‘The vehicle he has chosen’: Pointing out the theatricality of Caleb Williams

This article challenges the critical view that Godwin's association with the theatre is limited to the ill-fated Antonio (1800), and argues that the theatrical world was extremely important to Godwin the writer and political reformer. It considers Caleb Williams (1794) in this theatrical context and suggests a reading of it as a ‘theatrical novel’ in the light of St. Dunstan (1790), Godwin's historical tragedy. It argues that the novel is structured in such a manner that it reflects contemporary dramatic technique, especially in its incorporation of the practice peculiar to the Georgian stage known as ‘pointing’. I will suggest that this deliberate attempt to ‘narrativize’ this performative technique in fictional prose has profound implications in terms of explaining how Godwin saw his novel interact with its reader and is consistent with the philosophy of Political Justice.     

Idées and mentalités; the case of the catholic reform movement in France

The connection between Godwin and Fénelon has traditionally been restricted to the famous and controversial moment in the first edition of Political Justice (1793) in which Godwin presents an example of the interdependence of rationality and ethical action. This paper argues, however, that Fénelon, and particularly his political and educational treatise Telemachus (1699), plays a significant role in a number of Godwin's subsequent fictional works. Employing Telemachus to explore the theories of education presented by Godwin in the various editions of Political Justice and The Enquirer (1797), this paper explores the manner in which Godwin's version of the Enlightenment transcendence of pedagogical power comes up against its limits. Reading this issue in relation to Godwin's argument, in ‘Of Choice in Reading’, that literature remains outside of socio-ethical corruption, three of Godwin's major novels are shown to demonstrate that Telemachus provides the chance for meta-textual moments in which the appeal to reason (the reader's rational capacity or ‘private judgement’) is at once reflected upon and produced. Reading educational theories and problems into Godwin's major fiction in this fashion helps to clarify aspects of the Godwinian (or ‘Jacobin’) novel.     

Politics of Immortality: Hobbes on “Humane and Divine Politiques”

Hobbes anticipates many important features of liberalism, including rights, the sovereign state, social contract and constitutionalism. Yet in his insistence that the sovereign will have final authority in matters of faith he appears to repudiate what we have come to consider the core liberal assumptions regarding separation of church and state. In this article, I argue that Hobbes takes this approach because of the political challenge posed by immortality (the promise of eternal rewards and the threat of eternal torment and damnation after death). Hobbes regards immortality as one of the most important factors that transform a religion from a means to strengthen the sovereign's authority, a “humane politiques,” to a “Divine politiques,” where others come to exercise countervailing claims on subjects' loyalty. Because immortality presents such a profound challenge to Hobbes' political remedy founded on the judicious use of fear, he adopts a twofold strategy to moderate its political influence. The first is a redefinition of who shall speak and what shall be said about immortality. The second strategy is to elevate the demands of this-world, by promising an eternal peace that will ensure a commodious life.     

Malthus,gender and the demarcation of ‘dangerous’ bodies in 1996 US welfare reform

This article argues that populationism as a gendered narrative provides a crucial rhetorical architecture for welfare reform debates in the USA during the 1990s. Populationism, which Joni Seager defines as ‘the dogma and the rhetoric of population alarmism and population control,’ subtly legitimized efforts to control and marginalize poor women's bodies in the context of welfare reform. The populationism underlying welfare reform hinges on a deep fear of engulfing social chaos if ‘we’ do not check the fertility of poor women, and particularly women of color. This article historically situates contemporary welfare politics by tracing in some detail how Malthus' original writings on population were constitutively linked to debates about ‘poor relief’ in early nineteenth century England. Exploring the gendered linkages between Malthus and social welfare policy in the 1800s allows us to understand how Malthus continues to haunt discourses about social welfare in the 1990s and beyond, with direct consequences for poor women and particularly poor women of color.     

‘Home is home be it never so homely’: Reading Mid-Victorian Slum Interiors

This article considers representations of the ‘slum interior’ as complex cultural narratives produced by urban investigators of the mid-Victorian period, including Henry Mayhew, Thomas Beames and George Godwin. Much existing scholarship on nineteenth-century slum narratives has tended to emphasize the use of sensationalism, hyperbole and tropes of colonialism to describe the dire living conditions of the very poor, a feature particularly apparent in the works of the 1880s. By focusing on writings from the period 1849–1865, this article pays attention to earlier conceptions and projections of slum interiors which were conceived as not altogether abject or ‘other’, but as ambivalent spaces that both defied, and invoked, Victorian forms of domesticity. Through close readings of their textual and visual form, I show how the paradoxical and ambivalent spaces of the slum interior reconfigure in meaningful ways the conventional relations of domestic architecture, inhabitants and their objects.     

中国人口地理学研究的回顾与展望

中国人口地理学直至20世纪30年代前后才形成。新中国成立后,开始得以发展。自党的十一届三中全会后,因贯彻改革开放的方针,促进了人口地理学的蓬勃发展。文章最后,展望了人口地理学的发展趋势。     

高句丽人口问题研究

本文对高句丽人口数量的发展演变和丧失王统后的高句丽人口流向问题进行了分析考察 ,认为其人口初创时不多 ,三国曹魏时明确记载是 3万户 ,南北朝时为 9万户 ,盛唐之际则达 6 9 7万户。其人口在持续增长中 ,加入了汉、扶余、沃沮、秽貊、百济、等各部族或民族的众多人口。当高氏王统丧失后 ,人口渐次迁移 ,流入中原和东北的渤海、突厥、新罗等政权的辖区中。     

加拿大人回发展与人回迁移

本文简析加拿大人口发展与人口迁移过程,以及人口迁移对加拿大人口增长、种族、语言构成、人口分布及未来人口增长的影响。     

Population–development debate revisited: evidence from Asian countries

This study revisits an on-going debate regarding the nature of relationship between population growth and economic development. It has selected 12 Asian countries as a case study to examine the possible existence of a significant relationship between population expansion and economic development in these countries. Empirical findings indicated that, contrary to popular beliefs, there is a significant positive relationship between the variables. This suggests that population growth has been beneficial to economic development in the region and not detrimental.     

城市人口地图编制指导思想、原则及指标体系

城市人口地图是以城市为基本制图单元的人口地图。编制城市人口地图应遵循以下指导思想:城市是国家经济力量的主体.是独特的经济地域;城市是国家高知识密集地区和精神文明的重要载体;城市对提高人口文化素质具有重要战略意义。城市人口地图的编制原则为以下几方面:科学性、实用性与艺术性相结合;提高地图容量,增加载负量,突出差别;疏密适中,取舍有度;图面的配置合理,色彩协调;精益求精、一丝不苟。城市人口地图编制中应建立科学的指标体系。     

左江流域人口发展与规划

左江流域人口具有增长快、市镇人口比重低、少数民族比重大、劳动力资源丰富,以体力劳动者为主、文化素质较低等特征。目前控制人口的关键是控制好总生育率,本文通过对总和生育率的不同取值,对人口发展趋势作了四个方案的预测,并选取了既切实可行又比较理想的方案,提出了实现人口规划目标的对策建议。     

我国目前面临的人口安全风险及应对措施

本文依据人口安全的基本内涵及其重要性,分析了目前我国人口安全面临的风险,并结合中共中央、国务院《关于全面加强人口和计划生育工作统筹解决人口问题的决定》精神,就如何应对我国人口安全风险进行了相应的对策探讨。     

关于逆城市化的性质

逆城市化的现象自六十年代以来在发达国家相继出现。关于这一现象的性质、其结果对世界城市化进程的基本趋势的影响等问题,仍有各抒己见的认识。本文通过对目前关于逆城市化现象的一些主要认识倾向的评析,试图使该现象的基本特征、性质、趋势清晰化,以有助于更好地认识当前世界城市化进程的基本规律性,同时也为城市化的实践提供理论参考。     

Publications Received

A system for classifying Scottish peatlands based on a primary threefold division into confined, partly confined and unconfined mires is presented and discussed. The system brings together the different approaches to peatland classification employed, and its inherent flexibility accommodates geographical variations and specific user requirements.