“AFTER THE LEAVES HAVE FALLEN” ZEN AND THE ENLIGHTENING OF THE SELF IN MODERNIST POETRY

Author(s): Octavian More / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“After the Leaves Have Fallen”. Zen and the Enlightening of the Self in Modernist Poetry. This paper sets out to examine a number of connections between Modernist poetry and the path towards the enlightening of the self in accordance with the Buddhist/Zen perspective on the role of meditation, spiritual advancement, as well as the search for balance and harmony. Through a metaphorical reading of certain Modernist efforts to incorporate Oriental material, we attempt to shed light on the ways in which poets of the age sought to provide answers to the problem of the individual living in a world marked by dichotomies, fragmentation and the alienation of subject from object.

BETWEEN PROLOGUE AND MINIATURE – THE “MEANING OF HISTORY”

Author(s): Laura Lazăr Zăvăleanu / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

Between Prologue and Miniature – the “Meaning of History”: Notes on the Hypostases of a Woman in Love in Three Romanian Manuscripts from the End of the Eighteenth Century. This study analyses two of the most representative popular books of the period, The History of Erotocrit and Aretusa and The History of Filerot and Anthusa, focusing not only on the textual body of these narratives but also on the “theoretical” contribution of their Prologues and on the imagery of the miniatures from these valuable manuscripts. These popular romances explore the hypostases of a powerful, self-assertive femininity, confident in its spiritual force and attributes, which seeks to impose itself also as a social force to be reckoned with in a society where marriage represents a contract, and the idea of a couple still precludes the protagonists’ rights to individual freedom.

INTERTEXTUALITY IN ANGELA CARTER’S SHORT STORIES

Author(s): Maria Măţel-Boatcă / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“Intertextuality in Angela Carter’s Short Stories”. The ambiguous status of the short stories from the volume The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter, where erudite and folkloric references corroborate magic realism, engenders a questioning of the literary genre. After having differentiated between children’s literature and fairy tales, we examine the pastiche and parody elements, arguing for the parodic qualities of these texts. Our demonstration in favour of comic intentionality concludes with an analysis of intertextual and intercultural referencing.

FROM CENTRE TO MARGINS: SOUTH AFRICA MEETS THE ARAB WORLD

Author(s): Luiza Caraivan / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“From Centre to Margins: South Africa Meets the Arab World”.The paper analyses the new perspectives in Nadine Gordimer’s writings, focusing on her 2001 novel The Pickup. The concepts of home, relocation and cultural diversity are examined as they represent the key factors defining the two communities presented in the novel: South Africa and the Arab world.

FACTUAL AND FIGURAL: ON DANIEL MENDELSOHN’S THE LOST

Author(s): Mircea Crăciun / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

Factual and Figural: On Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost. My intention here is to point out some of the inexhaustible hermeneutical possibilities engendered by a masterpiece that, to my knowledge, is hardly known to the Romanian readers, except, perhaps, for academic circles. Mendelsohn’s novel, The Lost, is a palimpsest account of an abominable family saga with which Truman Capote’s famous concoction “the non-fiction novel” is transgressed in a brilliant intertextual game between factual and figural.

THE GOVERNING DYNAMICS OF PATRIARCHY IN AHDAF SOUEIF’S IN THE EYE OF THE SUN

Author(s): Fouad Mami / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“The Governing Dynamics of Patriarchy in Ahdaf Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun”. Perhaps of direct relevance to the social status of Arab women is the experience of Egyptian women proposed by the contemporary Egyptian novelist, writing in English, Ahdaf Soueif. In In the Eye of the Sun (1992), Soueif tells the story of modern, educated and middle-class Egyptian women as they bump and fall in their marriages but ultimately win their paths towards some satisfying degree of self-understanding. Soueif’s drama does not claim to be totally successful in subverting patriarchal mindsets. Instead, the author seems to have fairly gained insights at the dynamics fueling patriarchy in today’s Arab cultural climate.

MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES IN CONSTRUCTING CHICANA IDENTITY IN SANDRA CISNEROS’ SHORT STORIES

Author(s): Amelia Nan / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“Mythological Figures in Constructing Chicana Identity in Sandra Cisneros’ Short Stories”. Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisneros turns to the mythical-historical figure of La Malinche and La Llorona processing, reinterpreting and adding to the valences of the two mythological figures in order to rebuilt and reassert Chicana identity. The aim of this study is to investigate the way in which Sandra Cisneros remodels and reinterprets the essence of two of the most prominent mythological female figures drawn directly from the Hispanic heritage of Mexican American culture in two of her short stories, Little Miracles, Kept Promises and Woman Hollering Creek, where use of mythological figures for redefining identity is most visible.

VICTORIAN ISSUES IN OLIVER TWIST: A JORDANIAN PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Sabah A. Shakury / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

Victorian Issues in Oliver Twist: A Jordanian Perspective. The purpose of this study is to explore an important topic in the Victorian novel from a Jordanian perspective: Dickens's protest against the social conditions of his age and the moral codes which justified those conditions. In Oliver Twist Dickens describes children as the helpless victims of the new industrial world. He uses particular people and places as a context for his presentation of the “strange disease” of modern life.

“ARE YOU WRITING YOUR GREAT BOOK, I MEAN THE FINAL ONE?” IRIS MURDOCH IN 2010

Author(s): Sofia De Melo Araújo / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“Are you writing your great book, I mean the final one?”Iris Murdoch in 2010. 2010, a decade since the death of Iris Murdoch, saw the coming to light of vast production on this author’s literary and philosophical work. These last three years as a whole have witnessed vast interest in the study of Murdoch worldwide. From the work coming out in 2010, I chose to highlight seven particular publications, quite distinct among themselves. This contribution is a comparative review of those works.

HISTORY AND MEMORY IN THE OLD SOUTH: CONSTRUCTIONS OF FEMALE IDENTITY IN KATHERINE ANNE PORTER’S THE OLD ORDER

Author(s): Iulia-Andreea Milică / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“History and Memory in the Old South: Constructions of Female Identity in Katherine Anne Porter’s The Old Order”. History and memory are, for many Southern writers, important elements in the process of shaping the Southern mind. In this context, growing up in the South is a complicated phenomenon, the young Southerner being split between pressures of the family past and traditions and his or her personal ideals. Female identity formation in the South is an even more intricate matter in a world dominated by the authority of the white male, in which white women and black slaves share, in different degrees, a submissive position and are forced to cope with this situation. The purpose of the paper is to examine the construction of female identity in the old South, as it was depicted by Katherine Anne Porter in the collection of short stories The Old Order.

SHAPERS OF FEMALE IDENTITY IN ELIZA HAYWOOD’S FANTOMINA

Author(s): Camelia Teglaş / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“Shapers of Female Identity in Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina”. Eliza Haywood, who shared the literary scene with authors like Defoe, Swift and Pope, was the most prolific female writer of the eighteenth century. A fine observer of humans and human relationships, she wrote frankly about sexuality and provided powerful insights in the complexity of romance and marriage. Fantomina, often referred to as "novella" or "short-story" by scholars, follows the story of a heroine who disguises herself as four different women, assuming four different identities to seduce the man she loves. The article analyses the elements that contribute to the development of female identity in Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina focussing on concepts such as body, name, female, human interactions.

TRANSFEMINIZING POSTFEMINISM: ACKER RE-WRITES THE TRANS-, BAISE-MOI RE-READS THE POST-

Author(s): Eduardo Barros Grela / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“Transfeminizing Postfeminism: Acker Re-Writes the Trans-, Baise-Moi Re-Reads the Post-”. Through the discussion of Kathy Acker’s novels Great Expectations (1982) and In Memoriam to Identity (1990), and Virginie Despentes´s film Baise Moi, this article discusses the different ramifications of postfeminism—in particular, transfeminism. Space is used here to reveal—and contest—new forms of women objectification.

MADAME DE MAINTENON ET LA CULTURE ROUMAINE

Author(s): Ileana Mihaila / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2011

Madame de Maintenon et la culture roumaine. The purpose of this paper is to offer an outline of Madame de Maintenon’s reception in Romanian culture. Her name, although unknown as a writer, may be found in Romanian newspapers as early as 1907. Several articles in the literary journals would be dedicated to Madame de Maintenon. They presented her personality, her life, and her rich correspondence, through which “she went down into French literary history”.

FROM KATHERINE MANSFIELD TO BONNIE BURNARD

Author(s): Mihaela Mudure / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

From Katherine Mansfield to Bonnie Burnard. This paper is a comparative close reading of two short stories: Katherine Mansfield’s The Wind Blows and Bonnie Burnard’s Music Lessons. The comparison leads to more general conclusions about the importance of the image of the child in post-colonial literatures.

BOOK REVIEWS

Author(s): Amelia Nan,Anca – Ioana Maier,Andreea Gianina Bera / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

Southern Identity with Flannery O’Connor. Iulia Andreea Blănuţă - Southern Cultural Dimensions in Flannery O’Connor’s Fiction. Iulia Andreea Blănuţă. Iaşi: Universitas XXI, 2008. 302 pp. An Indian Approach to Classical and Modern Literature. The Atlantic Critical Review, vol. 8, no. 3 and 4,2010. The Portrayal of an Age: Elizabethan England. Percec, Dana, Andreea Şerban & Andreea Verteş-Olteanu, Anglia Elizabetană – Ghid de istorie culturală (Elizabethan England – A Cultural History Guide), Timişoara, Editura Eurostampa, 2010, 272p.

THE DEIRDRE LEGEND REVISITED BY YEATS, SYNGE, AND LADY GREGORY. A TURKISH PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Gönül Bakay / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

“The Deirdre Legend Revisited by Yeats, Synge, and Lady Gregory. A Turkish Perspective”. This paper deals with the different treatment of the Deirdre legend by three Irish authors: Synge, Yeats, and Lady Gregory. What linked these writers was their desire to prove the artistic and the conceptual value of Irish mythology. It is also important to point to the important role the idealized Irish woman played in this mythology, an element which is particularly relevant for a Turkish reader of these texts.

LA DISSIDENCE AU FÉMININ (1945-1989). UN DÉFI POLITIQUE DE LA POÉTIQUE FÉMININE

Author(s): Corina Boldeanu / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2011

“Feminine Dissidence. A Political Challenge of Feminine Poetics”.The paper focuses on Romanian women poetry written under the Communist Regime in order to see the influences of a totalitarian regime upon this poetry. The approach is emphasized on the writing of four poets belonging to different generations with the aim of revealing the common denominator of their work that goes in the direction of lyrical impersonalization based on ethical responsibility.

UN CÉLIBATAIRE AUX SENSIBILITÉS DIFFÉRENTES. UNE RE-LECTURE QUEER DE GOUVERNAIL DANS« A RESPECTABLE WOMAN » PAR KATE CHOPIN

Author(s): Zénó Vernyik / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2011

"Un célibataire aux sensibilités différentes. Une re-lecture queer de Gouvernail dans « A Respectable Woman » par Kate Chopin". This paper deals with Gouvernail, a literate, urban intellectual from the story “A Respectable Woman” by Kate Chopin. Our claim is that we may read this text in a way that is thoroughly different from the usual readings. Namely, we claim that the heterosexual love triangle from the story veils a sexually more controversial one. Our reading strategy is homographesis, which means identifying a textual occurrence that has more than one possible signifieds. In our case, the compulsory story, veils the subversive other and, thus, unveils a radically different, queer text.

Editorial Board and Notes for Contributors

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2011

CLIL in Tertiary Education: Does it Have Anything to Offer?

Author(s): Lilija Vilkancienė / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2011

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) as an innovative educational approach reflects EU policies of promoting multilingualism in Europe. It takes language learning beyond traditional topics and curriculum by offering non-linguistic content as the basis for learning and teaching. CLIL builds on the principles of ‘good’ teaching and learning, namely, active involvement of students, current and authentic materials, active teaching and learning methods, task or project based learning. It views learning as a social process during which knowledge is constructed by being actively involved in ‘meaningful’ communication, group activities and doing cognitively demanding tasks. CLIL is promoted as means of solving problems of traditional language learning, such as sometimes unsatisfactory student achievement levels, lack of student motivation, overcrowded curriculum. Tertiary education has relied for many years on offering LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) courses for students, where the content for language learning is taken from their field of study, i. e. business, law or sciences or is based on developing academic skills. However, it seems that innovative ideas are needed to adapt this kind of teaching to the challenges of the 21st century and apply interdisciplinary curriculum development approaches to designing integrated courses. The article is based on the literature analysis and a survey conducted at ISM (University of Management and Economics) in order to find out students’ attitude to using problem-based tasks in their language classes, i. e. introduction of integrated content and language learning into their studies. The article analyses key dimensions of both LSP and CLIL by looking at main similarities and differences of both approaches and identifies the main aspects that can enrich traditional tertiary level language classes.