This paper is concerned with two fundamental phenomena in any society

Numerous studies have ascertained the diminutionary tendencies of disamenities such as solid waste landfills on real estate investments despite previous mixed conclusions. This study examines one of the four landfills in Lagos State-Olusosun landfill located in Ojota, Lagos and its estimated financial implication on the real estate market in Lagos State, Nigeria. A relational distance of 1 200m radius was established between the landfill and residential properties by which property values were measured based on consistent intervals of 300meters up to 1 200 meters in concentric rings. The study indicated within the Olusosun landfill neighbourhood, an increase in property values were evident as distance away from the landfills increased indicating that residential houses in close proximity to the landfills suffered value loss. Property appreciation relative to distance averaged 6% within the concentric rings of the landfill while the an estimated total loss on the real estate market via the landfill found to be approximately =N=2.1billion. The study recommended that if improved technology could not be utilised in the effective management of the various sanitary landfills within developed areas of the state, the current landfills in operation be closed down and relocated to the outskirts of the city to forestall a consistent appreciation in real estate investment in the state.

Cormac McCarthy’s fiction has been widely acclaimed for its unstinting exploration of the subterranean recesses of human subjectivity and its inarticulate horrors. His third novel, Child of God (1973), achieves the foregoing by tapping into Gothic and postmodern features, both of which demonstrate a corresponding concern with human subjectivity. As a literary tradition intimately intertwined with the teleological discourse of humanism, the Bildungsroman or the novel of formation can provide an optimal point of departure for participation in the contemporary debate on human subjectivity. Despite the distinct imbrication between Child of God and the Bildungsroman, a systematic study of its significance vis-à-vis the novel’s stance on human subjectivity in postmodern times has not been conducted. Accordingly, the present study stakes out a new terrain in postmodern Gothic studies by establishing a line of communication between the Gothic, postmodernism, and the tradition of the Bildungsroman based on their relationship with the discourse of humanism. The interplay reconfigures the significance of Gothic horror in the postmodern world. In particular, the current paper argues that Child of God is a postmodern parody—in accordance with Linda Hutcheon’s definition—of the Bildungsroman, which draws on subversive Gothic elements in order to make a polemic statement about the status of Man in the postmodern world. It will be demonstrated that the novel reiterates the elements of the Bildungsroman with ironic critical distance, portraying the horrid dissolution of humanist subjectivity rather than its teleological progress toward positive identity formation and social integration. It will be indicated, however, that although the protagonist edges toward posthuman monstrosity in such a way as to limn the failure of the Bildungsroman and its humanist tradition, the posthuman liminality and marginality ensuing from this disintegration are not celebrated in the novel, as its Gothicity serves to voice the consequent horrors of this dissolution.

Reading for signs of power and its function in the world of Shakespeare's plays under the light of Michel Foucault reveals to be in stark contrast from traditional notions of the operation of power. An important Renaissance critic, E. M. Tillyard, has declared that Shakespeare's plays reflect faithfully the Elizabethan world order, remaining loyal to the hierarchical concept of power and its function in Elizabethan England. Such readings engage mainly with the protagonist of the plays, revealing the various aspects in which the world of the play moves toward order and harmony. A Foucauldian reading of the plays however is able to unveil more than merely a one-dimensional reflection of power structures of the society of the time. By focusing on Foucault's notion of power relations at work in the society and also his emphasis on the marginalized aspects, this study aims to reveal how power relations in the two plays under consideration, Richard III and Macbeth, can reveal versatile experiences.

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