J. O'Brien – författare

'Eliot to Derrida is a book which should be read by all students contemplating enrolment for a university course in modern English or European literary studies.' - Times Higher Educational Supplement This study offers the first extensive critique of the problematic representation of women in the fiction of Milan Kundera, in particular the apparent reliance on simplistic binary oppositions in the representation of women (beauty/ugliness, Madonna/whore, free will/fate, and others). Without waving away these concerns, this study goes on to show that a feminist criticism attentive to poststructural theoretical perspectives is able to engage Kundera's work most fully. While remaining ambivalent about a number of Kundera's representational strategies, this consideration of Kundera suggest that Kundera exposes the very narrative practices and representational strategies that he seems to proliferate himself on the misogynist surface of these expansive novels. Using an eclectic perspective that draws on the insights and methodology of feminist criticism, poststructuralism, and deconstruction, O'Brien argues that the character of Sabina herself offers the most effective paradigm for reading Kundera's work. Suggesting a dual vision of surface/depth, this understanding of Kundera accounts for the simplistic surfaces and ambiguous depths, both of which pose serious problems for the feminist reader.

Terramechanics is the broad study of terrain-vehicle systems. In this book, all physical processes associated with the static and dynamic interplay between powered and tooled wheeled or tracked vehicles with natural and man-made surfaces are analysed and mathematically modelled. The focus of the book is the technical problem of predicting the performance of a specific vehicle terrain system in the design and operation stages, looking at vehicle specifications, terrain types and uses, and traction performance parameters such as pull and speed. Special features of this book include: * a comprehensive treatment of pneumatic and flexible tyred systems * the presentation of a new method for predicting the performance of track-type vehicles based on small-scale machine model studies * an overview of tyred or tracked vehicles running on weak soil or snow.