Didactismo y moralidad en la labor de traducción de Joaquina García Balmaseda (1837-1911)

Joaquina García Balmaseda (1837-1911) es hoy en día una escritora conocida por sus contribuciones a la literatura y el periodismo de mediados del siglo XIX. Existen muchas referencias a su producción literaria y a sus colaboraciones en revistas femeninas de la época, diseminadas en artículos y capítulos de libros; sin embargo, su labor como traductora no ha sido tan estudiada. El inmenso catálogo de traducciones de Balmaseda pone de relieve la importancia que tuvo esta parcela en su propia obra y, a la vez, muestra cómo contribuyó a divulgar los escritores europeos más importantes de su tiempo (George Sand, Paul Féval, Alexandre Dumas y Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens y Mary Elizabeth Braddon entre otros). García Balmaseda ejerció un papel muy importante como mediadora cultural, sobre todo, en La Correspondencia de España (1860-1925), revista en la que colaboró asiduamente con sus traducciones. Destaca la inmediatez con la que tradujo las obras, lo dificultoso que resultaba trasladar y acortar novelas de grandes dimensiones para acomodarlas a la prensa. Ahora bien, sus convicciones ideológicas se hallan en el germen de sus producciones literarias y de traducción. En estas, suprime partes que no considera apropiadas para el lector de la época; modifica el argumento y lo acomoda para que forme parte de esa «literatura edificante» tan propia de la época isabelina. En la mayoría de los casos, las supresiones o cambios afectan a cuestiones políticas, morales y religiosas, a expresiones contrarias a la tradición, matrimonio, familia o valores de la patria.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: An Authentic Didactic Source for English Language Acquisition and Moral Value Teaching

In the language acquisition and teaching-learning process, the use of good and authentic didactic sources in the classroom is a prerequisite to help students develop language skills efficiently. The choice of these materials may be made based on engaging, interesting, and motivating themes aiming at developing students’ awareness. In the same vein, this project has been designed to suggest Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol as a teaching tool that can help students not only improve their linguistic competences, but also build their character. In other words, English Language Teaching and morality are inseparable and should be taught in the classroom.

"A Strange Fever of the Nerves and Blood": Nervous Illness in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century

<p>In the nineteenth century, the discussion of personal health and wellbeing became almost a national pastime. With publications such as the British Medical Journal and Lancet freely accessible to the everyday reader, common medical terms and diagnoses were readily absorbed by the public. In particular, the nineteenth century saw the rapid rise of the ‘nervous illness’ – sicknesses which had no apparent physical cause, but had the capacity to cripple their victims with (among other things) delirium, tremors and convulsions. As part of the rich social life of this popular class of disorder, writers of fiction within the nineteenth century also participated in the public dialogue on the subject. Authors such as Charlotte Brontë, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all constructed narratives involving nervous sufferers, particularly hypochondriacs and victims of brain fever. Despite writing in a wide variety of genres ranging from Gothic to realist, the roles played by the illnesses within the texts of these authors remain a vital feature of the plot, either as a hindrance to the protagonists (by removing key players from the plot at a critical moment) or a method of revealing deeper aspects of their character. Nervous illnesses carried with them social stigmas: men could be rendered feminine; women could be branded recklessly passionate or even considered visionaries as ideas about the nerves, the supposed seat of emotion and passion, brought into sharp relief the boundaries between physical and mental suffering, and physical and spiritual experiences. The central aim of this thesis is to examine the cultural understanding of nervous illness and how nineteenth-century texts interacted with and challenged this knowledge. It focuses on how nineteenth-century authors of different genres – particularly the Gothic, sensation and realist genres – use the common convention of nervous illness – particularly hypochondria and brain fever – to develop their protagonists and influence the plot. Through comparisons between literary symptoms and those recorded by contemporary sufferers and their physicians, this thesis analyses the way that the cultural concept of nervous illness is used by four principal Victorian authors across a range of their works, looking at how hypochondria and brain fever function within their plots and interact with gender and genre conventions to uphold and subvert the common tropes of each. Whether it aids or hinders the protagonist, or merely gives the reader an insight into their personality, nervous illness in the Victorian novel was a widely used convention which speaks not only of the mindset of the author, but also of the public which so willingly received it.</p>

"A Strange Fever of the Nerves and Blood": Nervous Illness in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century

<p>In the nineteenth century, the discussion of personal health and wellbeing became almost a national pastime. With publications such as the British Medical Journal and Lancet freely accessible to the everyday reader, common medical terms and diagnoses were readily absorbed by the public. In particular, the nineteenth century saw the rapid rise of the ‘nervous illness’ – sicknesses which had no apparent physical cause, but had the capacity to cripple their victims with (among other things) delirium, tremors and convulsions. As part of the rich social life of this popular class of disorder, writers of fiction within the nineteenth century also participated in the public dialogue on the subject. Authors such as Charlotte Brontë, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all constructed narratives involving nervous sufferers, particularly hypochondriacs and victims of brain fever. Despite writing in a wide variety of genres ranging from Gothic to realist, the roles played by the illnesses within the texts of these authors remain a vital feature of the plot, either as a hindrance to the protagonists (by removing key players from the plot at a critical moment) or a method of revealing deeper aspects of their character. Nervous illnesses carried with them social stigmas: men could be rendered feminine; women could be branded recklessly passionate or even considered visionaries as ideas about the nerves, the supposed seat of emotion and passion, brought into sharp relief the boundaries between physical and mental suffering, and physical and spiritual experiences. The central aim of this thesis is to examine the cultural understanding of nervous illness and how nineteenth-century texts interacted with and challenged this knowledge. It focuses on how nineteenth-century authors of different genres – particularly the Gothic, sensation and realist genres – use the common convention of nervous illness – particularly hypochondria and brain fever – to develop their protagonists and influence the plot. Through comparisons between literary symptoms and those recorded by contemporary sufferers and their physicians, this thesis analyses the way that the cultural concept of nervous illness is used by four principal Victorian authors across a range of their works, looking at how hypochondria and brain fever function within their plots and interact with gender and genre conventions to uphold and subvert the common tropes of each. Whether it aids or hinders the protagonist, or merely gives the reader an insight into their personality, nervous illness in the Victorian novel was a widely used convention which speaks not only of the mindset of the author, but also of the public which so willingly received it.</p>

A Study on Oliver Twist's Sadness in Charles Dicken's Novel

This research uses the innovative Oliver Twist novel. The purpose of this study is to describe the sadness that can be taken as a lesson from the main character in the Oliver Twist novel, and to show how the sadness is presented by the main character. This research deals with how sadness affects learning and can be found in a novel by Charles Dickens. In this scientific study and research, the writer uses descriptive qualitative to describe, analyze, and discuss research problems. Other information relevant to the investigation is also being sought by the researchers. The author conducted a research question to find how sadness can be reduced by studying "Oliver Twist" in a story from a functionalist perspective, symbol perspective, conflict, and perspective. After analyzing Oliver Twist novel the author found some sadness that can make life lessons in the main character, such as fortitude, sympathy, courage, honesty, cooperation, gratitude, not giving up easily, humility, and kindness.

Symbolism in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist (1837-9): A critical study: الرمزية الأدبية في رواية تشارلز ديكنز "أوليفر تويست" دراسة نقدية

When Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist in the 1830s, poverty and crime were huge problems in London. To highlight these problems throughout his novel, the author used various literary techniques to create an interaction between the reader and the text in which text can have multiple meanings that can shift over the time. Thus, he uses symbols to evoke a range of additional meaning and significance. His purpose is to get the reader’s attention to construct meaning as the plot progress to what he intends to communicate about innocent individuals or villainous ones. Symbolism, irony, and satire were among the tools he used in his work. They work together to convey a deeper embedded meaning to cast suggestions about the development of the novel to emphasize the point the author seeks to stress throughout the novel. Drawing upon the importance of literary devices in unfolding the thematic concerns of the novel, this paper seeks to run an in-depth analysis of how symbolism played a vital role throughout Oliver Twist. The paper argues that through symbolism, the author channels meaning in Oliver Twist to develop the thematic concerns of the novel in creative ways to shape the reader’s response and to create a strong bond between the reader and the text. The paper argues that literary symbolism in Charles Dickens’s novel is based on evoking the mental image in the reader’s mind to structure meaning through his/her interaction with the text and then shaping his response according to his/her experience. It also creates a strong bond between the reader and the text.

Encountering Charles Dickens: The Lawyer’s Muse

This article explores the themes of the practical impact of law in society, the life of the law, and the character of the lawyer (in both senses of the term), as reflected in the works of Charles Dickens. I argue that, in creating memorable scenes and images of the life of the law, Charles Dickens is indeed the lawyer’s muse. Dickens – who had worked as a junior clerk in Gray’s Inn and a court reporter early in his career – outpaces other well-known writers of “legal thrillers” when it comes to assimilating the life of the law into his literary works. The centrepiece in this regard is an extended study and analysis of Bleak House. The novel is shaped throughout by a challenged and long-running estate case in Chancery Court, and it is largely about the impact of controversy on the many lawyers involved in the case. It has all the earmarks of a true “law and literature” text - a terrible running joke about chancery practice, serious professional responsibility issues, and a murdered lawyer. Keywords: Charles Dickens; Law and Literature; the Life of the Law.

A tale of two Dickenses: Or, learning as fact, fiction and play

Over the years, a small industry has sprung up dedicated to preserving writers’ homes and birthplaces, offering the chance to see first-hand the circumstances under which their key texts were written. Experiencing an insight into, say, Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, or Hardy’s Wessex cottage, or the Bronte parsonage in Haworth, is widely held to be an educational experience, enhancing our appreciation of the link between the life and work of the author in question. Axiomatically – and simplistically – literary heritage sites like these might seem to offer the “truth” behind the “fiction”, by showing the visitor the “real” world behind the “imaginative” writing. Thus, the educational experience they offer is often said to consist in providing an insight into context (historical/biographical, landscape and setting, etc.). This study sets out to challenge this assumption. As case studies, it will discuss two very (very!) different literary heritage sites: the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum in Portsmouth and the now-defunct literary theme park Dickens World, which finally closed its doors in 2016. The former offers a biographical and historical interpretation of Dickens, ostensibly grounded in reality and truth – although the truth claims made for the museum are shown to be somewhat contestable. The latter appealed far more to the imagination, and to ‘free play’ with the text, than it did to truth. Obviously, these sites involve two completely different conceptions of what it is to provide an experience of literary education. The two are compared and contrasted, with passing reference to thinkers such as Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Kendall Walton and Mikhail Bakhtin, with a view to challenging and dismantling the commonsensical view that the educational value of literary heritage sites consists in revealing the truth behind the fiction.