Bøker av David Parry

The Royal Navy's Submarine Command Course, or 'Perisher', is a unique course, training, assessing and qualifying officers for submarine command which is, itself, unique, challenging and demanding; the epitome of mission command, with no succour, referral or support in a continuously threatening environment. It is therefore essential that those 'in command' are proven to be worthy and capable of their appointment. The evolution of 'Perisher' is in recognisable periods: the earliest days, following the submarine's introduction into the Royal Navy, was an autodidactic existence with COs learning from their peers and by experimentation. By 1917 circumstances had conflated to create the Periscope School and the Periscope Course to train and qualify COs whose characteristics were now fully formed. The interwar period was a difficult time, but it produced new submarines and technological innovations just in time for the Second World War and the most intense evolutionary period for 'Perisher'. Post-1945 to 1969 experienced two evolutions: Commander Sandy Woodward's codification of the art of attacking and a shift in emphasis from purely 'periscope eye' attacking toward the development of safety and tactical prowess in students. In the 1970s-1980s, two parallel courses satisfied the demand for COs from an expanding diesel-nuclear submarine fleet using SSKs and then in 1989, an SSN. The final period, 1990-2017 continues today with an all-nuclear Perisher and a curriculum to meet a changing battlespace, new weapons and tactics. Throughout its history, 'Perisher' has shaped the submarine commanding officer and he, in return, has shaped 'Perisher'.

This rhetorical study of the persuasive practice of English Puritan preachers and writers demonstrates how they appeal to both reason and imagination in order to persuade their hearers and readers towards conversion, assurance of salvation and godly living. Examining works from a diverse range of preacher-writers such as William Perkins, Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter and John Bunyan, this book maps out continuities and contrasts in the theory and practice of persuasion.Tracing the emergence of Puritan allegory as an alternative, imaginative mode of rhetoric, it sheds new light on the paradoxical question of how allegories such as John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress came to be among the most significant contributions of Puritanism to the English literary canon, despite the suspicions of allegory and imagination that were endemic in Puritan culture. Concluding with reflections on how Milton deploys similar strategies to persuade his readers towards his idiosyncratic brand of godly faith, this book makes an original contribution to current scholarly conversations around the textual culture of Puritanism, the history of rhetoric, and the rhetorical character of theology.

The thirty-three cases in this excellent book give a unique and fascinating insight into life in the Victorian period, in Liverpool and beyond.

In this collection of surrealist prose-poetry and Dada versicles, Parry''s alter-ego Caliban muses on queer sexuality and existential seclusion from the perspective of Shakespearean Noir. Moreover, by trying to capture the dark and twisted dwarf''s metaphysical lyrics moment by moment, the author slowly deconstructs himself as a willing prisoner on the magical island of violence and desire. After all, Caliban would claim that neither Browning nor Nietzsche had fully grasped the ethics of redemption, pure transcendence, or romantic passion, which can only be found in an unadulterated selfhood.''One of the few, if not only, works of Gnostic Fantasy in modern times. An "edge" literary movement, re-evaluating received perspectives on classical works and discovering "gnosis", in the sense of a Knowledge of our human hearts. Beautiful, invigorating and strikingly lucid. Its images need weeks to fully unpack, while its disturbing implications haunt a reader''s unsettled moods'' - Daniele-Hadi Irandost FRSA, founder and curator of TEDxLambeth''It is a descent into an underworld and a return as a sweat and semen stained, dirty, ugly, angry and very empowered God'' - Charlotte Rogers, award-winning author of P is for Prostitution''Parry is particularly adept at descriptions of the tenebrous side of life. He paints numerous pictures of darkness and evil in a very persuasive manner'' - Dr Bernard Hoose, former lecturer of Moral Theology at Heythrop College, University of London''Parry''s poetry traverses inner worlds reminiscent of those of Lautréamont, Bataille and the demonologist Collin De Plancy'' - Richard Rudgley, author and Channel 4 television presenter