title: 'The Remorseless Fangs of the Law': The Newgate Novel, 1722-2012

authors: Schumacher, Larissa Jayne

abstract: The Newgate novel is a fascinating sub-genre of crime fiction which emerged in the 1830s as a response to contemporary issues within the social, legal and penal systems of Victorian London. This thesis is split into four distinct Parts which, using both critical research and original interventions, summarise developments in the Newgate novel from 1722-2012. The introductory section provides a foundation to this thesis by looking at the most significant contributors to the rise of the Newgate novel: genre, historical context, and the Newgate Calendar. The influences of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and William Godwin’s works are then analysed, as are their similarities to the Newgate school. Consequently, this thesis analyses whether or not they may be termed Newgate novels in their own right. The literature of the 1830s forms the core of my thesis, with the focus on works by the most popular Newgate novelists: Edward Bulwer-Lytton and William Ainsworth. Using examples from these authors this thesis establishes a comprehensive definition of what a Newgate novel is — focusing on the uses of sympathy, sensation and social protest — before moving on to look at William Thackeray’s anti-Newgate novel, Catherine. The thesis finishes by redefining the boundaries of the Newgate novel. Using Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist as a springboard, the thesis looks at the twenty-first-century works of Bernard Cornwell and Deborah Challinor to further stretch the definition of a Newgate novel; also suggesting that a sub-genre of the Newgate novel exists in the form of the transportation novel.

text: 'The Remorseless Fangs of the Law': The Newgate Novel, 1722-2012 The Newgate novel is a fascinating sub-genre of crime fiction which emerged in the 1830s as a response to contemporary issues within the social, legal and penal systems of Victorian London. This thesis is split into four distinct Parts which, using both critical research and original interventions, summarise developments in the Newgate novel from 1722-2012. The introductory section provides a foundation to this thesis by looking at the most significant contributors to the rise of the Newgate novel: genre, historical context, and the Newgate Calendar. The influences of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and William Godwin’s works are then analysed, as are their similarities to the Newgate school. Consequently, this thesis analyses whether or not they may be termed Newgate novels in their own right. The literature of the 1830s forms the core of my thesis, with the focus on works by the most popular Newgate novelists: Edward Bulwer-Lytton and William Ainsworth. Using examples from these authors this thesis establishes a comprehensive definition of what a Newgate novel is — focusing on the uses of sympathy, sensation and social protest — before moving on to look at William Thackeray’s anti-Newgate novel, Catherine. The thesis finishes by redefining the boundaries of the Newgate novel. Using Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist as a springboard, the thesis looks at the twenty-first-century works of Bernard Cornwell and Deborah Challinor to further stretch the definition of a Newgate novel; also suggesting that a sub-genre of the Newgate novel exists in the form of the transportation novel.

year: 2013

title: Visual Depth Perception via Motion Parallax by Chickens (Gallus Gallus) in an Operant Chamber

authors: Ellis, Haylee Maree

subjects: perception

abstract: There are multiple cues animals use to infer depth from the two-dimensional information that passes across the retina. Differential motion of objects across the retina, or motion parallax, has been extensively studied in humans and primates, but little information is available on avian species. This set of experiments utilised an operant chamber and computer-generated stimuli to investigate the parallax discrimination abilities of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus). The birds were able to discriminate between a single stationary and a single moving object, but performance dropped to chance, and biased responding developed when parallax stimuli were introduced. A second operant chamber that forced the animals to view stimuli from a distance also resulted in chance performance. Birds may require motion across both eyes to discriminate depth when displayed on a screen.

text: Visual Depth Perception via Motion Parallax by Chickens (Gallus Gallus) in an Operant Chamber There are multiple cues animals use to infer depth from the two-dimensional information that passes across the retina. Differential motion of objects across the retina, or motion parallax, has been extensively studied in humans and primates, but little information is available on avian species. This set of experiments utilised an operant chamber and computer-generated stimuli to investigate the parallax discrimination abilities of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus). The birds were able to discriminate between a single stationary and a single moving object, but performance dropped to chance, and biased responding developed when parallax stimuli were introduced. A second operant chamber that forced the animals to view stimuli from a distance also resulted in chance performance. Birds may require motion across both eyes to discriminate depth when displayed on a screen.

year: 2015

title: Personality and Representation in Environmental Law

authors: Daya-Winterbottom, Trevor

abstract: Jorge Vinuales from the University of Cambridge observed in his working paper on “Law and the Anthropocene” that law is founded on a series of core concepts, such as, “legal personality, representation, obligation, debt, causality or damage” (CEENRG Working Papers 2016- 4, page 49). This led him to note that a “significant problem” faced by environmental law is how to flesh out these core concepts in relation to the protection of the environment (page 53). For example, should we regard natural resources (e.g. rivers or mountains) as “subjects” of environmental law with their “own interests and capacity to act (through representation)”, or merely as the “objects” of environmental law – to be protected either “directly” as specific natural resources, or “indirectly” via the protection of the environment generally (page 53). This article interrogates these perspectives by reference to recent New Zealand developments.

text: Personality and Representation in Environmental Law Jorge Vinuales from the University of Cambridge observed in his working paper on “Law and the Anthropocene” that law is founded on a series of core concepts, such as, “legal personality, representation, obligation, debt, causality or damage” (CEENRG Working Papers 2016- 4, page 49). This led him to note that a “significant problem” faced by environmental law is how to flesh out these core concepts in relation to the protection of the environment (page 53). For example, should we regard natural resources (e.g. rivers or mountains) as “subjects” of environmental law with their “own interests and capacity to act (through representation)”, or merely as the “objects” of environmental law – to be protected either “directly” as specific natural resources, or “indirectly” via the protection of the environment generally (page 53). This article interrogates these perspectives by reference to recent New Zealand developments.

year: 2018-02-06