scholarly journals City image as a personification of female nature in “The Dead [City of] Bruges” by Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-109
Author(s):  
Marina A. Kozlova

The paper is devoted to the peculiarities of the creation of the personified image of the city in the novel “The Dead [City of] Bruges” by Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach, which, according to the author himself, represents not only the protagonist, but also its organising force. The Belgian author draws on an earlier literary tradition, according to which the city appears to the poet's mind in the form of a woman. The image of the city is built on the combination and interaction of different elements, among which those that are considered in the article: the theme of duality, the motif of reflection, which becomes the main constructional principle of the image system of the novel, as well as references to mythological and literary archetypes. The theme of duplicity is directly connected with the category of correspondence or analogy, which is central to Rodenbach's oeuvre and forms a peculiar poetics of reflection and determines the choice of expressive means. Dualism is associated with a hostile, dark and demonic force, contrasted with the "holy" and infallible feminine ideal, embodied in the image of the perished beloved, who is also a prototype of the city. The poeticised image of the city is related to archetypical figures that are typical of European symbolism – first of all, Ophelia, but also Orpheus and Narcissus, all this through an appeal to the symbolism of water and the otherworld, then through the main character's attempt to overcome the border between worlds and create a new myth about love that defeats death.

Ars Aeterna ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Martin Boszorád ◽  
Simona Klimková

Abstract The paper focuses on the phenomenon of urban fantasy with a particular interest in the topos of a city, which assumes great significance as a thematic and motivic element in the subgenre. The authors touch upon the relation between (sub)genre and topos/topoi in general, but also more specifically, between urban fantasy and the city, regarding the urban area as a distinct setting with a specific atmosphere, character or genius loci. Within this frame, the paper seeks to exemplify the aforementioned relations through an interpretative study of Neil Gaiman’s novel Neverwhere, which breathes life into the London underground scene. London Below comes to personify, literally, the vices of London Above via the use of anthropomorphic strategies. Moreover, the spatial peculiarities of the novel not only contribute to the creation of the fantastical atmosphere but they also function as a vehicle of social critique and a constitutive element of the protagonist’s transformation.


Author(s):  
Sergey V. Ryazantsev ◽  
◽  
Alexey V. Smirnov ◽  

The novel of the Nobel Prize winner in literature Albert Camus "The Plague" became one of the most widely read books in Europe during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. A number of researchers consider Camus to be an existentialist writer. Existentialism arises, after two bloody wars, to give answers to questions that concern humanity. Since Albert Camus wrote the novel during the Second World War, he understands the plague not only as a disease, but also as German soldiers, whom the inhabitants of France called the "brown plague" because the invaders wore brown shirts. As the inhabitants of the city of Oran resisted the plague on the pages of the work, so the inhabitants of France fought against Nazism and fascism. A. Camus in the novel "The Plague" describes the quarantine measures that take place in the city of Oran in the 40s of the XX century. The consequences of the epidemic and the behavior of the residents described in the novel have much in common with modern coronavirus realities: the decline of the economy, the growth of the number of unemployed, protests against the quarantine measures introduced; the introduction of curfews, the creation of new medicines, etc. In Russia, as in the pages of the novel, there is a decline in the economy. Thus, during the pandemic in Russia, the number of registered unemployed increased from 1.3 million people to 4.8 million, and the appeal to employment centers for support measures increased from 20% to 80%. Camus in his novel writes about the creation of an anti-plague serum, in Russia, the first in the world, a vaccine against coronavirus infection "Sputnik V" was created. The director of the hotel, described in the work, said that due to the epidemic and quarantine, the tourist business disappeared. According to the World Tourism Organization — tourism at the end of 2020 it has decreased by 77% compared to 2019, which is equivalent to the tourist activity that was recorded in the late 80s. Stray animals were shot in Oran, because they believed that they could be carriers of infection. In China, during the Covid-19 pandemic, pets were thrown out of windows because people believed that they could be the source of Covid-19, and in Denmark, more than 11 million minks were exterminated for the same reasons. The authors of this article attempted to analyze the development of the epidemiological process in the novel and plot the mortality rate from the plague according to the data of the work.


Neophilology ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Vladimir Viktorovich Kolchanov

The historical and political prototypes are the material for the creation of bright and memorable images in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov “Fatal eggs” are described: A.S. Rokk (chief commander of the Workers' And Peasants' Red Army S.S. Kamenev), Polaitis (Marshal M.N. Tukhachevsky), Shchukin (A.I. Egorov), “red-moustached driver” (a talented scientist-inventor, engineer of III rank P.K. Oshchepkov). We determine theatrical and genre sources that influenced the creation of images: mystery, farce, buffo, pantomime. The text satirical and grotesque nature the is investigated. In the framework of the farce and buffo the First Moscow process where the prototypes are is considered. The composition and genre issues are touched upon, the problem of attribution of the story is raised. To the source base of the work are added: occult novel by A. Crowley “Moonchild”, stories by A. Schnitzler “Rock”, U. Allen “Fatal Experience”, R. Market “Invention of Professor Carter”, R. Presber “Last Feast of the Last of Birkovich”, B. Lavrenev “The Child Gregory”. References to the iconic systems of the Egyptian “Book of the Dead” and the collection of Arab fairy tales “One Thousand and One Nights” are used.


Literator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Mukenge ◽  
Emmanuel Kayembe

En architecte, le narrateur monte en épingle l’histoire d’ici et d’ailleurs : après vingt années passées à Montréal, il fait un rebond chez lui, à Port-au-Prince (cfr Pays sans chapeau). À première vue, Haïti demeure le même ; c’est le statu quo que le narrateur observe : l’odeur du café est la même, la pauvreté aussi crue que violente affecte la population, les amis du narrateur sont restés fidèles à leur jeunesse. Par la même occasion, le roman relance le débat sur la pertinence de la migration, qui, du coup, semble moins centrée à une ère où l’imaginaire se situe au-delà des pays « réel » et « imaginaire » ; cette dichotomie donne une vraie valeur intrinsèque à Pays sans chapeau et démontre, de ce fait, la belle forme technique et esthétique du roman. Ainsi, nous allons chercher à démontrer comment Pays sans chapeau constitue un corpus stratégique qui se situe entre l’autobiographie, l’autofiction au delà …Fiction and reality in Pays sans chapeau (A country without a hat) by Dany Laferrière: Between autobiography autofiction and beyond. Pays sans chapeau (a country without hat) is one of the novels written by Dany Laferrière and published in 2007. This book deals with the return of the narrator, Vieux Os, to Port-au-Prince after many decades spent abroad in exile. It is also based on the painting or description of the Haitian society in which the narrator is horrified by the sheer number of the dead people or ghosts walking around together with the living in the streets of the city. He realises that the city of Port-au-Prince is overcrowded, yet he cannot distinguish the living from the dead amongst the bodies. The article aims to research the perpetual problem of the relationship between reality and fiction in autobiographical texts. An attempt will be made to determine to which category the novel Pays sans chapeau belongs. Consequently, it also analyses the dichotomy between the fictional and the real. This article will take as its theoretical point of departure Philppe Lejeune and Isabelle Grell’s definitions of autobiography and Jenny Laurent’s definition of autofiction.


Neophilology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (15) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Vladimir Viktorovich Kolchanov

The historical and political prototypes are the material for the creation of bright and memorable images in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov “Fatal eggs” are described: A.S. Rokk (chief commander of the Workers' And Peasants' Red Army S.S. Kamenev), Polaitis (Marshal M.N. Tukhachevsky), Shchukin (A.I. Egorov), “red-moustached driver” (a talented scientist-inventor, engineer of III rank P.K. Oshchepkov). We determine theatrical and genre sources that influenced the creation of images: mystery, farce, buffo, pantomime. The text satirical and grotesque nature the is investigated. In the framework of the farce and buffo the First Moscow process where the prototypes are is considered. The composition and genre issues are touched upon, the problem of attribution of the story is raised. To the source base of the work are added: occult novel by A. Crowley “Moonchild”, stories by A. Schnitzler “Rock”, U. Allen “Fatal Experience”, R. Market “Invention of Professor Carter”, R. Presber “Last Feast of the Last of Birkovich”, B. Lavrenev “The Child Gregory”. References to the iconic systems of the Egyptian “Book of the Dead” and the collection of Arab fairy tales “One Thousand and One Nights” are used.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. p13
Author(s):  
Manola Maria ◽  
Tsatalbassoglou A.

Aliano is a small village in the province of Matera (Note 1). The city is characterized by the exceptional nature and the uniqueness of a “lunar landscape”, of a vast expanse of eerie beauty. The area was not always accessible for the same reasons, it became world famous for completely different reasons and specifically through the novel of a writer called Carlo Levi (Note 2). This particular author has left a strong mark on the history of Italian literature, although his work is not very rich. The place and the conditions of his new life as an exile in a poor isolated village of southern Italy, became the reason for the creation of his most important book entitled "Christ stopped at Eboli (Note 3).The book presents the rural south of Italy through its social condition, but not only as the result of an unbearable for the country archaic condition, but also as a place of existence of an important civilization. In this way the author’s narrative, as argued by Palmieri (2020), works as an objective account that is subjectively equated to a literary form.[… Christ did not arrive at this dark land where there is no sin and redemption, where evil is not moral, but an earthly pain that always exists in life. Christ stopped at Eboli.] (Levi, p. 12).


2020 ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kwiatkowska

The article attempts to interpret the novel Mirabelle in the light of hauntology, taken from Jacques Derrida’s works, existing in the Polish literary studies first and foremost thanks to the works of Jakub Momro and Andrzej Marzec. Harasimowicz’s novel recounts the history of Warsaw from the 1920s until the present-day period. The mirabelle plum tree growing on one of the backyards in Warsaw tells the story of the following generations of the city dwellers who fade away and fall into oblivion. The Holocaust, depicted in the beginning of the novel, does not, however, become the past. The recollection of the genocide is inscribed in contemporary Warsaw, in the city space and the consciousness of its inhabitants. The phantoms of the former dwellers of Nalewki, the Jewish district in Warsaw, visit their homes, little stores, and workshops, trying to end unfinished businesses and engaging with the representatives of the present-day citizens. The gesture of remembrance, which is the replanting and redeveloping a new mirabelle tree in the place of the damaged one, gives people hope for the restoration of balance and strengthens the bonds between the living and the dead.


2020 ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
Shaima Muzher Abid Alreda Alsaedi

Dystopian literature is important in old and modern literature. It depicts a world in which everything is imperfect, chaotic and distorted. It shows a nightmarish image yet it is true in some afflicted communities. It mainly deals with war, oppression and disastrous situations. Almost all the characteristics of dystopian literature are real in Ahmed Saadawi’s novel Frankenstein in Baghdad. These characteristics are real and tangible in the place where the events of the novel occurred. These characteristics are manifested in people’s fear from the government, the American troops and terrorism attacks. Also the unstable life that they are forced to adapt.  In addition, the lack of freedom and independence create a huge gap between citizens and the government. Baghdad was devastated by many oppressive factors like: American annoying troops, terrorists’ explosions attacks, incompetent government highly officials, and militias’ sectarian attacks. The only imaginative tool of dystopia that Saadawi use is the creation of Whatsitsname.  Saadawi tries to drag his readers’ attention to a magical-realistic world. All the other incidents are real and present in everyday life in Baghdad in 2005; like the unsafe capital, the disintegration of family members, the separated limps of victims. Saadawi virtually described the dark era in Baghdad at that time. The bloodshed, the torture and massive killing was overwhelming the city.  Dystopian fiction links elements of truth that is specific to the time in which it is written in with science or imaginary elements that represent the terrifying direction we are winding to. Frankenstein in Baghdad converses this classic formula: the dystopian fundamentals of the novel are not engrained in its hypothetical and mythical elements but rather in the very real, frightening violence that Baghdad witnessed in 2005.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-145
Author(s):  
İsmail Güllü

Yarım aşırı aşan bir geçmişe sahip Almanya’ya göç olgusu beraberinde önemli bir edebi birikimi (Migrantenliteratur) de getirmiştir. Farklı adlandırmalar ile anılan bu edebi birikim, kendi içinde de farklı renkleri de barındıran bir özelliğe sahiptir. Edebi yazını besleyen en önemli kaynaklardan biri toplumdur. Yazarın içinde yaşadığı toplumsal yapı ve problemler üstü kapalı veya açık bir şekilde onun yazılarına yansımaktadır. Bu bağlamda araştırma, 50’li yaşlarında Almanya’ya giden ve ömrünün sonuna kadar orada yaşayan, birçok edebi ve düşünsel çalışması ile Türk edebiyatında önemli bir isim olan Fakir Baykurt’un “Koca Ren” ve Yüksek Fırınlar” adlı romanları ile birlikte Duisburg Üçlemesi’nin son kitabı olan “Yarım Ekmek” romanında ele aldığı konu ve roman kahramanları üzerinden din ve gelenek olgusu sosyolojik bir yaklaşımla ele alınmaktadır. Toplumcu-gerçekçi çizgide yer alan yazarın, uzun yıllar yaşadığı Türkiye’deki siyasi ve ideolojik geçmişi bu romanda kullandığı dil ve kurguladığı kahramanlarda kendini göstermektedir. Romanda Almanya’nın Duisburg şehrinde yaşayan Türklerin yeni kültürel ortamda yaşadıkları çatışma, kültürel şok, arada kalmışlık, iki kültürlülük temaları ön plandadır. Yazar romanda sadece Almanya’daki Türkleri ele almamakta, aynı zamanda Türkiye ile hatta başka ülkeler ile de ilişkilendirmeler yaparak bireysel ve toplumsal konuları ele almaktadır. Araştırmada, romanda yer alan dini ve geleneksel unsurlar sosyolojik olarak analiz edilmiştir. Genel anlamda bir göç romanı olma özelliği yanında Yarım Ekmek romanında dini, siyasi ve ideolojik birçok yorum ve tartışma söz konusudur. Romandaki bu veriler, inanç, ritüel, siyaset ve toplumsal boyutlarda kategorize edilerek ele alınmıştır.  ENGLISH ABSTRACTReligion and identity reflections in literature of immigrant: Religion and Tradition in Fakir Baykurt’s novel Yarım EkmekThe immigration fact which has nearly half century in Germany have brought a significant literal accumulation (Migrantenliteratur) in its wake. This literal accumulation, which is named as several denominations, has a feature including different colours in itself. One of the most important source snourishing literature is society. Societal structure and problems that the writer lives inside, directly or indirectly reflect on his/her compositions. In this context, the matter of religion and tradition by way of the issue and fictious characters in the novel of Fakir Baykurt who went to Germany in her 50’s and lived in there till his death and who is a considerable name in Turkish literature with his several literal and intellectual workings; “Yarım Ekmek” which is the third novel of Duisburg Trilogy with “Koca Ren” and “Yüksek Fırınlar” are discussed sociologically in the study. The political and ideological past of the socialist realist lined writer in Turkey where he spent his life for a long time, manifest itself on the speech and fictious characters of novel. In the novel, themes of new Turks’ conflict, cultural shock, being in the middle, bi culturalism in their new cultural nature in Duisburg which is the city they live in. The writer not only deals with Turks in Germany but also personal and social subjects via comparing them to Turkey and even other countries. In the study, religious and traditional elements analyzed sociologically. Besides the speciality of being a migration novel in general, there are a lot of religious, political and ideological interpretations and discussions in the novel. These datum in the novel are examinated in the context of belief, ritual, politics and social categorisation. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-162
Author(s):  
Evinc Dogan ◽  
Efe Sevin

Corvo, Paolo (2015). Food Culture, Consumption and Society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN: 9781137398161)Dogan, Evinc (2016). Image of Istanbul: Impact of ECOC 2010 on the City Image, London: Transnational Press London (ISBN: 978-1-910781-22-7)


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