title: Jean Rhys writing back from 'The Other Side, Always'

authors: Walford, Amy

subjects: Jean Rhys

abstract: In her postcolonial masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys declared that ‘There is always the other side, always’. Published in 1966, Wide Sargasso Sea wrote back to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre by rewriting the character of Bertha Mason. As the mad Creole antagonist trapped in Rochester’s attic, Brontë’s depiction of Bertha was filled with descriptions of savagery and bestial lunacy. Bertha was pushed to the margins of Jane Eyre, completely voiceless within the narrative of her racialised, sexualised madness. Born in Dominica in 1890, Rhys felt a deep sympathy for Brontë’s madwoman from her first reading of Jane Eyre as a child. Her life as a Creole outsider in England strengthened this connection, as Rhys became more and more like Bertha through her own experiences as a similarly isolated, racialised woman, whilst writing Quartet (1928), Voyage in the Dark (1934), and Good Morning, Midnight (1939). In this thesis I argue that Rhys drew from her experiences of marginalisation, precarity and prejudice to illustrate a possible ‘other side’ of the colonial and patriarchal attitudes that formed Brontë’s madwoman, and that she did so long before the 1960s.
Previously, Rhys’s writing back to Brontë has been examined solely within the connections between Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre. Because of this limited scope of analysis, it is widely thought by academics and Rhys’s biographers that Brontë’s influence upon Rhys began and ended with Wide Sargasso Sea. However, this resistive act of writing back in fact began far sooner than previously recognised. My thesis argues that Rhys began her postcolonial and feminist criticism of Brontë and Brontë’s representation of the West Indies, in her earliest modernist works. 
Analysing a selection of Rhys’s fiction, this thesis reads the Rhysian woman as a modern manifestation of Bertha. Tracing Rhys’s postcolonial inversion of Brontë’s Eurocentric gothic, this thesis also examines the gothic modes and motifs within Rhys’s modernist fiction. The echo of two of Brontë’s other marginalised women, Céline Varens and Ginevra Fanshawe of Jane Eyre and Villette, are also read within Rhys’s female characters. Like Bertha, these minor protagonists closely resembled Rhys’s experiences as a mistress and demi-mondaine, and she was able to rewrite Brontë’s contemptuous representation of Céline and Ginevra with the same lens of sympathy that she applied to the Creole lunatic. With attention to both textual evidence and the author’s contextual experiences, this thesis traces how Rhys was continually motivated and influenced by Brontë’s representations to write back from the ‘other side, always’.

text: Jean Rhys writing back from 'The Other Side, Always' In her postcolonial masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys declared that ‘There is always the other side, always’. Published in 1966, Wide Sargasso Sea wrote back to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre by rewriting the character of Bertha Mason. As the mad Creole antagonist trapped in Rochester’s attic, Brontë’s depiction of Bertha was filled with descriptions of savagery and bestial lunacy. Bertha was pushed to the margins of Jane Eyre, completely voiceless within the narrative of her racialised, sexualised madness. Born in Dominica in 1890, Rhys felt a deep sympathy for Brontë’s madwoman from her first reading of Jane Eyre as a child. Her life as a Creole outsider in England strengthened this connection, as Rhys became more and more like Bertha through her own experiences as a similarly isolated, racialised woman, whilst writing Quartet (1928), Voyage in the Dark (1934), and Good Morning, Midnight (1939). In this thesis I argue that Rhys drew from her experiences of marginalisation, precarity and prejudice to illustrate a possible ‘other side’ of the colonial and patriarchal attitudes that formed Brontë’s madwoman, and that she did so long before the 1960s.
Previously, Rhys’s writing back to Brontë has been examined solely within the connections between Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre. Because of this limited scope of analysis, it is widely thought by academics and Rhys’s biographers that Brontë’s influence upon Rhys began and ended with Wide Sargasso Sea. However, this resistive act of writing back in fact began far sooner than previously recognised. My thesis argues that Rhys began her postcolonial and feminist criticism of Brontë and Brontë’s representation of the West Indies, in her earliest modernist works. 
Analysing a selection of Rhys’s fiction, this thesis reads the Rhysian woman as a modern manifestation of Bertha. Tracing Rhys’s postcolonial inversion of Brontë’s Eurocentric gothic, this thesis also examines the gothic modes and motifs within Rhys’s modernist fiction. The echo of two of Brontë’s other marginalised women, Céline Varens and Ginevra Fanshawe of Jane Eyre and Villette, are also read within Rhys’s female characters. Like Bertha, these minor protagonists closely resembled Rhys’s experiences as a mistress and demi-mondaine, and she was able to rewrite Brontë’s contemptuous representation of Céline and Ginevra with the same lens of sympathy that she applied to the Creole lunatic. With attention to both textual evidence and the author’s contextual experiences, this thesis traces how Rhys was continually motivated and influenced by Brontë’s representations to write back from the ‘other side, always’.

year: 2022

title: Navigation-by-music for pedestrians: an initial prototype and evaluation

authors: Jones, Matt

subjects: computer science

abstract: Digital mobile music devices are phenomenally popular. The devices are becoming increasingly powerful with sophisticated interaction controls, powerful processors, vast onboard storage and network connectivity. While there are ‘obvious’ ways to exploit these advanced capabilities (such as wireless music download), here we consider a rather different application—pedestrian navigation. We report on a system (ONTRACK) that aims to guide listeners to their destinations by continuously adapting the spatial qualities of the music they are enjoying. Our field-trials indicate that even with a low-fidelity realisation of the concept, users can quite effectively navigate complicated routes.

text: Navigation-by-music for pedestrians: an initial prototype and evaluation Digital mobile music devices are phenomenally popular. The devices are becoming increasingly powerful with sophisticated interaction controls, powerful processors, vast onboard storage and network connectivity. While there are ‘obvious’ ways to exploit these advanced capabilities (such as wireless music download), here we consider a rather different application—pedestrian navigation. We report on a system (ONTRACK) that aims to guide listeners to their destinations by continuously adapting the spatial qualities of the music they are enjoying. Our field-trials indicate that even with a low-fidelity realisation of the concept, users can quite effectively navigate complicated routes.

year: 2006

title: The Long Bay Restaurant site, R10/1374: Volume 1, the archaeology (HNZPTA authorities 2015/19 and 2016/81): Report to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and Auckland Council

authors: Campbell, M

abstract: Auckland Council had proposed refurbishing the Long Bay Restaurant at Long Bay Regional Park (Lot 2 DP 54616), amounting to a near full rebuild of the structure apart from the in situ foundations. Council began the project in mid-2013 with the partial demolition of the existing structure and sawing of the concrete floor slab to install new utilities. Following the discovery of human remains beneath the floor slab on 2 July 2013, work was halted. The remains were inspected by the New Zealand Police who confirmed that they were pre-European kōiwi tangata. An assessment of the site was then undertaken by Beatrice Hudson of ArchOs Archaeology (Hudson 2013) and the find was recorded as site R10/1374 in the New Zealand Archaeological Association (NZAA) Site Recording Scheme (SRS) (this site number applies to any other archaeological features associated with the wider area). Auckland Council applied to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, HNZPT) for an archaeological authority under section 18 of the Historic Places Act 1993 to undertake archaeological test excavations to investigate the nature, extent and condition of the site, and how it would be affected by the proposed development project. Authority 2014/506 was granted on 28 November 2013 and the investigation was carried out on the 20th and 21st of January 2014 (Campbell et al. 2014) (the 2014 excavation is summarised in Chapter 3).

Auckland Council then applied to HNZPT for an authority under section 44 of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 to modify or destroy any further material found during the refurbishment project, including associated car parks and footpaths. Authority 2015/19 was granted on 7 August 2014 and works resumed. On 6 November 2014 further kōiwi were found within the project footprint and work once again ceased. 

Following extensive consultation with mana whenua and HNZPT, Auckland Council determined that the refurbishment would continue but it was agreed that the entire footprint of the development would be cleared archaeologically in order to provide assurance that no further kōiwi would remain within the project area. As the scope of the archaeological investigation had changed, a new archaeological authority, superseding authority 2015/19, was required and a full archaeological assessment of efects was also required in support of the authority application (Campbell and Hudson 2015). Authority 2016/81 was granted by HNZPT on 25 August 2015. This report fulfils the conditions of both authority 2015/19 and 2016/81.

Excavation began on 5 October 2015 with site clearance and removal of the concrete pad but not the ground beam foundations, while full excavation commenced on 12 October under the direction of Matthew Campbell (Excavation Director, CFG Heritage) and Beatrice Hudson (Osteologist, ArchOs Archaeology). Excavation continued until 3 November, by which stage kōiwi of a further 10 individuals had been found, bringing the total to 12. Following an onsite hui on 4 November between representatives of mana whenua, HNZPT, Auckland Council and the excavation team, the excavation was halted but mana whenua requested that the 3 possible burials that had been located but not excavated be lifted, and on 9 November the site was shut down. At a second on site hui on 9 December Auckland Council announced that they had resolved to cancel the restaurant project, but mana whenua expressed a desire that the 13 x 12 m excavation area opened up at the time be excavated to a sterile layer to lift all kōiwi. Excavation resumed on 18 January 2016 and continued until 4 March, when all kōiwi and archaeological deposits and features had been excavated.

text: The Long Bay Restaurant site, R10/1374: Volume 1, the archaeology (HNZPTA authorities 2015/19 and 2016/81): Report to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and Auckland Council Auckland Council had proposed refurbishing the Long Bay Restaurant at Long Bay Regional Park (Lot 2 DP 54616), amounting to a near full rebuild of the structure apart from the in situ foundations. Council began the project in mid-2013 with the partial demolition of the existing structure and sawing of the concrete floor slab to install new utilities. Following the discovery of human remains beneath the floor slab on 2 July 2013, work was halted. The remains were inspected by the New Zealand Police who confirmed that they were pre-European kōiwi tangata. An assessment of the site was then undertaken by Beatrice Hudson of ArchOs Archaeology (Hudson 2013) and the find was recorded as site R10/1374 in the New Zealand Archaeological Association (NZAA) Site Recording Scheme (SRS) (this site number applies to any other archaeological features associated with the wider area). Auckland Council applied to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, HNZPT) for an archaeological authority under section 18 of the Historic Places Act 1993 to undertake archaeological test excavations to investigate the nature, extent and condition of the site, and how it would be affected by the proposed development project. Authority 2014/506 was granted on 28 November 2013 and the investigation was carried out on the 20th and 21st of January 2014 (Campbell et al. 2014) (the 2014 excavation is summarised in Chapter 3).

Auckland Council then applied to HNZPT for an authority under section 44 of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 to modify or destroy any further material found during the refurbishment project, including associated car parks and footpaths. Authority 2015/19 was granted on 7 August 2014 and works resumed. On 6 November 2014 further kōiwi were found within the project footprint and work once again ceased. 

Following extensive consultation with mana whenua and HNZPT, Auckland Council determined that the refurbishment would continue but it was agreed that the entire footprint of the development would be cleared archaeologically in order to provide assurance that no further kōiwi would remain within the project area. As the scope of the archaeological investigation had changed, a new archaeological authority, superseding authority 2015/19, was required and a full archaeological assessment of efects was also required in support of the authority application (Campbell and Hudson 2015). Authority 2016/81 was granted by HNZPT on 25 August 2015. This report fulfils the conditions of both authority 2015/19 and 2016/81.

Excavation began on 5 October 2015 with site clearance and removal of the concrete pad but not the ground beam foundations, while full excavation commenced on 12 October under the direction of Matthew Campbell (Excavation Director, CFG Heritage) and Beatrice Hudson (Osteologist, ArchOs Archaeology). Excavation continued until 3 November, by which stage kōiwi of a further 10 individuals had been found, bringing the total to 12. Following an onsite hui on 4 November between representatives of mana whenua, HNZPT, Auckland Council and the excavation team, the excavation was halted but mana whenua requested that the 3 possible burials that had been located but not excavated be lifted, and on 9 November the site was shut down. At a second on site hui on 9 December Auckland Council announced that they had resolved to cancel the restaurant project, but mana whenua expressed a desire that the 13 x 12 m excavation area opened up at the time be excavated to a sterile layer to lift all kōiwi. Excavation resumed on 18 January 2016 and continued until 4 March, when all kōiwi and archaeological deposits and features had been excavated.

year: 2019