Abbreviation list
Lista abrevierilor
Keywords: abbreviations
Abbreviation list of works and periodicals
More...Keywords: abbreviations
Abbreviation list of works and periodicals
More...Keywords: language in politics; language use in politics; emotionalising; textlinguistics; entertainment function; SPD;
The article takes a glance at emotionalising linguistic usage on election posters. For this analysis, posters of the SPD campaigns for the German federal elections of 1998, 2002 and 2005 have been selected. Here one finds positive and negative emotionalising, but also contrasting of both. Before the first electoral victory of Gerhard Schröder in 1998 e.g., negative emotionalising against the political opponent dominated. The linguistic devices used range from ideological vocabulary to metaphor. From the viewpoint of textlinguistics, the entertainment function is relevant on election posters.
More...Keywords: Austro-Hungarian monarchy; textbooks; readers; exercise books; German as a foreign language; German as a mother tongue; the number of class hours;
During the reign of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878-1918) German language was important in the educational system of this country. It was one of the subjects with the greatest number of class hours in the curriculum. German language textbooks used in Bosnian-Herzegovinian schools, especially readers, were printed mainly in Vienna and intended for schools in Austria, i.e. for teaching German as a mother tongue. Two facts stand in the foreground: a large number of German language class hours, and textbooks intended for teaching German as a mother tongue. They allowed German language teaching to be in the service of the ruling policy of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and to be a setting where the regime could spread their ideas. These facts will be the focus of this paper. The aim, therefore, is to show how the Austro-Hungarian monarchy used German language for the establishment and implementation of its rule, which ideas were spread and for what purpose.
More...Keywords: Rumäniendeutsche; Securitate; Oskar Pastior; Georg Hoprich; Herta Müller;
After the Nobel laureate for literature Herta Müller 2009 publicized their files, which were commissioned by the Romanian security service, in the weekly DIE ZEIT and then in their book Cristina and their dummy or what (in the files of the Securitate), the observation of the Romanian - the Communist Intelligence became a popular subject not only of the media, but also of literary research. According to a brief account of the history of the German minority in Romania, the author describes in a first part how, after the end of the Second World War, the Romanian communist secret service was founded, which officially commissioned the new social order against enemies from outside and protect from the interior. In reality, however, the new rulers were concerned with stifling critical utterances in the germ, silencing other thinkers, and, if necessary, shutting them down or even eliminating them. All this was done with the intention of spreading a general climate of fear and uncertainty to prevent any rebellion against the politically unauthorized authority.
More...Keywords: German-German division; social systems; intertextuality; cultural identity; Cold war; cultural policy; cultural space; Ulrich Plenzdorf;
In 1973, at the time the novel Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. by Ulrich Plenzdorf was published in both German states, the Wall and Barbed wire fence were already an integral part of everyday live. If the German-German division is considered to be a result of a cultural revolution, an exemplary and symbolical function of the book title is granted. The former is being confirmed by intertextual connections that are recognizable in the title, the quotations as well as in the content. The focus is set on the identification features. But just the second determination was the trigger for the furor the work was setting of. By referring to historical core areas of German culture both features turn towards taking a function of cultural policy. The paper starts with setting against in short strokes the two different social systems established in one German state each, in order to come to a conclusion on the conditions for cultural practices. On the one hand Plenzdorf’s work addressed ideas of cultural seclusion in the East part while on the other hand a loss of identity was discerned in the West.
More...Keywords: autonomy; authenticity; engagement; art; literature; power/ control; politics; tendency;
This article tries to answer the question as to the poetic and political self-empowerment of literature. It takes into consideration the theory, history, and critique of ‘political literature’. Firstly, the theory of ‘political literature’ runs into difficulties in defining its key concept univocally. Secondly, this is because the history of ‘political literature’ draws a polymorphic and irregular picture. Thirdly, the critique of ‘political literature’ illustrates that differentiations and demarcations between unpolitical literature, engaged literature, and politically operative, tendentious or propagandistic literature are problematic. The same applies to the structuralist analysis of political implications of literature. In conclusion, literature empowers itself both poetically and politically, however, the poetic and political evaluation of its content and form, intention and impact may vary from case to case.
More...Keywords: Peter Handke; print media; Serbia; history; nationalism; balkanism; discourse analysis;
Peter Handke’s text on Serbia A Journey to the Rivers: Justice for Serbia provoked a fierce controversy. While the debate in Western Europe and foremost in Germany is mostly part of scientific research on Handke’s text, its reception in the countries of former Yugoslavia has hardly made a subject of discussion. This circumstance is remarkable especially since the text itself explicitly addresses also the audience in this area. Therefore, this article wants to give a short overview on the Coverage of the Handke-Controversy in Serbian Print-Media in 1996 and shed light on the presentation of the Serbian society specifically. The question that is to be answered is, to what extend Serbian nationalist ideology, which dominated political discourse in Serbia at that time, played a role in the articles. To contextualize the analysis, at the beginning of the article Handke’s view on literature is discussed as well as his text “A Journey to the Rivers.” Presenting the results of the analysis the first two categories, that is “The description of Peter Handke” and “The description of the controversy in western media”, is given synthetically.
More...Keywords: Heinrich Böll; commitment to social and political issues; literary resistance; fighting against power structures; power;
Heinrich Böll’s commitment to social and political issues is practically legendary, so often has it been expressed in his literary works, his essays and public addresses. What does this idea of social and political commitment really encompass when discussing Heinrich Böll’s work? What were the causes he championed and what did he fight against? What was that drove him to do so? This article will expound upon the following thesis: Böll was committed to fighting against any abuse of power, but also against the exercise of power and power structures in general – indeed, one may claim that he was against the idea of power per se.
More...Keywords: Montenegro; Xavier Marmier; travel writing; narration; temporality;
In the present article, we intend to present Letters on the Adriatic and Montenegro by Xavier Marmier, a French traveller and writer who took many trips around the world, including Montenegro in 1852. His journey is described in two volumes, and the second one is mainly devoted to Montenegro (six out of eight chapters). He spent two months in Montenegro and wrote a beautiful testimony of this period, relying on the historical facts, testimonies of the inhabitants and on his personal impressions. In the first part of our paper, we provide a summary of his writing on Montenegro, focusing on points such as the historical context, the living conditions of the people, as well as on their customs and traditions. In the second part, we propose a reflection on the narration and more precisely on the narrative temporality in this work. We seek to identify the different temporal markers in order to explain the use of certain tenses in the narrative.
More...Keywords: French revolution; Age of Enlightenment; Rigas Velestinlis; forerunner; freedom fighter; Hellenistic/Balkan territories;
This paper aims at enlightening the importance of French revolution regarding Rigas Velestinlis, who was one of the most influential figures of the Hellenistic and Balkan territories at the end of XVIII century, bearer of The Age of Enlightenment ideas, politician, patriot, and a visionare of a republican and democratic alliance. His opus consists of a literary-translative piece, and notable political-revolutionary writings: Revolutionary proclamation, Declaration of human rights, Constitution, and Turios. All the authors who participated in the creation of Rigas Velestinlis point out his role/destiny of a forerunner in all areas.
More...Keywords: European Union; translation; tools; databases; accession to the EU; BCMS;
The aim of this paper is to analyse the issue of memory through tools for storing linguistic data (terminological databases, parallel corpora, thesauri, glossaries and dictionaries) deployed in the context of the translation of EU legislation. On the one hand, we present an overview of the tools used within the EU, distinguished by a complex and highly specific linguistic regime, currently including 24 official languages. On the other hand, we review the preparations and implementation of various tools in the former Serbo-Croatian countries, namely the language framework of their accession to the EU. Within the BCMS languages, a parallel has to be drawn between Croatia, which has been a member of the EU since 2013, with the most developed mechanisms in this area, of the one part, and Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part.
More...Keywords: literary studies; academic metadiscourse; conclusion; scientific article
The paper is an attempt to consider the issue that so far has not been discussed frequently in the Polish philological current. It focuses on the endings of 18 selected articles in the field of literary studies. Authors of textbooks on academic discourse argue that it is the ending that plays a fundamental role in the scientific discourse as a concluding, summarising, and potentially memorable part. This approach to a conclusion is often shared by scholars themselves, who choose different strategies with regard to endings of their articles. When studying articles published in the period of 2015‒2019, we identified about 15 different ending strategies, e.g. an apologia for a literary work selected by an author, suggestions for further research possibilities, an attractive punch line, and an quotation from another paper. As the analysis reveals, the conclusion of an academic article is not only a place for introducing conventional rhetorical figures; it also becomes the researchers’ contribution to the understanding of the role ascribed by literary-studies scholars to their own scientific practice.
More...Keywords: :Wyndham H. Deedes; agency in translation; translator as cultural ambassador; translator as idea maker; cultural repertoire; The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl; Afternoon Sun
Sir Wyndham Henry Deedes (1883-1956) was an eminent British Army officer, civil administrator and a Turcophile, known for his literary translations from Turkish into English. This article examines his cross-cultural transfer practices, specifically his writings and interlingual literary translations by discussing his contributions to the promotion of Turkish culture in a British context. Furthermore, the study problematizes the notion of the cultural mediator and the contexts influencing and influenced by Deedes’ leading role, which caused him to act as a cultural communicative agent and an idea maker. The overall aim of this study is to contribute to the formulation of translation history through the microhistorical study of Deedes as a translation agent and the personal and social motives behind his translation decisions. It concludes that Deedes’ decisions were driven by not only his interest in Turkish culture and people, but also his position as an idea maker who found it vital to introduce the new Turkish Republic to the British audience and to promote Turco-British relations.
More...Keywords: Schlüsselwörter: Deutsche Wortbildung; Neubildungspotenz; Neologismus (Neubildung; Neubedeutung); Lexikonwort; Textwort; Verhaltenskonzept; COVID-19-Pandemie
Die Covid-19-Pandemie des 21. Jhs., der wohl markanteste und schwerwiegendste Einschnitt in die jüngste Lebens- und Verhaltensweise der Menschheit seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, hat einen beispiellos regen Neubildungsprozess initiiert, der nicht nur dem Einfallsreichtum des in Krisensituationen findigen und nach Alternativen suchenden Menschen, sondern auch der kontroversen Berichterstattung geschuldet ist. Alte Verhaltenskonzepte wurden pandemiebedingt durch neue ersetzt und entsprechend versprachlicht. Dabei greift die deutsche Sprache zwar auf altbewährte Wortbildungs-, Entlehnungs- sowie Wortspielmuster zurück, bietet dennoch Raum für den Ausbau der sprachdynamischen Neubildungspotenz, die in diesem Beitrag anhand auffälliger Verhaltenskonzepte bei Personen(gruppen) in der Coronakrise aufgezeigt wird. Der Untersuchung liegen Belege aus dem Neologismenwörterbuch (Neuer Wortschatz rund um die Coronapandemie) des Leibniz-Instituts für Deutsche Sprache in Mannheim sowie aus Onlinebeiträgen zugrunde, die im Zeitraum von 2020 bis 2022 ermittelt wurden.
More...Keywords: isolation; illness; recovery; crisis; Iwein; loneliness; marginalisation
This article investigates the social isolation of the protagonist in a crisis using the example of Iwein by Hartmann von Aue. It is an Arthurian novel written around 1203 which depicts the adventures of the knight Iwein of the Round Table. The novel embodies various medieval topics such as the struggle for honour, loyalty, knight’s duties and virtues, challenges, mythical and fantastic beasts, etc. Among these subjects, there is also the so-called crisis of a hero, which is represented by social isolation and mental illness, i. e. by the knight’s insane behaviour. Thus, the depiction of Iwein's isolation will be interpreted, analysed and critically evaluated in relation to his illness and recovery in the context of the crisis. In addition, the function and the representation of this isolation in regard to the knighthood and court society of the time will also be examined. Therefore, this article attempts to answer the following questions: How is Iwein's social isolation depicted during his crisis and what role does this isolation play during the crisis in terms of his illness and recovery? What is the difference between isolation, loneliness and marginalisation in this novel? The crisis will be examined in the context of literature and literary studies and at the same time with reference to the social isolation. Using the example of this Arthurian novel, the crisis of the protagonist before and during the period of isolation will be analysed and interpreted with regard to overcoming challenges (physical and psychological), loneliness, despair and even madness. The previous research of this Arthurian romance focused mainly on topics such as the question of Iwein’s guilt or madness. Especially, it is Iwein’s phase of madness during his isolation that most of these works investigate, either in the context of illnesses as shown by Christine Saygin (35-60) or, for example, in relation to the adventures and the function of madness in Chrétien's and Hartmann's version of this story as shown by Wolfgang Mohr (71). Saygin (59), for example, assumes that Iwein's insanity was created by the author to characterize Iwein's illness and is considered to be an “alternative to suicide”. Saygin (59) also explains that madness “... perhaps also offers the knight the possibility of ultimately redeeming himself [...]”.6 In this paper, however, it is assumed that Iwein's isolation plays a crucial role in Iwein's illness and recovery and that his madness can only be interpreted as a symptom of this isolation. In this way, his insane episode is observed in relation to his isolation and not separately. The beginning of Iwein’s state of madness matches approximately the beginning of his isolation - after his wife Laudine realized that he had not kept his end of their agreement, therefore their honour was violated. So Laudine makes the decision to part with Iwein forever, in order to avoid any more shame. At this point in the plot, Iwein's isolation phase begins, as described in the following verses: „nâch einem dinge jâmert in, / daz er wære etewâ / daz man noch wîp enweste wâ / und niemer gehôrte mære / war er komen wære.“ (Hartmann, V. 3216-3220) The phenomenon of isolation is often associated with the feeling of loneliness. Walter Haug (1), who deals with the subject of loneliness of the epic hero in works such as Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, “Gregorius” by Hartmann von Aue or Tristan by Gottfried von Straßburg, offers his own definition of loneliness. According to Haug (1), it would be better to avoid the term loneliness and instead use another term meaning “belonging to a society”7 . Besides loneliness, one must also offer here a definition of the term isolation. Albrecht Classen (14) defines isolation using the example of Heinrich, Hartmann von Aue's Arthurian novel of the same name, as the withdrawal from society because of [Heinrich's] preparation for the coming death. In this paper, the absence of “being included in a society” 8 as defined by Haug (1) is considered as social isolation, and the aforementioned loneliness as yet another symptom of social isolation. Classen (14) also explains that Heinrich's (mental and physical) state does not change during his isolation, because it is closely linked to his illness and since the latter seems to be incurable, the isolation does not help him to overcome the crisis. 6 Own translation. 7 Own translation. 8 Own translation. The obvious difference between Heinrich and Iwein lies in the fact that Heinrich suffers from a physical and disgusting illness, while Iwein suffers from a mental disorder. Moreover, Iwein's illness reveals itself only during his isolation, which is not the case with Heinrich. For both protagonists, however, the isolation symbolises an exit from a shameful situation, i. e. they choose isolation because they were experiencing a crisis and can no longer bear the shame of the lost honour. Iwein’s isolation from the society also symbolises his return to his innate nature. He gives in to primordial urges that forces him to seek safety and comfort in isolation. As a matter of fact, these are somewhat animalistic and wild needs that force him to act uncontrollably, as seen in the scene where he rips off his clothes and exposes himself. In a symbolic manner, he thus gets rid of the shackles of the court and the Round Table, as well as the negative feelings and the shame, and only then does his phase of madness truly begin. It can also be noted that up to this point in the plot, Iwein's thoughts and those of the other characters have been described and commented by the narrator on several occasions. However, in Iwein's state of insanity his thoughts are completely suppressed. The reader (or the listener) no longer gets glimpses into the hero's thoughts as they are restricted by strong, primal urges such as hunger or thirst. In fact, it could be said that, the knight acts as if he was stunned and his thoughts and mind were frozen in a coma-like state: „als in der hunger bestuont, / sô teter sam die tôren tuont: / in ist niht mêre witze kunt / niuwan diu a umbe den munt. “(Hartmann, V. 3266-3270) Since the medieval perception of diseases, epidemics and mental disorders was strongly influenced by people’s superstitions and beliefs, it is not surprising that Iwein's illness and healing cannot be traced gradually. He suddenly became insane, that is, sick and in the same way will he later suddenly be cured, by magic and without further explanation. Hence, his illness represents nothing more than a crisis, or a heroic crisis to be exact, that Iwein has to overcome. According to Vollmann (237), “the classic Arthurian hero is a crisis-prone and that is his strength.”9 Moreover it can be observed that Hartmann von Aue introduces the hero's crisis into the story in an already familiar manner which corresponds to the so-called double path structure, because the crisis represents the turning point of the plot according to this structural model. Similar to his work Poor Heinrich, the knight falls into a crisis that is triggered by various factors that vary from illness (Heinrich), violation of honour (Iwein) to committing a serious sin (Gregorius). Aside from how the hero’s crisis is triggered, it offers the protagonist his salvation by empowering him, so that he is able to overcome in future more difficult challenges. However, the reason for the occurrence of a heroic crisis is common to all these knights – when a large discrepancy between the knight's moral values or philosophies of life and the expectations and norms of the society emerges, a crisis occurs. Since this discrepancy requires a change in order to be reconciled, the knight can no longer remain in the society whose 9 Own translation. norms and traditions he does not conform to anymore, and this will often result in knight’s isolation. In this case, Iwein isolates himself from the court and the Round Table, which he can no longer be a part of. In developing the heroic crisis, Hartmann uses a role model that is considered as the starting point of all ideas about a knight in a knightly society – at the court of King Arthur, it is Arthur himself who serves as a role model for all knights. If the members of a knightly society do not conform to the knightly role model, they may also be marginalized. This is the case with Iwein, whose previously mentioned new, untamed and wild way of life is perceived as insane by the court society. Consequently, he becomes gradually marginalized from this society. However, his isolation need not be considered marginalization if one assumes that Iwein has deliberately distanced himself from society. Auffahrt (340) defines marginality as: “a sociological model for people who live on the margins of society, that is, who are excluded from the privileges of those who determine society (this is not necessarily the majority of a society). Accordingly, they have a different view of the living world and develop their own values.”10 The difference between marginalization and marginality here lies in the fact that marginalization refers to the process and marginality refers to the result of that process. Crewe (121) adds on the topic of marginality in literature that this phenomenon necessarily juxtaposes notions of “center” and “margin” in the context of Jacques Derrida's deconstructionist theories. In relation to the Arthurian novel, it can be stated that the Arthurian court, together with King Arthur along with his knights, represents the center of courtly society and, according to Wolfzettel (4), even the center of the world (Wolfzettel 4). Furthermore, the marginality in the Arthurian novel can be defined as a concept of representing characters who are either in Arthur's court (at the center of society) or outside the court (at the margins of society). Regarding the aforementioned definition of Auffahrt (340) Iwein can be seen as an individual on the margins of society who is considered different from the center of his society or from the Arthurian court by “his view of the living world”. The reason for the marginalization lies above all in the question of how useful a person is for the society, or in this case for the court society and for the Round Table. Using Heinrich as an example, it can be seen that the protagonist himself recognized beforehand that he could no longer be of use to his society and for this reason he opts for isolation. With regard to Iwein, a situation is shown where the protagonist cannot bear that his society sees him as an unworthy member. Therefore, he isolates himself from others before they can exclude him from the society and marginalise him. This can be seen in the example of the forest man, who was mentioned at the very beginning of the story and whom first Kalogrenant and then later Iwein encounter, while searching for the magic fountain. From the perspective of the knights of the Round Table, the forest man is perceived as a mad and a strange beast, also marginalized by the chivalric society. Similarly, it is now Iwein who 10 Own translation evokes such reactions from others when they meet him. In other words, he has shifted from the role of the knight of the Round Table to the role of a lunatic resembling the forest man. What he once perceived as wild and inhuman about the forest man will not only known but also inherent to him. In the same way, Iwein is now seen as a madman from the perspective of the knights of the Round Table and the court society, for whom he has lost the qualities that used to make him human. Even though his humanity is not determined by this society, it is judged by it, which is why he no longer conforms to the idea of humanity at the court of King Arthur. Hence, what was considered to be the madness of Iwein is actually the madness of the Arthurian court and the Round Table. The madness of an entire society that forces a knight to reinvent his very essence, so that he could once again conform to the norms and role models of this society. Regarding that society, Sacker (5-6) argues that King Arthur is portrayed as a passive and weak figure and the Knights of the Round Table as useless members of this society. Furthermore, Sacker (8) explains that the depiction of the knightly duel and the winning of the êre through the murder of the opponent are actually symptoms of a society in crisis that lives by a flawed code that no one questions. Thus, the events and the transformation of Iwein that occur during his crisis can be seen as an ironical depiction of Hartmann’s critique of a flawed medieval society and the knightly codex. Even though, Iwein successfully overcame his crisis, it can be observed that, in what was probably Hartmann von Aue's last Arthurian novel, a novelty in overcoming the heroic crisis was introduced. This is precisely Iwein's isolation and its role in overcoming the crisis. When it comes to healing his sickness, the isolation is a novelty in the structuring of the heroic crisis in medieval literature. The heroes mentioned earlier always sought an exit from difficult or unbearable situations in isolation and this is also the case with Iwein, but unlike them, Iwein uses the isolation as a shield against societal expectations and judgments, which allows him to rediscover his true purpose and inner nature in the isolation amidst the chaos and the balance of nature. The Round Table and King Arthur recognize the knight Iwein as a loyal, honourable, and courageous knight, but only after he had overcome all the challenges that were set before him after his isolation. In this respect, the novel also portrays a socio-critical dimension, which primarily refers to social double standards and the loss of identity of the individual within a society. Because of this, the court’s attitude to Iwein during his isolation can rather be described as a hindrance on his path to recovery, while the isolation, on the other hand, has the value of a remedy for Iwein. In the end, the crisis that Iwein experienced up to this point in the plot disappears and the aforementioned discrepancy between his expectations and those of the court society is reconciled. In fact, the function of the isolation was to provide Iwein with a safe area in which he could heal without being hindered by outside factors or influences. His numbness during this isolation served as a shield against feelings of loneliness, despair, or shame. Since there are no expectations, mistakes, shame or misdeeds in the wilderness, his isolation helps him reconnect with his inner nature and find balance in his life. Thus, the power of isolation does not lie in the loneliness, but in the reflection of the solitude, which allows the individuum to rebalance themselves, far from the disruptions of everyday life. After all, even today, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, things are out of balance. However, this pandemic has brought to light that even now, perhaps more than ever, one has the possibility to reconnect with oneself and with one's nature due to the isolation.
More...Keywords: Logistics research articles; Corpus tools; AntConc; Sketch Engine; ConcGram 1.0; RANGE
The goal of this corpus-based study was to look at the word lists, collocations, and lexical bundles of logistics research articles (LRAs) in order to get a better understanding of the real English language used in the logistics area for both academic and specific purposes. The stated concerns were then investigated using four corpus tools: AntConc, Sketch Engine, ConcGram 1.0, and RANGE. A logistics journal was used to compile 21 LRAs at random. The findings revealed that the top list of words found in corpus tools differed. After that, each tool displayed a comparable list of the top 10 nouns. And the top list of lexical bundles was generated differently by each tool.
More...Keywords: writing; reading; reader-response theory; essay writing; Virginia Woolf
In a busy way of life today it seems that people do not have spare time to devote to reading classic novels and the modern consumerist spirit of society can be reflected in all aspects of life and creation, and inevitably also in the fine art as well as in writing fiction. Culture, which has always been a social initiator, sublimating scientific knowledge and personal artistic expression, now has the difficult task of fighting for its place in society, surrounded by countless social networks and platforms and other modern technologies. In terms of books and literature, there are electronic books to compete with them, which on the one hand contribute to easier accessibility, but at the same time destroy that nice feeling of holding a book in your hands, flipping through the pages and underlining the lines that leave a special impression on us. Our lifestyle that moves in bursts demands as much information and pleasure in as little time as possible, so the essay, as a shorter literary form, could be of interest to contemporary readers. In an essay, in a relatively short form, the writer presents their thoughts, ideas and views on a topic they considers interesting, so perhaps the time has come to reconsider the essay, not as an inferior literary form compared to the novel, but rather as one that creates a particular relationship between the reader and the writer. This relationship has always been interactive and fluid, and there are even opinions that, in order to understand how to read a book, one should try to write. This idea is considered by Virginia Woolf in her essay “How Should One Read a Book”(2005, 167). Within the genre hierarchy, the essay is somewhat underestimated compared to the novel, so it sometimes represents a so-called “secondary genre,” even though both first appeared at around the same time. Virginia Woolf’s essays and her literary criticism have long been neglected in relation to her poetic novels. Woolf, who is considered one of the best modernist writers and the founder of the feminist movement and feminist literary criticism, can rightfully be considered the first significant woman essayist of the modern age. In the light of her essay writing, the viewpoints related to the role of the writer in the writing process will be considered as well as the equally important role of the reader in this mutual relationship. Just as the writer should wrap an imaginary curtain around the reader, introduce them to a particular fictional world, so should the reader be able to enter the writer’s world, free of all prejudices. Literary stimulation involves a process of giving and receiving, in which there are no dominant sides. Moreover, instead of the text exciting only the passive, receptive mind, the expectations of each individual reader influence the text (Ondek Laurence 90). So, the relationship is mutual, and literary texts should stimulate both the body and mind of the reader. In her work, Woolf dealt with writers and their writing skills. One of the main qualities a writer must have in order to be successful, according to Woolf, is impartiality, in the sense of having a purified mind, a mind that is free from any prejudices and influences. In the essay A Room of One’s Own, she praises Shakespeare’s mind, which was “naturally creative, incandescent, and undivided”, meaning that Shakespeare possessed the ability to distance himself from the text, to put his personality aside, and at the same time to give us the most subjective experience. While in her novels she was constantly searching for new expression, experimenting with technique, and letting her poetic sensibility and impressionistic aesthetics develop freely, in her essays she mostly kept traditional expression. Unlike novels, which are more complex, poetic and meditative, essays are clearer, more accessible and potentially more interesting to a wider audience. We should not ignore the fact that Woolf earned money from her journalism for the first ten years of her working life and was aware that her earnings depended on the readership of her texts, but at the same time she was also aware of the potential of a wider audience that she could reach through newspapers. Woolf highly valued the essay and believed that only good writers could be good essayists. She wrote essays on a wide variety of topics, including architecture, streets, houses, the cinema, the radio, London, travel, painting, as well as critical essays on novels, considering both contemporary writers and writers from the past, while also writing on the modern essay and modern literary forms, and about the process of writing and reading. One characteristic of her essays is that they are very fluid, often move from one form to another. The essay turns to artistic prose or vice versa, with recommendations on how to read turning into instructions on writing, and personal essays turn into poetic prose, such as the essays “Street Haunting” or “The Death of the Moth”, in which Woolf completely releases her poetic spirit. From the essayists from the past, Woolf found a role model in Montaigne, pointing out the importance of communication with the reader, the rejection of ego, the use of simple, accessible linguistic expression, and the subtle storytelling technique, the so-called “unmethodical method”, where the writer seemingly follows their stream of consciousness and randomly presents viewpoints and ideas, but actually covers a particular topic in a very selective and thoughtful order. Woolf laid out the basic principles of writing modern fiction in her famous essays “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown” and “Modern Fiction”. She calls writers like Wells, Bennet, and Galsworthy “materialists”, who write about unimportant subjects; that they use up enormous amounts of knowledge and expend enormous effort to present the unimportant and transitory as true and permanent. These writers write superficially, describing external details, remain at the level of characterization, they do not go into the mind of the characters, because they are not truly interested in them. They think that a novel is good if the characters are real and the descriptions are consistent. Woolf questions what reality is and who judges reality. She points to great novels, such as War and Peace, Tristram Shandy and Madame Bovary, in which when thinking about a character, the reader gets an image of the things he sees through his own eyes, thoughts about war, love, peace, family life, or the immortality of the soul. Woolf concludes that in all these novels, all these great novelists showed us what they wanted us to see through a character. If they were not able to do so, they would not be novelists; they would instead be poets, historians or pamphleteers. She praises modernist writers for their spirituality and their efforts to make fiction new and relevant. Woolf despises photographic description, which is reduced to superficial looking from the outside, without any depth. Such writers are not interested in the spirit, but the body itself, but the material side also consists of a spiritual and emotional component, and these should be aroused in the reader. In her essay “Modern Fiction” Woolf warns that life slips away; and maybe without life nothing else is worth the effort. She compares life to a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope that surrounds us from the beginning of our consciousness to its end, and the writer’s task is to convey this varying and unknown spirit to us, because the real structure of fiction is different from that of traditional belief. She is also against fixed methods, because no method is forbidden, except falsehood and pretense. Woolf argues that any method is good, as long as it helps the writer express what they want, and at the same time brings the reader closer to the writer’s intention. She believes that the real material of fiction does not actually exist, because everything around us can be the subject of writing, every feeling, thought, or state of mind and spirit. We need to look for new forms and narrative techniques in the footsteps of modernist writers, going beyond the tradition of the photographic representation of reality and beyond the limit of testimony, and turn to personal experience, impressions, and the subconscious. Woolf can also be considered the founder of feminist criticism, so in that context we should consider the texts in which she deals with the inferior position of women in society, the obstacles they encounter in the process of literary creation and the conditions necessary for independent work, and even the literary forms and sentences that correspond to their nature. Virginia Woolf became a role model for generations of feminists who accepted the view that women “think back through their mothers”. Rachel Bowlby argues that Woolf was the first writer to point to the works of women whose existence was overshadowed by the male canon (178). Due to the lack of women’s tradition in writing, limited access to society, and therefore limited experience, as well as choking home and family obligations, double standards, prejudices and stereotypes in attitudes about women in general, and especially about those who dared to write, women encountered countless obstacles. The shorter essays “Professions for Women” and “Women and Fiction” talk about the development of women’s creativity, the lack of tradition in women’s writing, and the changes that women introduced in literary creation throughout history. Since women got the right to vote, they were now slowly entering the business, intellectual and political spheres of society, so they could use their new experiences in social criticism. Self-censorship is seen as a big obstacle in women’s creativity and only after a woman has killed “the angel in the house” in herself, will she be able to develop free thinking and start controlling her life. A woman can become who she is, that is, explore herself and her needs. In A Room of One’s Own, long considered a feminist manifesto, Woolf clearly states the important conditions that have to be fulfilled if a woman wants to be a writer. In a material sense, she must have a space to work, a room of her own and the financial means to be independent and have time to devote to writing. In a psychological sense, an androgynous mind is important, a mind that will unite male and female experiences in a whole. Woolf also considers what form of writing is ideal for women. She claims that women’s and men’s perceptions differ, that women see, feel and evaluate differently than men, and so their literary expression is different. The “masculine type of sentence”, which was common in the 19th century, does not suit a woman in the 20th century at all. George Eliot and Charlotte Brontë stumbled over it, and only Jane Austen created a perfectly natural, harmonious sentence that served her well and which she never gave up. Here, Woolf expresses a clear view that there is a connection between language and gender difference, which is socially and historically conditioned. One type of sentence will suit men and another type will suit women. Women need to find their own sentence that will best suit their way of expressing themselves. At the same time, she invites women to try to write in all genres, including travelogues, biographies, reviews and scientific books, because books influence each other. Woolf paid great attention to the role of the reader in literary creation, so some critics consider her the founder of the reader-response theory (Lee 1999, 79; Marcus, 148; Bowlby, 15). This theory is focused on the reader and his experience related to reading fiction, and not on the author and their intentions, the psychology of the reader, or the form and content of the work itself. In this theory, literature is understood as a performance art existing only during the process of reading, where the literary text does not have a fixed and final meaning or value, but rather readers themselves close the circle with their own, individual interpretation. There is no “exact” meaning; it is formed in the interaction between the reader and the text. In this process, the reader is recognized as a performing agent, who participates in the “real existence” of the work, and gives it the final seal with their own interpretation. Woolf was extremely interested in the two-way dialogue between readers and writers. Books change their readers, they teach readers how to read them, and writers must accept these conditions that change them. Books change when they are re-read, and different generations read individual texts differently. Readers must therefore always be aware that they are not isolated individuals, but part of a long sequence of readers who participate in the dialogue. (Lee 2000, 91). Slavery to authority means destroying the spirit of freedom, and this is what the reader must avoid at all costs. They should be guided by their own impulse and not accept advice from outside. The complexity of reading is manifested in two steps: the first is the process of receiving impressions with understanding, and the second step includes making judgments about these impressions, which is created when the impressions settle and the details fit into their places. Then a more objective comparison of two literary works is possible, the reader is in the role of a judge, not the writer’s friend. The reader must not be either too strict or too sensitive, and when they maintain a balance, their evaluations and standards will influence the writer as well. One of the possible goals of reading is to arouse the reader’s own inspiration. A reader might begin to write in order to better understand the writer’s creative process. Woolf writes that perhaps the quickest way to understand the basic parts of a novelist’s actions is not to read, but to write; in making our own experiment with the dangers and difficulties of words. Woolf points out that reading a book the way a book should be read requires special engagement, imagination, insight and the ability to judge, meaning that the reader might conclude that literature is too complex and that they will not be able to contribute to its criticism. Woolf argues that the reader must retain their role, which is primarily related to reading and emphasizes that we still have our responsibilities as readers, and even our importance. The standards we set and the evaluations we make slip into the air and become part of the atmosphere that writers breathe as they work. The ultimate goal, according to Woolf, is for books to become stronger, richer and more diverse. If we accept the idea that books become people who long to be heard, then through them a double function is realized, the function of writing and reading, which simultaneously enables articulation for both the writer and the reader (Dusinberre). In the essay “The Common Reader”, whose title is taken from Samuel Johnson’s text The Life of Gray in which he mentions the common reader, liberated from literary prejudices, who possesses a healthy power of reasoning and who ultimately brings about the evaluation and recognition of artistic values, Woolf analyzes the characteristics of the ordinary reader. To the above-mentioned qualities, she adds a certain naivety and inexperience, as well as the pleasure of reading, which give the reader special qualities. An ordinary reader is different from a critic and a learned man, for he has a weaker education and abilities, but they compensate for this with the drive that leads them to form a kind of a whole on their own from the literary text. They do not read to gain knowledge or to correct other people’s opinions, but by reading they creates something that will give them pleasure, stimulate feelings and make them think. The reader’s demands are usually misdirected, prose is required to be credible, poetry to be false, biography to be flattering, and history to support our own prejudices, writes Woolf in the essay “How One Should Read a Book.” These prejudices are only a hindrance to the true understanding of literature, and facts are a weak form of literature: reading is a complex process in which observation and the courage of imagination are especially important if we want to use everything the writer offers us. Thus we should get rid of half statements and approximate assessments and enjoy more our own imagination and the purest truth of literature. In the essay “Hours in a Library”, Woolf writes about the pleasure of reading, as well as the difference between reading classical and contemporary writers. She also talks about the profile of the reader, a person who likes to read and who, unlike a learned person who likes to learn, does not search for some truth in the text, but strives for pure and disinterested reading. The best age for reading is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four, meaning, the best reader is young. Older readers tend to write down notes on the text they read, a list of books which they have read or those that should be read, which they flip through from time to time, trying to recall the mood at the time of reading. The young reader is free from such memories, full of self-confidence and a passion for knowledge, and when they go back in time, consult only first-rate writers. The reader is generally less critical and more interested in contemporary writers than in the classics, because, as Woolf says, living voices are still the ones we understand best. Thus, the reader develops a taste even for bad books, and Woolf claims that the contemporary literary period was never less influenced by the authorities, nor more unstable in experiments. Therefore, knowledge of the classics is important, so that we can more easily evaluate contemporary literature, but Woolf appeals for generosity, because writers shape their ideas as best they can. The basic prerequisite for successful literary creation, and to the same extent for proper reading, is to abandon all prejudices, throw away your ego and then, free from all burden, enter into an adventure which might lead anywhere. With their work, the writer should reach the reader’s mind and emotions, encourage them to actively participate in the entire creative process, provide satisfaction, and stimulate both the reader’s body and mind.
More...Keywords: Ethnophobic terms; non-standard language; metaphor; metonymy; compounding; shortening
The article aims to outline extralinguistic factors of the emergence of American and Ukrainian ethnophobic terms and to study the means of their word-formation. The methods applied in the research include the analysis of dictionary definitions, as well as semantic, structural, conceptual, comparative, and linguocultural analyses. Metaphor, metonymy, and antonomasia are established as the semantic means of ethnophobic terms formation, whereas compounding, suffixation, clipping, and onomatopoeia – as the predominant means of structural word-formation in both American and Ukrainian non-standard languages. Blends and acronyms are established as typical of American ethnophobic terms formation only, while the combination of semantic and structural word-formation is evident in both languages. Borrowings are determined as a significant means of replenishing the corpora of ethnophobic terms in both American and Ukrainian non-standard languages.
More...Keywords: Responsibility; Being; the Other; Violence
This research aims to compare Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (1623) with Kane’s Phaedra’s Love (1996) from the viewpoint of Levinas and his ideas on the relationship between being and the Other expressed in his pivotal work Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence (1978). The central events of the two plays are analyzed based on the text to flesh out the similarities and differences the two playwrights have with regard to their treatment of the approach of the Other. Of the highest importance in the analysis is how the characters of the plays deal with responsibility for the Other, and also how they react to the wonder of facing the Other. It is concluded that, in Shakespeare’s play, the characters mostly do not carry out their ethical responsibility, and those who do are not treated well; as the play progresses, however, they start to take responsibility for one another which leads to a mostly happy ending. In Kane’s play, by contrast, there is no happy ending because the vast majority of characters do not realize their responsibility, and thus, their wonder at facing the Other turns extremely violent. Additionally, even those characters that come to terms with their responsibility undergo the same gruesome fate as those who do not embody ethical responsibility.
More...Keywords: Halilović; parody; myth; folklore; postmodernist; ritual; custom
The paper deals with the parodic procedure in the novel "The Epic of Water" by Enes Halilović. Considering the significant share of mythical and folklore, the nature of these silts in the work was illuminated and the parodic relationship to tradition was observed. In addition to the above-mentioned elements, the share of the historical can also be seen as significant, which was observed through the prism of the postmodernist text, which results in a specific relationship with the past. The socio-historical context, the system of social and moral values and the influence of the social component, appears as a basis for parodic and satirical effects, but with the final aim of raising it to the level of the universal. Part of the historical elements appear as an inseparable creative element of the parody complex in "The Epic of Water", because it is a particular event from modern history (the emigration of the population and the submergence of fertile land due to the construction of the artificial Lake Gazivode, which Halilović clearly mentions as one of the localities in the index of terms at the end of the book) that is the undisguised inspiration for the creation of the mythological guide to the flood and after it, as the author himself defines his narrative in the subtitle. However, Halilović's historicism is seen in the work as specific, because in his critical consideration of the value of the past, he elevates the local to the level of the universal. The author's attitude that history is subordinate to fiction can be interpreted as a view of history characteristic of postmodernist art, where history figures as a kind of intertext. The postmodernist attitude towards tradition, interpreted on the basis of the material the author takes from folklore and myth, is reflected in an ambivalent attitude towards tradition, where its conventions are established only to be destabilized in a parodic way. By analyzing the storytelling technique, we see the essential procedures for creating the world of literary work. Metanarrativity, as a characteristic of postmodern metafiction, finds its place in Halilović's novel. Self-referential comments that devalue both the author of the narrative and the narrative itself have also been recognized as a postmodernist narrative strategy with parodic outcomes. Parody is subject to formulaic technique, as well as the narrative style of the folk storyteller, who speaks from the position of someone who is only transmitting an oral tradition, the veracity of which is indisputable. Normativity as an object of parody is additionally emphasized by alluding to, Milman Perry and Albert Lord, real figures who conducted the research in the area of Sandzak and established the theory of formulas. The presence of narrative procedures characteristic of Muslim epics has also been noticed, from the appearance of Muslim singers, Avdo Međedović and Hus Husović, through the appearance of messengers as one of the favorite mediating figures in Krajina epics, to the subsequent clarification of the interrupted plot lines recorded in Muslim epics, which resembles the technique of crime stories. The intertwining of genres serves as an interesting terrain for the implementation of the parody procedure. Starting with the title itself, the reader's expectations are betrayed, because instead of the expected epic, we have a novel in front of us, while the relationship that is established in the reader's mind towards the heroes’ points to an ironic genre. Admixtures of the drama genre were also noticed in the form of the prologue sequences that announce each chapter of the novel, as well as the ironic encyclopedic character at the end of the work in the form of so-called completely unnecessary appendices. The serious style of the etiological lore is also subject to parodic imitation, which aims to cause solemn chills, while in the parodied version it causes humorous effects. The presence of microstructures which are aphoristic and proverbial in character that are incorporated into the work is also ironically intoned. In the process of tripling, elements of the fairy tale genre were noticed. The intertwining of the genres of novels, epics, myths, encyclopedias, legends, proverbs, and fairy tales makes the reader constantly wonder about the genre fluidity of "The Epic of Water". The essay deciphers the mythical layer of the work and the methods of parodying the myth. At the base of the "The Epic of Water" is a parodied myth about the Argonauts, the Greek heroes who, having overcome all the challenges of sailing on the ship Argo, successfully reached Colchis and obtained the Golden Fleece. The wool that the heroes of Halilović's novel desperately want to get their hands on is also seen through folklore, as cultically impure. The heroes of the novel are associated with their mythical counterparts, in which parodic effects are recognized as a source of comedy based on the contrast of the originals with their imitations. Orpheus is recognized in the image of the player Muharem, who in the myth of the Argonauts keeps time for the rowers of the ship Argo with his song. The parodic transformations of the mythical template in the form of the figure of the misunderstood artist, as well as the grotesque portrayal and dethronement of the hero in connection with the fertilizing power of the body, are pointed out. The character of Aykuna is also seen in a parodic key and linked to Ayka, the heroine of the Muslim epic, in the image of the contrast between the Delia girl as the original and the harlot as a parodic recasting. In the character of Ajkuna's brother Musa, the hero is recognized as a person who lacks a caricature representation, since he is the only remaining bright offshoot of the lineage of the forefather Muriz. The mythological layer of folk beliefs related to the animal world plays an interesting role in the novel. In this context, the symbolism of the partridge is interpreted as a bird that in some traditions is associated with ominous symbolism. The partridge's prophecy from the hero Muriz's dream is fulfilled in the form of a fire, which is why Muriz's settlement gets the name Paljevo. The original sin of Muriz's forefather was killing a partridge in the newly established territory, and it is concluded that Muriz's descendants also suffer because of the original sin, just as in the Old Testament tradition, man is punished for his original sin to suffer forever. The symbolism of the crow is further interpreted as that of an unclean bird which, as such, brings great misfortune to the heroes of the novel. With its chthonic symbolism, the crow not only heralded the ominous, but also caused an accident in a way - if it weren't for the crow, the piper wouldn't have discovered the wool, and so the mass death of the people of Paljeva would not have occurred.. The symbolism of snakes is observed both in negative and positive terms, in accordance with the already known dual nature of its mythological symbolism: the rascal that steals milk from Paljevci is similar to the widespread beliefs about the white wolf that lives in a barn and sucks milk from a cow's udder; snakes are seen as integral parts of black magic rituals; and it is the snake that provides progeny to the heroes, in accordance with the magical snake rites associated with phallus symbolism, with the aim of ensuring conception. A parody of the belief about the danger of snakebite also appears, related to the death of the snake biting the sinful Aykuna. The chthonic symbolism of fish is recognized as corresponding to the nature of the people of Paljeva, and it is ironically intoned, in the form of the moodiness of the fish from the artificial lake, which is reciprocal to the nature of the people of Paljeva themselves. The paper interprets the reshaping of these motifs from oral tradition - by reconstructing motifs from folklore and parodying them, Halilović plays with material taken from the tradition, which results in a specific observation of the past from the perspective of modernity. The presence of magic and ritual systems is of great importance in the construction of the sacred work. The black magic activity of Zaim's wife appears interesting for interpretation, such as, for example. the ritual of throwing an egg into the river, which is in accordance with the belief that the river can take to death everything entrusted to it, while the egg is symbolically connected with rebirth, which is, therefore, transformed here into its opposite, death. Moreover, the heroine's rituals performed under a full moon carry with them a connection with natural cycles and rites of passage related to the phases of the moon. The initiation of the sorcerer in the novel was also seen as a kind of rite of passage related to magic, where along with Muriz's line, the line of Chara develops, who passes on his gift to his descendants. The cyclical nature of birth and death is also represented through ritual symbolism: the system of childbirth taboos as a rite of separation, where the men from Paljevo are not allowed to hear the screams of women in childbirth; or the system of taboos related to the afterlife, recognized in the novel's hero's relationship with the afterlife. The motive of knocking at the cemetery to announce your arrival appears to be connected with the belief that the souls of ancestors are disturbed by the presence of strangers. In this case, it is the forefather Muriz with his offspring, moved to a place where another civilization once lived, which in the world of the novel is demonstrated by the tombstones. The custom related to the period of mourning after death is also added to the ritual complex with this theme, where in the novel we encounter the violation and observance of the taboo of fifty-two days required for the ritual of separating the soul of the deceased. Traditional differences between the sexes are noticeable in the novel, where women are powerful in the sphere of the otherworld, in the magical world. However, in the sphere of everyday life, this is not the case - there the archaic consciousness of the hero of the novel dominates, where the man is dominant and the woman is subservient (for example, a musician whose name is not known physically abuses his wife). This distribution of roles is also the subject of ironic play in the novel (while Muharem plays, his wife manages the household). The symbolism of the border crossings between the other world and this world is seen in the image of the interception of the inhabitants of Paljevo in the town of Koniče, because in the mythological sense the road represents a border place. However, in accordance with the general tone of the novel, the expected angst and otherworldliness give way to comic effects that cause people to mock the intercepted and robbed Paljevos. Prague, as a liminal space where the sacred and the profane meet, also figures in the world of the works (the people of Palje are reluctant to return across the threshold when they go somewhere; Muriz's wife hides a magician under the doorstep). Dreams, as the boundary between the conscious and the unconscious, have a prominent place in the novel. They predict events in a symbolically dressed form, and a frequent procedure is to dream dreams alongside each other. The same dream is dreamed by Sabit and his wife, presenting the image of a man in green robes who we recognize as a representation of the impure force that exists in the people, with this meeting with a demonic being suggested precisely by the colour green. The presence of a force of the opposite orientation in the novel, the so-called Good, which can be any unknown traveler, is also clear, and the duty of every resident of Paljeva is to welcome him as best as possible. This act hides the motive of patience as a rite of reception and the old belief that visitors from the other world usually appear in the form of beggars and travelers, since the custom dictated that they must be given welcome and shown hospitality. The ending of the novel is interpreted in the key of the eschatological vision of the created world, in the form of an aquatic apocalypse. Such an unraveling of narratives is seen as an example of the myth of doom, but also as a necessary stage of purification. Halilović's Paljevo is condemned to complete disappearance. The rapid moral degeneration of Muriz's lineage begins with Zahit's marriage to a mute and weak-minded foreign woman of unknown origin. From such a marriage is born Zaim, the first Paljevac who collects coffins for his closest relatives and who marries a woman who practices black magic, which leads to the culminating degradation of all virtues. It is interesting that in the same generation, Char's lineage visibly deteriorates - Charovac, whom Aljo goes to in order to free himself from the magical effects of Zaim's wife, himself performs black magic rituals. Therefore, in the end, the multiplied sins of the hero of the novel are symbolically dissolved by the water, disappearing in the purifying flood. In addition to the mythic layer that can be read at the end, a satirical moment related to modern society that boldly and brazenly manages human destinies, assuming the role of a higher power that decides on the justification of the flood for the sake of representing apparently general, but actually its own interests, is also pointed out. The motif of the flood was also analyzed at a metanarrative level, as a punishment from the author himself as the creator of his personal cosmogony, but at the same time with the hope of a new beginning, a new order, the emergence of which, in truth, is not even announced yet, but which exists as a logical continuation cyclical understanding of the cosmos and history, according to which the world catastrophe marks the end of one period and the beginning of a new one. In the claim that maybe no one needs the story, but that the author needs it, the irony of the post-structuralist position that the author is not a person in the psychological sense and that the work continues to live after the author, thanks to the readers is made clear. However, the statement from the novel that the story is indestructible ultimately reveals the exact opposite - despite the aquatic apocalypse of the world it narrates, the narrative itself is indestructible, which is why "The Epic of Water" still essentially appears as a masterful apology of both story and telling. This is exactly how we saw the apocalypse of a world built from universal motifs, translated into a special postmodernist fantastic prose with an emphasized parodic relationship to myth and folklore heritage.
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