Was erwarteten die Schriftsteller vom Kommunismus? Was verstanden sie überhaupt unter dem Begriff Kommunismus, der, wie wir heute wissen, ein weites Feld widerstreitender Machte und Ideale umgreift? Stimmten die Erwartungen mit der Dogmatik und der Realität des Kommunismus überein?
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Keywords: Lucian Blaga; Gaston Bachelard; Image; Metaphor; Fantastic.
In this essay we explore an aspect of hermeneutics situated at the intersection of the Imaginary and of deep rhetoric and that make up what Gilbert Durand calls the “Transcendental Fantastic”. We thus hope to sketch out a prolegomenon to an approach capable of illuminating in depth the creation of imaginary worlds, whether these belong to the realms of the Fantastic or of Fantasy. In the first part we take into consideration the kind of metaphor proposed by Lucian Blaga and by Bachelard, as well as the role of the image, in the Transcendental Fantastic. In the second part we analyse an extract drawn from the poetry of Lucian Blaga. In the third part we examine specific components of a “transcendental fantastic”.
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Keywords: the Balkans; War; Cinema; Théo Angélopoulos; Emir Kusturica; Ademir Kenović.
The article sets out to examine dominant themes and affinities in the aesthetics of the contemporary cinema of the Balkan countries. The themes and motifs of films made by producers in this region marred by a bloody past encapsulate the image of the Balkans, its history and its memory. War cinema, or better still, ‘the wars of the cinema’, could be the subtitle of Balkan cinematography in the 1990s and at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The study starts by looking at the major pictures of Balkan cinematography, moving across a triad of the most appreciated producers in international film industry: Théo Angélopoulos (Greece), Emir Kusturica (Serbia) and Ademir Kenovic (Bosnia).
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Keywords: Critical Dystopias; Post-apocalyptic Societies; “Maze Ordeal”; The Giver; The City of Ember; The Hunger Games; The Maze Runner; Divergent; Aeon Flux.
Contemporary series of books and movies for teenagers and young adults, such as The Giver by Lois Lowry, The City of Ember by Jeanne duPrau, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Divergent by Veronica Roth or Aeon Flux, imagine a dystopian future in which small communities of survivors from a global (artificial) catastrophe are subject to monstrous genetic, social and mental experiments. Conceived on the pattern of the ancient myth of the Minotaur in Crete, they present the trials that young heroes have to pass in order to survive. The labyrinth is a metaphor for the future dystopian societies; survival from its ordeal, as well as the destruction of the occlusive system, offer a new hope for these “critical dystopias.”
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Keywords: Dystopia; Apocalypse; Posthumanism; Mutation; Margaret Atwood; T. J. Bass; David Bunch; Gordon R. Dickson; Karel Čapek.
After the Second World War and after the discovery of the atomic bomb, apocalyptic fears have intensified in modern literature, giving rise to a series of antiutopian writings, in which human civilization as we know it comes to an end in the wake of various catastrophes, such as: environmental, climatic, astronomical, epidemic, and human induced (wars, overpopulation, genetic mutations, etc.). Authors of antiutopias often populate their post-apocalyptic worlds with characters or groups of survivors that suffer anthropological, moral, or spiritual mutations. Technological and genetic manipulations engender robotic (Karel Čapek) or mechanized individuals (David Bunch) and decerebrated (T. J. Bass) or post-human mutants (Margaret Atwood). In these antiutopias, post-humanity is usually not only the heir but also a witness to the extinction of the human race, providing a testimony for the “last man on earth.”
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Keywords: Exil roumain de Paris; Cénacle de Neuilly; Mircea Eliade; Musée de l’Exil Roumain de Craïova; Romanian exiles in Paris; Neuilly Cenacle; Mircea Eliade; Museum of Romanian exile in Craïova;
Le mot « exil » a une multitude de connotations. Je choisis de ne m’occuper que de « l’exil sans retour » des intellectuels roumains dans la période 1945-1989. Il est surprenant de constater le nombre de Roumains qui ont eu une contribution importante à l’édification de la science et de la culture françaises. J’évoque surtout deux grandes personnalités de l’exil roumain : Leonid Mamaliga et Vintilă Horia. La dimension européenne de l’exil roumain va retentir inévitablement sur la construction de l’Europe. // “Exile” is a word that has multiple connotations. I have chosen to deal only with the Romanian intellectuals’ “exile of no return” that took place between 1945 and 1989. As a matter of fact, the number of Romanians who heavily contributed to French science and culture is surprisingly high. I am recalling here the memory of two major figures among Romanian exiles: Leonid Mamaliga and Vintilă Horia. Eventually, the European dimension of Romanian exiles will inevitably impact the construction of Europe.
More...Keywords: intertexte; mythe; concept; symbolisme belge; Maurice Maeterlinck;
L’œuvre dramatique du Prix Nobel Maurice Maeterlinck a su créer un univers mythopoétique original se nourrissant d’un grand nombre d’intertextes mythologiques, notamment issus de l’Antiquité Greco-Romaine. L’opposition archaïque entre LE DEDANS et LE DEHORS se trouve au centre du conflit entre les concepts de base MORT et VIE. L’étude comparée de cette opposition archaïque de La Princesse Maleine (1889) à L’Intérieur (1894) atteste une lente neutralisation de la mythologie infernale de claustration symbolisant le monde environnant par une sémantisation positive de l’au-delà ce qui va de pair avec la découverte de la mystique transcendentale élaborée dans l’esthétique maeterlinckienne greffée sur le substrat mythique et la philosophie schopenhauerienne.
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Keywords: Hermann Lenz;conservatism;resistance;memory; Habsburg myth;Holocaust
The conservative tone in the works of Hermann Lenz, which caused a marginalization of the author in German literature, is treated nowadays more and more as a sign of opposition to the main tendencies of literature in the sixties and seventies. The poetics of Lenz, without doubt inspiring in many ways, nevertheless contains a severe danger. The exaggerated cult of nostalgic memory is sweeping away historical facts. This paper wants to show the disguise, which is necessary for Lenz to be able to protect his Habsburg- myth from the crimes of the Holocaust. The analysis is based on the triptych Das doppelte Gesicht published in 1949.
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Keywords: Upper Silesia; Mining; Coal; Carbon Myth; Imagination; Image; Symbolism; Myth;
Upper Silesia is a region that still defines itself (despite the ongoing closure of mines) using the symbolism of coal. In the article, I analyze this symbolism, indicating four levels on which, in my opinion, this symbolism is manifested. These levels –stereotypical, idealizing, conjectural, and mystical – combine in the carbon myth that constitutes the identity of the region and its inhabitants.
More...Keywords: inter-semiotic translation; literature representation; videogames; fantasy novel; thriller
Large-scale development of video games can be considered as a somewhat new phenomena, even though video games have been gaining more and more adepts during the last few decades. Since the very beginning, videogames have sought for inspiration in literature, with games such as “The Hobbit” released in 1986 on Amstrad CPC. Back then, it was a raw media that didn’t offer much possibilities to the players as well as to the developers. Today, millions of people – not to say billions – play videogames in the entire world. Technologies related to videogames development are more and more complex. Now, the player doesn’t only have to complete simple objectives like with arcade cabinets back in the 1970’s. He can control complex characters and have them evolve in rich environments. Videogame universes are often based on literature, and thus become a representation of literature that has to consider every aspect of the works it interprets: graphisms (sets and characters), music, gameplay, but also language, the main area of interest for translators. We look into the games ABC Murders and The Witcher III in order to examine different aspects of books transcribed in videogames and their inter-semiotic and interlingual translation.
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Keywords: Commedia dell’arte;comic opera;libretto;music score;veristic;
Inspired by Dante’s Divina Commedia, Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi is a real dramma giocoso presenting a range of emotions dominated – da capo al fine – by the satirizing spirit of the ever young commedia dell’arte. Gianni Schicchi completes Puccini’s Triptych, bringing in the musical ambiance dissonant harmonies, familiar with Puccini’s style combined with lyrical passages which represent reminiscences of a Rossinian bel canto style. Within its pages one can find a genuine waste of inventiveness and imagination. Having an extremely fast movement pulsation, its structures have a simple melodics compared with the other two works in the Triptych. (Il Tabaro and Suor Angelica). As far as the scenic exposure is concerned, one can undoubtedly notice the gene of the famous commedia dell' arte due to the extremely refreshing atmosphere and robust humour that is established from the very beginning of the opera. What Puccini manages to create brilliantly is the marriage between the theatrical elements taken from the commedia dell’arte and the music specific to the 20th century. The juxtaposition of the comic with the solemn is the dominant note of the entire work. Puccini succeeds in creating a new profile of the giocoso drama drafted on the musical architecture of the comic work of the 20th century.
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Keywords: witch; feminism; emancipation; identity;stereotype;
There are many publications on witches both in children’s literature and in scholarly essays. Mona Chollet’s Witches, the Undefeated Power of Women explains that the word has become an emblem of feminism. This article offers a comparative analysis of several recent novels, based on the latter’s thesis, whose aim is to examine how the witch character is constructed, how the authors treat historical data (healer witch, witch-hunt, stake, etc.) and how they renew this character regarding certain issues (identity, transmission, emancipation, etc.). Are the witches of children’s novels carrying feminist demands for young readers?
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Keywords: Communism; transnational memory, literature of migrants; Herta Müller; Cătălin Dorian Florescu;
Im Rahmen theoretischer Auseinandersetzungen zum transnationalen Gedächtnis untersucht der folgende Artikel am Beispiel zweier deutschsprachiger Schriftsteller aus Rumänien, wie literarische Darstellungen des Kommunismus Grenzen überschreiten und Kontraste zwischen West und Ost überwinden. Trotz der gemeinsamen Erinnerungsräume des Kommunismus, die die Nobelpreisträgerin Herta Müller und der Schweizer Buchpreisträger Cătălin Dorian Florescu hervorrufen, sind unter Berücksichtigung ihrer thematischen Schwerpunkte und ihrer Schreibstrategie Kontraste zu vermerken, die die Komplexität der transnationalen Erinnerungsformen auslegen.
More...Keywords: performance; dance; painting; hybrid; Gaëlle Bourges;
This article, born of a reflection initiated at the research seminar conducted by Patrice Pavis, questions the forms of multidisciplinary plays. How can dancing seize painting and enrich the picture with currents meanings? Dancers, like Joseph Nadj or Trisha Brown, used to draw during the show. Sometimes, choreographers draw their inspiration from a canvas of the past that echoes the present. This is the case of Gaëlle Bourges whose play we are going to discuss here: "Conjurer la peur", which evokes a fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
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Keywords: andragogy; Polish-German andragogy; Polish research in adult education
The article presents the Author's memories of Professor Olga Czerniawska, an outstanding Polish researcher of andragogic problems, associated with the University of Lodz. Memories are woven into the story of the Author's personal experiences concerning numerous stays in Poland, related to andragogical conferences but also the creation of a common Polish-German scientific ground of understanding. Artykuł przedstawia wspomnienia Autora, dotyczące postaci Profesor Olgi Czerniawskiej związanej z Uniwersytetem Łódzkim wybitnej polskiej badaczki problemów andragogicznych. Wspomnienia wplatane są w opowieść o doświadczeniach osobistych Autora do-tyczących licznych pobytów w Polsce, związanych z konferencjami andragogicznymi ale także tworzeniem wspólnej polsko-niemieckiej płaszczyzny porozumienia naukowego.
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Keywords: love; evil; subject; Nietzsche;
The Darkness of Love. This text defends the idea of the philosophical evil as opposed to purely psychological and/or sociological evil. Philosophical evil is an evil that forces action and reflection in all matters. Love, in the contemporary world, is a victim of this evil and it has been plunged into darkness by mediatizing approaches that drive us to despair. The objective here is to give substance to the concept of love by enlightening it again and taking it out of the vision that is either too relativist or too absolutist in which it has been confined.
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Keywords: Romanian philosophy; philosophical system; Maiorescu; Conta; Blaga; Noica; Surdu;
In the history of Romanian philosophy, philosophical systems and projects first appeared in the second half of the 19th century. In the first part of this paper, I will try to show that the general context of Western philosophy at that time was no longer favourable to this kind of philosophizing, and then to show that this negative attitude was not a major impediment, as at the same time many authors argued that the systematic ideal is part of the very nature of philosophical endeavour. In the second part of the paper, I will very briefly review the main philosophical systems published in Romania against this background, arguing that they should not be seen as anachronistic but, following an idea of Collingwood, they must be understood as expressions of the very nature of the philosophical way of thinking.
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Keywords: French Revolution; Czech Countries; Historiography; Fiction; Feminism;
In our article we have attempted a reconstruction of female part in the French revolution in the Czech background based on original Czech scientific and literal reflections of the revolution published between the 1850s´ and present. Most of the Czech works – as well as foreign ones – reflect the dichotomy of sense (construct of masculinity) vs. emotions (construct of femininity), as well as a persevering conviction conceived at the beginning of the 19th century: a woman belongs to the private space and works for the family, while the „public welfare“, the man‘s territory, remains out of reach (restricted) for her. This opinion residues even in works from the 60s´ and 70s´ of the 20th century. Only the latest works have brought to attention the fact that excluding women from political life in the crucial phase of the revolution could not have been absolute and that its reflection is a key moment not only in the history of feminism, but the history of gender relations in general.
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