Homerowa kreacja sylwetek kobiet w kontekście tradycji ustnej

Author(s): Anna Marchewka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2015

Homer had not only a great skill in characterizing figures in the Iliad and the Odyssey but also a great psychological sensitivity – he was able to penetrate the psychai of his characters. Because Homer mostly makes use of indirect ways of description – he asks his characters to describe themselves through words and actions and uses other characters to express opinions about the main heroes and heroines – the question arises as to what part the oral epic tradition played in the Homeric construction of female characters. I will attempt to explain the Homeric art of describing characters with reference to the techniques and achievements of cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics.In addition to their typical features the main heroines also have individual features which are peculiar usually not to women but to men. Homer as one of oral poets or one of their already literate descendants had knowledge of a tradition of epic poetry and knew how to attract the attention of audiences. He was aware that the discourse of men and women to whom he had given speaking roles in his tales was different. Men use verbal acts that we associate with dominance. For instance, the rebuke is a form of speech used more often by men than women, so we find the sole example in the Iliad of a woman who rebukes her husband. This woman is Andromache, the appalled and desperate wife of Hector (Il. VI 431–434).The Homeric depiction of characters depends in part on the techniques of oral composition. Recurrent epithets, formulas and typescenes which are based on patterns for routine, everyday events and verbal behaviour, contain a great deal of information about the typical and individual features of Homeric heroes and heroines. Oral poet used these patterns, termed by Roger Schank and Robert Abelson as ‘scripts’, as a prompt, because knowledge of scripts falls into the category of implicit knowledge.

Wydrukowanie tekstu — wydrukowanie literatury. O konsekwencjach tekstualizacji przekazów oralnych

Author(s): Agnieszka Karpowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2015

The article concerns the impact of language textualization processes on the origin of literary and artistic categories. I argue that the creation of typographic, visual forms of works which previously functioned rather as performances is one of the basic practices of print culture. By analyzing selected Polish works, which are treated as „literary monuments”, I demonstrate the role and significance of these visual transformations.

Tradycja ustna versus pisana. Ustalanie obrzędowości i (re)konstruowanie tradycji w klasztorach żeńskich na przykładzie działalności s. Domiceli Barbary Fox, klaryski starosądeckiej

Author(s): Igor Borkowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2015

In the context of chronicle records, personal documents and monasterial practice, the paper reconstructs the manner of transferring the content of oral tradition connected with historical and ceremonial customs of the monasterial community into written form. The documented process of writing down oral accounts of the foundation of the monastery, its architecture, the purpose of its different rooms as well as their function and its evolution throughout centuries, can be observed in the self-reflection of a Poor Clare nun from Stary Sacz, who is very passionate about history. A similar process applies to the realm of tradition, customs and habits formed in the community, which have been successfully captured in the process of transforming from the oral to the written tradition. Verifying the oral tradition, assessing oral and written accounts, as well as writing down and verifying the content of written records as analysed in this paper relate to archival resources that have not yet been published. They remain at the disposal of the Poor Clares Monastery in Stary Sacz and date back to the mid-19th century.

Residuum oralności a wizja świata w romansie staropolskim — casus „Fortunata”

Author(s): Aleksandra Bobrowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2015

The article discusses the issue of the co-existence and correlation of different traditions – orality and literacy – in the 16th century old-Polish romance. The deliberations are based on the case study of Fortunat, which is a translation of a popular German novel. One of the key assumptions made in the article is the fairy-tale character of Fortunat, indicating this work’s connections with primarily oral forms of narration. The study of romance, including among others the analysis of composition, narration and characterization, shows that at the beginning of print culture the marks of oral poetics are interwoven with features of literacy. The ultimate question raised by the article is, however, what are the consequences of shifting from orality to literacy to the vision of the world as depicted in the romance.

Techniki inkorporacji literatury oralnej w literaturze popularnej

Author(s): Bogdan Trocha / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2015

The author in this article presents and discusses the techniques of introducing elements of oral literature by authors of popular literature. The starting point of this article is a discussion of the technique of using a magic fairy in fantasy. Starting from a very wide range of treatments, various motifs are in operation which are derived from magic fairies, before we move on to the analysis of the mechanisms used in stylistic re-narrations of content. We then discuss the techniques used in introducing archaic myths to fantasy literature . Here we present simple re-narration, ornamental operations, and interesting proposals related to mythopoeic literary speculation. Another type of reference to oral literature is the archaic epic, largely used in the context of aesthetic appeal, but there are also re-narrative and speculative novels in which the amount of information needed to understand the story forces the recipient of popular literature to return to the sources. The final mechanism discussed shows the functions of oral literature in science fiction.

Izokrates — pisarz czy mówca? Kilka uwag o kompozycji „Panegiryku"

Author(s): Joanna Janik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

The combination of written and oral styles remains one of the most striking features of Isocrates’ work; the purpose of this article is to present a general outline of this phenomenon in Panegyricus.

Narratywizacja doświadczenia w historii ustnej — przykład „Dziejów” Herodota

Author(s): Iwona Wieżel / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

In the present article the problem of experience and its narrativization in ancient historiographical texts is discussed. The teleological outline of the Histories as proved by Grethlein (2013), leading to reexperiencing the past on the part of the text recipient, strengthens the present approach to the natural and experiential characteristics of Herodotus’ stories (cf. Labov 1972). Also the performative valour of the examples cited in this paper suggests the possible emotional engagement of the listener/reader of the stories. This engagement is primarily based on the religious bias towards to theion, which actively affects the lives of the protagonists in the course of the events told. The provenience of the stories within the Histories is mainly oral, which sheds light on the form and structure of this text towards the natural (Fludernik 1996) and oral mode of gathering the historical data by the historian, and the presumptive oral proclamation of some parts of the Histories in front of the audience.

„Historia Brittonum” — między oralnością a piśmiennością. Preliminaria

Author(s): Ewa Nowak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

The following paper considers the oral and literary sources which might have served as a basis for the History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum), putatively attributed to the 9th century Welsh author Nennius. Given the legendary nature of some of the matter included in the History, such as stories from the Arthurian cycle, as well as the compilatory and in some instances self-contradictory character of the text, the work is supposed to be rooted in the tradition of orally transmitted lore. This tradition preserved knowledge of past events through the dark, i.e. illiterate age following the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. On the other hand the literary sources used by the author of the History have been traced and the work seems to be imbued with the style of ancient annalists, notably Saint Jerome. As such Historia Brittonum should be regarded as being fixed on the verge between the age of oral tradition and that of actual written history.

Rigels Halili, „Naród i jego pieśni. Rzecz o oralności, piśmienności i epice ludowej wśród Albańczyków i Serbów”, Warszawa 2012 (ss. 506)

Author(s): Jędrzej Soliński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

Orality and literacy. Unmarked and marked elements in verbal communication: Introductory comments marking the occasion of an international conference on orality and literacy, University of Wrocław 2019.12.04–06

Author(s): Gregory Nagy / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

Voice and Letter: The First Made Last?

Author(s): John Zemke / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The author argues that while all narratives, traditional or otherwise, are verbal, their strategies are mental. Oral traditions are neither more nor less than a particular hyponymy of language.

Поэтика сказки М. Е. Салтыкова-Щедрина «Чижиково горе»

Author(s): Marina A. Alyakrinskaya / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2025

The article examines the fairy tale by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Chizhikov’s Grief.” Up until now, researchers have not taken into account certain significant circumstances when interpreting “Chizhikov’s Grief.” First of all, it is the unusual love and family theme of the tale, which is not characteristic of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s work (moreover, it was repeatedly criticized by him as ‘outdated’); and, secondly, the publication of the tale in the Christmas issue of “Russkie Vedomosti,” which provides reason to consider its text within the “Christmas story” tradition. The theme of love and family and the peculiarities of the poetics of “Chizhikov’s Grief” suggest that the fairy tale contains elements of intertextuality: it “refers” the reader, on the one hand, to the tradition of the naturalistic novel popular in the 1870s - 1880s, and on the other hand - to the Christmas stories by Ch. Dickens. M. E. Saltykov was critical of naturalist writers, opposing them to Ch. Dickens and N. V. Gogol. This contradiction is reflected in the structure of “Chizhikov’s Grief,” where the first part of the tale contains elements of parody of the naturalistic novel’s poetics (i.e., in E. Zola’s work), and the second part resembles the plot model of Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” (the transformation of the “misanthropic hero” who travels the path with “guilt-correction-redemption” as the key milestones). Analyzing the poetics of “Chizhikov’s Grief” allows to understand the author’s concept of the fairy tale: critically comparing the “earthiness” of the naturalist writers and the “idealism” of Ch. Dickens and N. V. Gogol, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes the importance of the ideal component of private life. The problem of love and marriage is resolved in “Chizhikov’s Grief” in the style of the Christmas (Easter) tradition: sublime love revives the dead soul of the hero, while in the tale’s open ending the only positive variant of conflict resolution is the heroes’ acquisition of Christian values: forgiveness and love. Thus, behind the numerous literary contexts, irony and satire, the tale conceals a moral absolute that’s distinctive to the national consciousness; and this absolute was the personal position of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.

Ženski portreti u Tacitovim Analima

Author(s): Sanja M. Ljubišić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2024

In his Annals, Tacitus provides female portraits from various aspects of their agency in the Roman Empire. On the historical scene there emerge the characters of mothers, wives, empresses, mistresses, warriors, and heroines. The historian features numerous women of the Empire who played either direct or indirect roles in the socio-political events of their respective periods. Despite an occasional unfavourable stance he takes towards these women, Tacitus saves a prominent position for them. Amongst the characters analysed are Livia, Agrippina the Elder, Agrippina the Younger, Messalina, Poppaea Sabina, Octavia, Boudica, and Epicharis. The female portraits presented can be divided into positive and negative characters, into those the historian shows respect for and those towards whom he shows his contempt. Among the women displayed, the highlighted ones are duces feminae, who are endowed with predominantly male traits. Those are women who not only governed the private sphere of the Roman society, but also the public one, through their husbands or sons, heirs to the throne (Livia, Agrippina the Younger). Some of them were powerful mistresses and affected the course of events in the Empire in that capacity. When depicting such women, Tacitus makes use of the rhetoric technique dating back all the way to Sallust – the use of the woman as a prototype of the man (Messalina, Poppaea). Furthermore, one should mention heroines who, for the sake of their libertine ideals, boldly sacrifice their lives (Boudica, Epicharis). According to Tacitus, death is an act of preservation of honour, as well as a redemption for an ill-conducted life (Agrippina the Younger). Among the positive and idealised female portraits one finds faithful wives and mothers (Agrippina the Younger, Octavia). Agrippina is a symbol of fidelity and fertility, and Octavia a symbol of female passivity and tolerance. In order to bring the female characters as truthfully as possible, Tacitus deploys linguistic and rhetoric devices. By carefully selecting the nouns and adjectives of pejorative meaning, along with the technique of repetition of emotionally pregnant words and phrases, he paints individual portraits. Utilising the rhetoric technique of innuendo, the historian often indirectly hints at certain conclusions, insinuating misconduct and accusing the women of the Empire of various crimes.

Poročila in ocene

Author(s): Simon Malmenvall / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 2-3/2021

Review of: Dr. Tone Smolej. Slovenska književnost in visoka šola. Gradec, Dunaj, Praga, Krakov, Ljubljana (1839–1943). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani. 2020. 232 str.

A Project of Inter-peripheral History of the Romanian Novel: The Polish Case

Author(s): Olga Bartosiewicz-Nikolaev,Tomasz Krupa / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

The main purpose of the article is to identify the most important tendencies in the reception of the Romanian novel in Poland in the 20th and 21st century, thus proposing an original and innovative analysis of the process of the cultural transfer between these two (semi)peripheral cultures. The study focuses on a complete corpus of 95 novels written in Romanian (also by authors from the Republic of Moldova) and translated into Polish between 1931 and 2023, providing a new and comprehensive perspective on a complex issue such as an interperipheral literary exchange. The paper uses statistical and computational methods to conduct a sociological study of literature, thus exploring the social, political, and cultural circumstances that influenced the evolution of the reception of the Romanian novel in Poland, also characterizing the agencies of this phenomenon (writers and translators). Moreover, it attempts to situate the regional Polish case into a broader, global context of the reception of the Romanian novel during the last century.

The Adventure Novel – Devaluation and Revaluation of the Adventure: Gallants of the Old Court

Author(s): Angelo Mitchievici / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

The article aims to illustrate that the entire work of Mateiu I. Caragiale, particularly his only novel, Gallants of the Old Court, recuperates as a horizon of possibility the adventure novel in an embryonic-synthetic, concentrated form, with its progression remaining in a state of suspension. Within the novel lies an inscription of the adventure novel through various established formulas, alongside an implicit reflection on the interplay between the adventure genre and the novel, regarding the trajectory and the selection enacted by the author in the matters of existence, as well as history. Thus, the literary contribution of Mateiu I. Caragiale facilitates a perspective on the adventure novel as an inexhaustible resource and its transcending towards a higher level where the adventure attains an ontological-identity dimension of epistemological significance, as posited by Giorgio Agamben for our consideration.

La liaison dangereuse entre le sous-genre autofictionnel et l’identité de genre en Roumanie post-communiste : dès son origine française jusqu’à la narration de soi queer-féministe dans le cadre de la globalisation

Author(s): Teona Farmatu / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2024

Considering the conventional and supposedly objective perspective that gender’s authors do not influence writing or that “literature has no gender”, my paper seeks to challenge this preconception. The aim of my study is to explore how the subgenre of autofiction is intricately influenced by gender. Deeply intertwined with themes of identity and individuality, Romanian autofiction, which has been significantly shaped by its French counterpart, has developed within a framework of masculine and patriarchal thought and expression. My primary argument is that the pervasive “masculine dominance” (as Pierre Bourdieu called it) within the Romanian literary landscape has both supported and generated self-fictional narratives that reflect misogyny and sexism from various angles, thereby contributing to the emergence, and establishment of autofiction. Additionally, the ethical implications of self-fiction – which have sparked controversies in both France and Romania – extend beyond the obsolete relationship between facts and fiction; particularly in Romania, it is highlighted how male authors have crafted autofiction while perpetuating dominance and authority, often in regard to women. Beginning with the import of autofiction in post-communist Romania, I critically explore how this subgenre has been received, showing up the paradoxes and limitations of local theoretical discourse on autofiction, which tends to overlook the poststructuralist origins of what seems to be an emancipatory form. Subsequently, I delve into the traditional core of Romanian autofiction by examining its development and the reasons why female authors ultimately dismiss and critique this regulated subgenre, by involving in which could be conceptualise as “self-writing”. Finally, I examine the first Romanian queer-feminist self-writing – Dezrădăcinare [Uprooting] by Sașa Zare.

“Lent Voices”: The Politics of Romanian Migrant Life Writing

Author(s): Mihnea Bâlici / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

This study explores the way Romanian literature written by authors who directly participated in the Romanian emigration to Italy is positioned in the world-literary system, by employing Sarah Brouillette’s concept of “global literary marketplace” and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek’s idea of “in-between peripherality”. My main argument is that these authors’ marginal position in the literary market is doubled by a reactionary understanding of the function of the literary institution: not as an emancipatory endeavor, but as a site for self-legitimation to the Italian public. Consequently, (semi)autobiographical novels by Romanian badanti in Italy – Lilia Bicec-Zanardelli, Liliana Nechita, and Ingrid Beatrice Coman-Prodan – emphasize migrant exceptionality over solidarity. Their strategies aim to persuade Italian readers by presenting a “special” subset of educated, conformist migrants, while downplaying class consciousness and structural racism. However, these ideological and aesthetic choices cannot be properly understood without a systemic view of this type of literature.

Bibliografia romanelor memoriei din spațiul românesc (1990–2022)

Author(s): Andreea Mironescu,Cosmin Borza,Mihai Iovănel,Adriana Stan / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2024

This article offers the first bibliography of the memory novels published in the Romanian literary space between 1990–2022. The novel of memory is a literary genre with a global spread, and at the same time a prominent national (sub)genre, spanning from postcolonial societies to post-dictatorial and post-communist cultures. Using lexicographical sources, as well as catalogues and search engines developed by the most important libraries and publishing houses, we identified 230 memory novels released in Romania (and, incidentally, in the Republic of Moldova) during the last three decades. For each item we provide the full bibliographical reference. Additionally, we propose five labels covering the subgenres of the novel of memory: testimonial novel, post-testimonial novel, coming of age novel, transgenerational novel and historiographic metafiction. We use one of these five labels to annotate each item in our list, in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the formal, thematic, and mnemonic diversity of the memory novels.

Тезиси върху първите славянски юридически текстове: идеология и културна доминация

Author(s): Ivan Biliarsky,Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 35/2025

The authors aim to re-examine the first translated Slavonic legal texts through the prism of ideological conceptualisation and various socio-political models in the reception of Byzantine culture. In this sense, law is not only a value but also a protector of other values, since the creation of a normative system is essential for the entire civilisational complex. The study proposes an ideological, thematic and chronological classification of the known legal models. It is based on their different functions in Great Moravia and the First Bulgarian Empire: Christianisation, unity of the state, evangelisation of all Western Slavs in the so-called Great Moravian legal monuments, subordinated to the missionary work of Sts Cyril and Methodius. In the Preslav circle – ideological justification of Tsar Symeon’s imperial claims and sign of identity in direct relation to the heritage of the Roman Empire and the Pax Romana. In addition to these, and as a conclusion to this relatively early process of legal reception, the Nomocanon of St. Sava of Serbia of the early 13th century stands out. It summarises the achievements of the previous three centuries and offers perspectives for further development.