plato primarily thought that the concept of a democratic society was problematic and so he developed a critique. He introduced the mob: the majority. He argued that the captain can be trusted because only he has the necessary knowledge. He was convinced that the subordinate groups should not be allowed to challenge the philosopher rulers, to ensure the safety of the 'ship'. The larger issue was not over whether leadership skills could be taught but what they were being taught for. Sun Tzu regarded the principle of one person, one job as crucial to success. His work, "Art of War" is a doctrine that does not glorify war but denounces those who seek it. The way of peace is always sought over violence but, when no option is left open, the violence is executed with the minimum effort and maximum effect. This philosophy generates a hierarchy of strategies which are premised on avoidance as the first strategy and face-to-face violence as the last. He believes that the best way to defeat an enemy is to foil the enemy's plots. He is keen for leaders to avoid being hated; he is aware that 'the goodwill' of the people is significant. Only by forging alliances with other princes and by the use of technology, and by disorganizing the competition, will the prince survive. Elites not 'the people' were a part of human society for Pareto. Pareto argues that human action is irrational and this is due to residues. Residues are prevalent and unchanging across space or time. The forms of elite control, are rooted in two oppositional forms of residues: Class I and Class II. These key writers showed us that leadership perspectives varied across time. Traditional Leadership Traditional leadership constitutes what Barnard identified within a triangle of elements that include the individual leader, the

Under the Whiplash by Lara Oruno Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Under the Whiplash by Lara Oruno - Essay Example First used by the Greeks, slavery has roots in the antique forced labor practices of the Egypt of pharaohs, Greece, Italy and the Middle East, particularly in Babylon and Assyria. A people stripped of any right to demand status of origin or title [name], slavery, apparently has a long history that saw Europe enslave approximately 20 percent of their own population at some point; a practice that only faded out in the fifteen century with the newfound sources from the far continents of Africa and Asia (Coates 18). With the advent of large scale plantations in the Americas, tens of millions of Africans became victims of slavery. Like the antique slaves, they were not only subjected to forced labor, but had to yield to the sexual demands of their masters. Keeping with the old tradition, all male slaves, irrespective of their ages, acquired the tittle "boy". Unlike the old slavery that offered a relief through some form of emancipation, slavery in the Caribbean was but a totalitarian syst em based on extreme exploitation driven in part by racism (Coates 19). The only alternative to freedom to such cruelty were brave flight efforts with a subsequent strong resistance. While the two terms, forced labor and slavery, have historically been used interchangeably, there exist a thin line in between. According to the International Labor Organization, forced labor refers to â€Å"work imposed on a person under the threat(s) of a penalty and for which the willingness to offer such a service is non-existent† (ILO par 3). Slavery, however, is an elastic concept that not only covers forced labor, but includes the dimension of the subjects involved being treated as property worth some definite price. (Laura 162). In the second article, â€Å"Who was responsible?† Elikia M'Bokolo tries to navigate the thicket of who should take the responsibility on the massive shipments of Africans to the Americas. A controversial subject that has left historians with more of a guess work, M'Bokolo works extracts extra hard to deconstruct the myth placing the Africans themselves right in the middle. From slave-raiding that involved outright abduction to slave-trading, either of the processes engaged the expedition of man-hunts that carried maximum risks, including mass killings; the 1446 massacre near the Cap Vert peninsula in present-day Senegal was but a clear indication of the Africans determination to fight off enslavement. Accordingly, the Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, were the pioneer traders in slaves, perhaps to minimize the risks of deaths in millions, of people whose services were increasingly needed to sustain plantation farming in America. Understandably, slave-raiding continued even after the routinisation of slave-trade, occasionally becoming a buffer source of slaves’ supply for traders. M'Bokolo goes to note that the terms of trade were never in the hands of Africans; the occasional raids coupled with the building of forts along the coastline sent a clear message to the rulers of the continent that left them with no choices other than to comply (Coates 21). As such, though Africans got involved in selling their fellow brothers, Europe’s domination shaped every aspect of the trade, leaving Africa counting its losses as they [th e Europeans] reaped massively. Bluntly put, slave trade, to Africans, was a kind of diabolical-plot which forcefully made them [Africans] accomplices or otherwise perish in the merciless expeditions. The section â€Å"A Controversial Question† highlights the controversy on who between the Europeans and Africans should bear the blame in perpetuating the

Forensic Medicine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Forensic Medicine - Essay Example It entails relation with the observations and the doctors are the primary witnesses and they are required to give their opinions based on truth and without any bias towards the side they are representing. Medical confidentiality can raise conflicts between law and medicine (Forensic-Medecine.info, n.d.). Forensic medicine is an important area of forensic science and it involves the application of medical knowledge to civil and criminal law. The areas of medicine that are used in forensic medicine are pathology, psychiatry, and anatomy. Forensic medicine is involved in cases such as those concerning mental illness, blood relationship, death resulting from violence, and injury. Autopsy is basically used in the determination of the cause of death (such as poison or gunshot wound) specifically in situations where it is suspected there was foul play. Post-mortem examination can also provide important information such as the length of time a person has been dead (the information can assist in tracing the killing) (Forensic-Medecine.info, n.d.). Every minute a number of people are either injured in a crime or are killed under unknown circumstances. The determination of the cause of the injury or death is sometimes very difficult especially when a foul play is suspected to have happened. Forensic medicine has come in handy to assist in the investigation of the type of crime and manner used in inflicting injury and the cause of death. Forensic medicine is an exhilarating subject since it offers the investigator in this case a forensic pathologist to explore the mechanisms and manner of death of the victim in question. It has also assisted in solving rape cases and a number of court cases that involved the death of the victim in question. In simple times, forensic medicine can be equated to the application of medicine in the legal field. The relationship between law and medicine started in the early periods and the bonds which united

Has Christmas Lost Its Meaning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Has Christmas Lost Its Meaning - Research Paper Example .In some places, you might see an aged man with hair, beard white as snow wearing a red jumpsuit and glasses, and as you pass him by, you hear "HO, HO, HO", and now a picture is taken; your child has requested his wishes. In the meantime someone somewhere has now become more sudden; the worries of not having enough money to satisfy loved ones; the thought of not being with friends or family; or simply not having someone for a time of household gathering have led more people in this world to become depressed at such times. All of these events and feelings occur as the most celebrated and commercialized day arrives and that day we call it Christmas; a time that should bring forth joy and remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ, our savior.What is Christmas? To everyone, Christmas seems to be different. Some people consider Christmas as a celebration of Christ’s birthday. To others, Christmas means friendship, love, giving and receiving. Others view it as a time of visiting fami lies and have a huge row. Others take it as a feasting and merriment day or just a well-earned day off work. All these people celebrate Christmas in the way they see as its ‘true meaning.' Nevertheless, this emerges from their personal lives and believes. Christmas is celebrated in December, and this is considered the day when Jesus Christ was born. That is what is meant for Christmas to be about; however, it is rapidly declining into consideration of materialism and greed with little Jesus' thought (Pendered 1463).

Capital Structure and Firm Value Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Capital Structure and Firm Value - Assignment Example The perfect capital markets are not characterised by any market frictions like trading costs, taxes and the information is easily transmitted between the investors and the managers. M&M made a clear distinction between the financial risk and business risk faced by a firm. While the financial risk refers to the choice of risk distribution between the bondholders and shareholders, the business risk refers to the uncertainty of cash flows of the business. It has been pointed out by Miller and Modigliani that changes in leverage does not cast any significant influence on the cash flows generated by the business. Therefore changes in leverage cannot alter the value of the firm. According to them leverage simply defines the distribution of cash flows between the bondholders and the shareholders. As per M&M model the value of levered firm (VL) is equal to the value of unlevered firm (VU). Suppose there are two companies- Company 1 and Company2. It is assumed that the two companies have identical cash flows and belong to same risk profile. The difference between the two companies is with respect to financing. M&M state that the market value of the two companies is same. Suppose the pay-off of Company 1 in good state is 160 and in bad state is 50. This company is financed only by the equity mode of financing. Similarly the payoff of Company 2 is 160 in good state and 50 in bad state. It is financed by the combination of debt and equity. Suppose the total debt of Company 2 is $60 and its market value is $50; the market value of its equity is $50. Then the value of the Company 2 is- Modigliani and Miller have stated that the â€Å"value of leveraged firm† is equal to the sum of â€Å"the value of unleveraged firm plus tax advantage of debt†. Miller modified the equation obtained under MM Proposition without taxes (Lee, et al., 2009, p.208).   

Rhetorical Analysis of Letter from Birmingham Jail Essay

Rhetorical Analysis of Letter from Birmingham Jail - Essay Example King, these actions by the African Americans were long overdue, and it was the best time for them to negotiate with white politicians (King 5). This article is titled Letter from Birmingham Jail; while its thesis statement is that, the black people must be allowed to demonstrate at that time because it was necessary to do so. While this thesis statement is not clearly stated, the letter addresses this issue throughout, which means that it is the main reason for writing the letter. Therefore, one has to read the entire letter in order to infer the statement. This ensures that the audience reads the entire letter with an open mind. The structure of the letter aids Dr. King in projecting his message. Paragraphs 2 to 5 are the most fundamental with regards to structure. The four paragraphs then transition to the remaining part of the letter. Paragraph 2 introduces the reader to the reasons for his imprisonment, which makes the letter broader. The letter’s purpose becomes clearer a s one reads through it, and the most important paragraph is the fifth one, where he defends the protests in Birmingham and tells off the clergymen, â€Å"But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations† (King 4). The rest of the letter addresses the ideas brought up in the fifth paragraph. The structure affects the reader because it builds up momentum for what Dr. King wants to say and makes it more powerful. In the letter, Dr. King has a persuasive tone as he attempts to get the reader to agree with his viewpoint. He is understanding and patient with the eight clergymen and seeks to find a common ground by bringing up points, which were raised in their opinion and arguing them out politely. The... In the letter, Dr. King uses logos as a way to back his counterargument against the clergymen up. He claims, â€Å"[they] had no alternative except to prepare for direct action†. He also seeks to prove his point through logical fallacies with appeals to authority; for instance, when he writes â€Å"Thomas Jefferson: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal†. The audience will respect a famous person being quoted, and thus, makes what he is saying sound true. Dr. King also uses ethos to show that he is moral, knowledgeable, and reasonable. The above example is when he says, â€Å"We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional God-given rights†. This is reasonable since he is being asked to wait, but he and other black people have already done so for 340 years. Dr. King also shows that he is moral by saying â€Å"...so we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in a society that w ill help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood†. This shows his morality since he aims for all people to live together in peace. Finally, he also uses pathos in the letter. For example, where he states, â€Å"when you suddenly find your tongue-twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children†.