‘Now’, ‘now’, ‘even now’: temporal deixis and the crisis of the present in some Northern Irish poems of the Troubles

The problem of how to describe and account for the present can be identified as a particular preoccupation of poets of the so-called Northern Irish renaissance. This article examines how the temporal deictic ‘now’ functions in some well-known poems by Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley and Derek Mahon. All three poets explore how to combine the plausibility of lyric derived from an individual consciousness with the authority of narrative derived from social interactions. This article will do three related things. First, it will argue that discussing ‘now’ as a temporal deictic enables us to appreciate the full ambiguity and complexity of some poems written at the height of the Northern Irish Troubles. Second, the article will argue that these poems reveal that ‘now’ actually functions in poetry more complexly than some theorists of deixis have allowed. Finally, the article will suggest newly fruitful ways of combining literary stylistics with more conventional close reading.     

A biometric technique for assessing prehistoric freshwater mussel population dynamics (family: Unionidae) in north Texas

Biometry is useful for a suite of analyses relevant to zooarchaeology, which include analysis of mortality profiles, taphonomy, paleoecology, among other purposes. Here, size-age prediction models are developed for 10 freshwater mussel species found in north Texas to develop a method for studying paleoenvironmental conditions. Shell length is often used to evaluate the structures of modern mussel populations, but its use on paleozoological specimens is not feasible because complete shells rarely preserve. Instead, pallial line-to-lateral teeth length (PLL) and pseudocardinal teeth-to-pallial line length (PSP) are evaluated as proxy measures for shell length. Linear regression models based on PLL and PSP using modern mussels demonstrate that they are accurate proxies of shell length for multiple species from a variety of habitats. In addition, ontogenetic-age structures for a modern sample and for two late Holocene assemblages from north Texas are developed using PLL and PSP. These techniques are useful tools for evaluating past ecological conditions of freshwater mussel populations when large samples are available for study, which expands analytical potential of zooarchaeological studies of prehistoric unionid remains.     

Kites — new discoveries and a new type

The stone structures known as kites and found widely in ‘Arabia’, are one of the more intriguing archaeological traces in what are often arid and bleak landscapes. They were first reported from the air in 1927, and by 1995 — largely through interpretation of old aerial photographs — c.500 had been identified. Now (2012), remote‐sensing techniques of various kinds have produced a huge increase, to over 3000. Recent work has also extended the geographical spread of kites in ‘Arabia’, from south‐eastern Turkey and north‐western Iraq to central Yemen. Much detailed work will be required to develop and refine a typology for kites as a whole and to digest and present data from remote sensing on which specialists may build interpretations and explanations. Current tabulation and mapping, however, already reveal patterns, and the discovery of an unusual form in the desert between Damascus and Palmyra in Syria deserves special attention.     

Agency Characteristics and the Use of Executive Orders

Past scholarship has offered varying explanations for why presidents choose to use executive orders. However, to this point, much of what we know of unilateral powers does not adequately address the role the bureaucracy plays in the president's decision. This research seeks to account for bureaucratic factors as a strategic presidential consideration in the employment of such directives. I classify executive orders from 1989–2012 based on which agency or agencies they apply to, and consider the importance of various characteristics (e.g. agency ideology, level of centralization, politicization, etc.) in determining which organs of the bureaucracy presidents will direct executive orders to generally. The results provide evidence that the White House directs fewer executive orders to agencies that have a politically independent leadership structure, and this result holds across a variety of measures judging an order's impact. The results demonstrate that the type of directive is crucial in determining a president's strategic decision to use executive orders, in line with previous research, and that agency centralization is one crucial component of this strategic calculation.     

Reviews

AUSTRALIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS 1961–1965. Gordon Greenwood and Norman Harper (eds.). Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1968. Pp. vii + 503. $8.75.

VIETNAM. AN AUSTRALIAN ANALYSIS. Alan Watt. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1968. Pp. 156 + appendix, bibliography and index. $3.50.

LAOS—BUFFER STATE OR BATTLEGROUND. Hugh Toye. London, Oxford University Press, 1968. Pp. xvii + 245. $6.30.

PEACEKEEPING: INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE AND CANADIAN RESPONSE. Alastair Taylor, David Cox and J. L. Granatstein. Toronto, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1968. Pp. 211. $4.50.

INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY IN CAMBODIA, LAOS AND VIETNAM, 1947–64. D. R. Desai. Berkeley, California University Press, 1968. Pp. 336. $10.00.

ASIAN FRONTIERS. STUDIES *IN A CONTINUING PROBLEM. Alastair Lamb. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1968, for the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Pp. x + 246. $3.50.

THE INDIANIZED STATES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA. G. Coedès. Translated by Susan Brown Cowing. Edited by Walter F. Vella. Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1968. Pp. xxi + 403. $12.00.

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN MODERN JAPAN. Robert E. Ward (ed.). Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968. Pp. xii + 637. $12.50.

MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE IN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY. DOCUMENTS AND COMMENTARIES. Peter Boyce. Sydney, Sydney University Press, 1968. Pp. xii + 268. $6.50.

NATO: ISSUES AND PROSPECTS. Harold von Riekhoff. Toronto, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1967. Pp. x + 170. $3.50.

SOUTH AFRICA. A STUDY IN CONFLICT. Pierre L. van den Berghe. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1967. Pp. xii + 371. (U.S.)$2.45.

STATE SUCCESSION IN MUNICIPAL LAW AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. D. P. O'Connell. London, Cambridge University Press, 1967. Vol. I, pp. i‐cxi, 1–592, £stg.7.7.0. Vol. II, pp. i‐cxi, 1–430, £stg.6.0.0.