Looking for Shakespeare: The global and the local in Mauritian Shakespeare adaptation and classroom practice

This article considers manifestations of both global and local Shakespeares in Mauritius. It starts with Dev Virahsawmy’s Shakespeare adaptations – Toufann (1991) in particular – as a well-known point of reference, placing the globalisation of Shakespeare in a localised (Mauritian) space into perspective via a discussion of language and context. The authors then reflect on the use of YouTube in the teaching of Shakespeare in undergraduate classes at the University of Mauritius, with selected adverts and music videos exemplifying a new ‘mash-up’ form of Shakespeare. Both Shakespeare and YouTube are carriers/channels of culture; while Shakespeare remains an emblematic figure, however, tertiary level classroom practice challenges the notion that his works are ‘timeless’ and ‘universal’.

Living Simulacrum

The Neoplastic Room at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź was originally designed in 1948 by the avant-garde artist Władysław Strzemiński. Destroyed in 1950 and reconstructed in 1960, it became the focal point of the museum, with the ‘International Collection of Modern Art’ by the a.r. group being exhibited there. At the same time, it became a point of reference for contemporary artists and a strategy for building a permanent collection for the museum, as well as a reflection on how the past can give a vision of the future. This essay focuses on the gesture of ‘re-curating’ the Neoplastic Room in relation to the performative practice of the artists involved (e.g., Daniel Buren, Elżbieta Jabłońska).

How Online Counselling Is Utilised, Evaluated, and Received

This chapter covers the broad range of online counselling work, using the COVID-19 era as a point of reference. It provides an overview of online applications of counselling and psychotherapy at pre-COVID-19 time and informs the reader of how online counselling provision has been accelerated during the pandemic. A theoretical overview of the key counselling and therapeutic processes as conceptualised in the cyberspace which considers six distinct modes of online communication are provided. An evaluation and the review of the latest efficacy and effectiveness research evidence of online counselling is also provided. The key benefits and challenges of digitalised therapeutic interventions from the clients' and therapists' perspectives covering pre and during COVID-19 are identified. Attention is drawn to existing studies on counselling engagement, adherence, outreach, non-stigmatising counselling practices, power imbalances in the counselling process, and therapy outcomes.

Image and Word in Postmodern Poetry: Friederike Mayröcker’s BROTWOLKE

This article explores the interplay of visual arts and poetic images in postmodern poetry, focusing on the case of Friederike Mayröcker’s poem BROTWOLKE, nach Karla Woisnitza (1996) [BREADCLOUD, after Karla Woisnitza]. The article shows that BROTWOLKE belongs to a group of texts whose titles indicate an ekphrasis or an intermedial quality, but whose specific point of reference is absent. Rather than referencing to a specific painting, the poem thus showcases different aspects of the visual. Offering a close reading of the poem, the article explores Mayröcker’s special technique of image-writing and its dynamic effect on the reader. The article argues that the poem both “shows the word” and “writes the image.” It is shown that Mayröcker’s stream-of-consciousness is a process that refers to the act of writing in the first place and then to an inventory of texts and images that float the text as a stream of sense-data.

Bolesław Leśmian in Italy: Milo De Angelis and his heavenly journey

The artistic creativity of Bolesław Leśmian – remarkably colourful, musical, and philosophically versatile – has endeared him to readers worldwide over the course of a century. In spite of many socio-political barriers, Leśmian’s poetry become a point of reference, as was the case in Italy in the 1970s. At this time a fi rst encounter with the works of the Polish artist became a crucial moment for a young poet – Milo De Angelis. After a stay in Warsaw, De Angelis founded a literary magazine called “Niebo”, number 11 of which was entirely dedicated to Leśmian, whose visions profoundly infl uenced the poetics of the Italian author, even in later years.

Kompromitacja, słabość, tandeta? Kultura materialna NRD w filmie po 1990 roku na wybranych przykładach [Disgrace, Weakness, Rubbish? Material Culture of the GDR in Selected German Films After 1990]

Disgrace, Weakness, Rubbish? Material Culture of the GDR in Selected German Films After 1990The article focuses on the material culture of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as portrayed in selected German films made after 1990 and set in the GDR. The objects that are used in the films serve as a special kind of artefacts, symbolizing the reality of the GDR and defining it as imperfect, below expectations, and inefficient in meeting consumer demand. An important point of reference in the article is the context of post-communist nostalgia, which is a source of interesting symbolic redefinitions. Kompromitacja, słabość, tandeta? Kultura materialna NRD w filmie po 1990 roku na wybranych przykładachArtykuł dotyczy problematyki rzeczy codziennego użytku przedstawionych w wybranych filmach niemieckich realizowanych po 1990 roku a rozgrywających się w realiach Niemieckiej Republiki Demokratycznej. Przedmioty, które zostają użyte w filmach, występują w roli szczególnych artefaktów, symbolizujących rzeczywistość NRD i określających ją jako niedoskonałą, niespełniającą oczekiwań, konsumpcyjnie niewydolną. Istotnym punktem odniesienia w artykule jest kontekst nostalgii postkomunistycznej, która jest źródłem interesujących znaczeniowych przewartościowań.

Herbarium Polonorum (Heimatphotographie)

Herbarium Polonorum (Heimatphotographie)The main theme of the text is the wartime and postwar history of the area of the German Nazi extermination camp Treblinka II, seen from the perspective of the production of landscape – with a special focus on the identity aspect, i.e. the nationalization of nature and the naturalization of the nation. The argument refers to imaging conventions of nature and ethnographic photography, like the German Heimatphotographie and the Polish Fatherland Photography, that go along with landscape production.This paper also touches upon the issue of classification as the principle organizing the workings of the human mind as well as the uses made of classification in terms of cognition and identity – up to and including the deadly consequences thereof. Another crucial point of reference is the history of the herbarium as a form of organizing knowledge (Maria Sibylla Merian, Rosa Luxemburg, Szymon Syreński) and its connections with the visual arts (Krzysztof Jung, Alina Szapocznikow).The rich iconography illustrates the analyzed representation patterns, with particular focus on the axiosemiotics of Polish antisemitism, going back to its elitist forms in Jagiellonian Poland. The text summarizes fifteen years of the author’s work on Herbarium, a photographic project carried out on the site of the former German Nazi extermination camp Treblinka II.Herbarium Polonorum (Heimatphotographie)Osnową tekstu jest wojenna i powojenna historia terenu niemieckiego nazistowskiego obozu zagłady Treblinka II z perspektywy produkcji krajobrazu – ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem aspektu tożsamościowego, czyli unarodowienia natury i naturalizacji narodu. Wywód odnosi się do towarzyszących tej produkcji konwencji obrazowania w fotografii przyrodniczej i krajoznawczej, takich jak niemiecka Heimatphotographie i polska fotografia ojczysta.Poruszone zostało też zagadnienie klasyfikacji jako zasady funkcjonowania ludzkiego umysłu wraz z jej zastosowaniami poznawczymi oraz/lub tożsamościowymi – do morderczych konsekwencji włącznie. Ważny punkt odniesienia stanowi ponadto historia zielnika jako formy organizacji wiedzy (Maria Sibylla Merian, Róża Luksemburg, Szymon Syreński) oraz jej związki ze w sztukami wizualnymi (Krzysztof Jung, Alina Szapocznikow). Bogaty materiał ilustracyjny odnosi się do analizowanych sposobów reprezentacji ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem aksjosemiotyki polskiego antysemityzmu, sięgając do jego elitarnych form w Polsce Jagiellonów. Tekst podsumowuje piętnaście lat pracy autorki nad projektem fotograficznym Zielnik na terenie byłego niemieckiego nazistowskiego obozu zagłady Żydów Treblinka II.

PERPETUAL PARADOXES: A NEW CRITICAL READING OF “THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE” AND “STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING”

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by R. Frost and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by W. B. Yeats are two of the most representative poems of these poets. Part of their universal appeal lies in their messages and their craftsmanship, and both the qualities relate to the New Critical conception of poetry. Since New Criticism as a literary theory, originating in the early twentieth century, seeks to explore poems through some central points of references in a close reading, this present study takes paradoxes as a central point of reference for a close reading of the two poems and attempts to unveil their poetic enigma by examining what tensions the paradoxes create through the speakers’ grappling with the dilemmas they are facing, how the paradoxes are being resolved or left unresolved, what similarities the two poems share in this regard, and what poetic unity the poems ultimately attain through the development of these paradoxes.

Strategies and Techniques for the Internationalization of Non-Dominant Firms: A Qualitative Study

This study focuses on the strategies and techniques used by small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to join and dominate large firms in global markets. The analytical works refer to the prevailing writings on international markets and entrepreneurship. Based on the categorizations and analyses of the themes and sub-themes, the historical development of global markets and theories is recounted, thereby creating a foundation for assessing the strategies and techniques of non-dominant firms. The findings indicate that the number of small and medium enterprises joining international markets is growing due to the adoption of robust strategies and techniques. An international model is proposed, which consists of three techniques of the Diaspora approach, social media approach, and re-approach, along with strategies that consist of three dimensions: a big dream or desire to internationalize, a need to internationalize, and an ability to internationalize." This paper provides a point of reference for practitioners and researchers interested in attaining comprehensive insight into internationalization.