1999 Lectures And Memoirs

Volume 105 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains 11 British Academy lectures and 15 obituaries of Fellows of the British Academy.

Volume 105 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains 11 British Academy lectures and 15 obituaries of Fellows of the British Academy.

Volume 111 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains 12 British Academy lectures and 17 obituaries of Fellows of the British Academy.

What is the relationship between poetry and power? Should poetry be considered a mode of authority or an impotent medium? And why is it that the modern poets most commonly regarded as authoritative are precisely those whose works wrestle with a sense of artistic inadequacy? Such questions lie at the heart of this study, prompting fresh insights into three of the most important poets of recent decades: Robert Lowell, Geoffrey Hill and Seamus Heaney. Through attentive close reading and the tracing of dominant motifs in each writer’s works, James shows how their responsiveness to matters of political and cultural import lends weight to the idea of poetry as authoritative utterance, as a medium for speaking of and to the world in a persuasive, memorable manner. And yet, as James demonstrates, each poet is exercised by an awareness of his own cultural marginality, even by a sense of the limitations and liabilities of language itself.

In 1914, taxation was about 10 per cent of GNP; by 1979, taxes had risen to almost half of the total national income, and contributed to the rise of Thatcher. Martin Daunton continues the story begun in Trusting Leviathan, offering an analysis of the politics of acceptance of huge tax rises after the First World War and asks why it did not provoke the same levels of discontent in Britain as it did on the continent. He further questions why acceptance gave way to hostility at the end of this period. Daunton views taxes as the central driving force for equity or efficiency. As such he provides a detailed discussion of their potential in providing revenue for the state, and their use in shaping the social structure and influencing economic growth. Just Taxes places taxation in its proper place, at the centre of modern British history.

Medici Gardens challenges the common assumption that such gardens as Trebbio, Cafaggiolo, Careggi, and Fiesole were the products of an established design practice whereby one client commissioned one architect or artist. The book suggests that in the case of the gardens in Florence garden making preceded its theoretical articulation.

This is the second volume of history of the University of Manchester since 1951. It spans 17 critical years in which public funding was contracting, student grants were diminishing, instructions from the government and the University Grants Commission were multiplying and universities feared for their reputations in the public eye. It provides a frank account of the University's struggle against these difficulties and its efforts to prove the value of university education to society and the economy. The volume describes and analyses not only academic developments and changes in the structure and finances of the University, but the opinions and social and political lives of the staff and their students as well. feminism, free speech, ethical investment, academic freedom and the quest for efficient management. The author draws on offical records, staff and student newspapers and personal interviews with people who experienced the University's very different ways. With its wide range of academic interests and large student population, the University of Manchester was the biggest unitary university in the country and its history illustrates the problems faced by almost all British universities. 1951-73, should appeal to past and present staff of the University and its alumni and to anyone interested in the debates surrounding higher education in the late 20th century.