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The monograph constitutes a comparative study of selected novels published after 1989 in Spain and Poland. Instead of focusing on translation or reception issues, which are generally more popular in the case of comparative literary analysis, the study consists of a structural and problem analysis of the works of five prose writers coming from two distant cultural backgrounds. The interpretative and comparative analysis is preceded by introductory remarks concerning the state of comparative studies as a discipline of modern literary and cultural studies, focusing on American, Spanish, Polish and German theories in particular. From the very first pages, the monograph reveals itself to be a site of an ongoing struggle and shifts in the scholarly focus, ranging from the work of literature itself to various contexts (gender, sociological, cultural, political, etc.) existing outside the realm of literature, as well as the return to literature understood as the center of literary comparative studies, however tautological this statement may be. In order to find her way in the multilingual tangle of statements and contradictions, the author combines several cohesive literature-centric perspectives, which allows her to create her own methodological model, which, in turn, enables her to conduct an ordered, controlled and theoretically sound comparative analysis of selected Spanish and Polish novels. The study is based on hermeneutics and intercultural literary theory proclaimed by Norbert Mecklenburg, Mieczysław Dąbrowski’s theory of comparative studies of the discourse and the discourse of comparative studies, Andrzej Hejmej’s understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of comparative studies, as well as the idea of “open comparative studies” developed by the most prominent comparative studies scholar of the 20th century, Claudio Guillén. The aforementioned concepts were created on the basis of the idea of the autotelic nature of the work of literary fiction; due to that fact, they propose a study of literature as an aesthetically autonomic form of expression which can be related to external contexts inasmuch as it contributes to a broader interpretation of the given work of literature. Another important context for the theoretical part of the monograph is genology, which points to the potential of the novel as the currently dominant genre, characterized by the greatest openness with regard to both the topics as well as structural potential. As a result, the novel-both Polish and Spanishis presented as not only a textual construct and genre framework, but also as a reflection of the postmodern hybrid culture, in which idealization remains in constant conflict with the esperpentic tendency for self-ridicule, and pompous pathos competes with everyday ordinariness, while literature, relegated to the popcultural peripheries, thanks to its constant use of metareflection, thrives and boasts one of its most creative periods since the end of the 19th century. Chapters two, three, and four constitute the interpretative and analytical part of the monograph. The research material has been ordered according to the thematic similarities between the novels, which resulted in three main axes of division: the first constitutes a literary duel with the past and tradition, the second poses a challenge to the world of art (mostly painting and photography), and the third encompasses a narrative encounter with the world of culture. The first category includes two highly intertextual novels: “Castorp” by Paweł Huelle and “París no se acaba nunca” (“Paris Has No End”) by Enrique Vila-Matas. In the case of these two authors, what is constitutive for their fiction is a particular fondness for various literary games revealing the complexity of character creation as well as multiplying the levels of autocreation, which can be seen in the overt inclusion of autobiographical or quasi-autobiographical elements into the fictional narrative. This dialogue with Nobel Prize laureates (Mann and Hemingway) in the form of a novel allows the authors to construe their creations on two levels: half-joking, half-serious. This, in turn, reflects their unique approach to the literary craft, which uses intertextuality and autothematism as a pretext for distancing oneself from taking oneself too seriously, oscillating between authenticity and mask, or even masquerade. This, in turn, allows them to add to the complexity of the fictional nature of their work and open for their readers gateways to different literary worlds created by novelists such as Fontane, Duras or Perec. Thus, both novels ultimately become a house of mirrors, in which the fictional “I” is allowed to perceive themselves from different sides and angles. Chapter three constitutes an analysis of the way famous paintings are utilized in “The Polish Rider” by Antonio Muñoz Molina and “The Last Supper” by Huelle, two novels whose construction-similarly to the previously analyzed works of literature-hinges on a dense net of intertextual references. The allusions to the traditional yet mysterious Rembrandt and provocative yet aesthetically saccharine Świeszewski are, in fact, subversive, since, even though in both cases it seems that-due to the paratextual references-the paintings become the foundation of the narrative, that assumption appears ultimately erroneous. “The Last Supper” constitutes a set of allusions to the holy books, cutting satire and ridicule of the contemporary vices of the society (mainly Polish society), as well as a manifesto of the lack of faith in contemporary art, divorced from any aesthetic aspirations and concerned primarily with the pragmatic and media aspect. Antonio Muñoz Molina, in turn, references “The Polish Rider” by Rembrandt, even though the world he creates in his novel differs significantly from that described by Huelle: it is much quieter, much more private and intimate, ruled by the digressive nature of memories. Rembrandt’s painting, then, appears to be a leitmotiv of sorts, which connects the story of the protagonist’s family with the subsequent stages of Manuel’s life in New York and Madrid, as well as brings together particular stages of Spanish history and culture, starting with the turn of the 20th century, through the 1960s, and ending with the last decade of the 20th century. Both “The Last Supper” and “The Polish Rider” constitute an expression of longing for a place of grounding in history, a verbal picture of the universal need to reconstruct the feeble link with the elusive here and now, which continues to be uncertain, changeable, and treacherous. Chapter four touches upon the comparison of two novels by younger writers: Ignacy Karpowicz (born in 1976 in Białystok) and Alejandro Cuevas (or: Alberto Escudero Fernández, born in 1973 in Valladolid). “Gestures” by Karpowicz and “Quemar las naves” (“Point of No Return”) by Cuevas constitute two surgically precise accounts of the downfall of the two protagonists: Grzegorz and Eurymedont. Cuevas and Karpowicz play with conventions and the expectations of their readers at every level of the narrative structure; due to that, the meaning of the text escapes clear-cut assessments and generalizations, exemplifying at the same time the complex nature of the relationship between a work of art and contemporary culture. On the one hand, it strives towards tradition and history (various biblical and mythological references), but on the other hand, it remains also deeply rooted in popular culture. The Polish and Spanish experience-even though alluded to from time to time in an ironic manner-is substituted in a very natural way with the universal experience, thanks to which both novels become parabolic accounts of a lost existential finish. Chapter five (“The Game of Reflections. Poland and Spain as Two Links of the Same Cultural Chain. Conclusions and Final Remarks”) serves to ground the earlier comparative analysis in the context of transculturalism-a term proposed by Wolfgang Welsch and signifying a fluid concept of contemporary cultural divisions. The heterogeneity of the European identity, the ability to adapt to outside influences, the openness and aversion to strictly imposed boundaries-as Bauman points out-further strengthen the common denominator between the compared Polish and Spanish novels. This comparison facilitates also a distinction between the approach to narrative strategies between the older and younger generations of writers: the older novelists (Vila-Matas, Munoz Molina and Huelle) often utilize the “grammar of memory” and construct a historicist cocoon around the protagonists of their novels, while the younger writers (Cuevas and Karpowicz) focus on the “I,” while treating history, politics and metaculturalism only as a background and context. The Geertzian idea of discovering cultural diversity while taking into account the contemporary progress of the world of culture calls for an observation that Spain and Poland, despite their differences-with regard to the literary and artistic aspect-function in a very similar way in the transcultural chain of the 21st century.
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This is the first translation into Romany of Jordan Yovkov's "Stara Planina Legends".
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This paper points to places in Mathnawi where Mawlana Galaluddin Rumi presents his view on the unique Path of Love through (prototextual) mentioning of Majnun and Layla, that is, by referring to the characters of this story from Arabic oral tradition, and by placing the already standardized heroes in certain new (and general) circumstances. Identification of the author (but also a reader) with Majnun, whose perspective is inevitable for Layla to be recognized as the Loved One, is only an expression ofthe path (realizable and passable through examples of Mahmud and Ajaz,Zulaykha and Yusuf, Yakub and Yusuf as well) – and it is only a prototext on to which the individual expression is being added (metatext, whether it is an author’s comment, readers reception or the ‘’living’’ of the text)included into the endless ‘’hypertext’’ – by which the Truth presents itself to sons of Adam in a continuous and vivid manner – to those with mind,but who are also willing to leave their reason, when it starts to stifle them.
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Polska bibliografia szekspirowska 2001-2010 powstała w odpowiedzi na rosnące zainteresowanie życiem i twórczością Szekspira w Polsce. Okres, którego dotyczy niniejsza monografia, był niezwykle istotny w dziejach kulturotwórczej roli angielskiego barda w naszym kraju. Zmiany polityczno-społeczne będące efektem procesu globalizacji, a także rozpoczęcia nowego stulecia, wywarty istotny wpływ na recepcję jego twórczości w Polsce. W sztukach Szekspira, uniwersalnych i nieustająco aktualnych, ciągle odnajdujemy metafory naszej rzeczywistości. Publikacja prezentuje bogaty dorobek polskich naukowców, pisarzy, artystów i tłumaczy, którzy włączyli się w światową debatę nad twórczością angielskiego dramaturga i poety, wzbogacając ją o własne odczytania i interpretacje.
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The purpose of the book is to approach J.M. Coetzee’s novelistic output from a different perspective than the one that was usually embraced by the majority of critics. The common practice, which is in any case elicited by this output, is orientation from the “humanist” position, criticising the excesses of colonialism and confronting violence with existential problems of Man on the path to the Truth and self-realisation. Even though in today’s world the authority of universalia such as Man and Truth was severely undermined, for it may be perceived as something which always serves somebody’s interests, it seems that Coetzee created for his own purpose a writer’s method in which the basic features of a humanist novel may be retained and which at the same time attempts to defend itself against accusations of involvement in the interplay of violence and interests. In order to demonstrate the political, narration-related and existential consequences of the attitudes embraced by the protagonists of such a modernised humanist novel, the book analyses seven novels by Coetzee, and the premises of humanist discourse which are contained in these novels were confronted with the selected concepts of the psychoanalytic theory, especially the concepts of Jacques Lacan and their political application conducted by Slavoj Žižek. The second edition of the book was enhanced by a chapter which discusses three pseudo-autobiographical novels by Coetzee and a chapter which analyses “The Lives of Animals” by this author – a sort of metafiction devoted to animal rights.
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The novel deals with the problem of a crisis of values, caused by rapid changes in the social life of modern Japan, including the issue of a lack of an efficient system for the care of elderly people in the 1970s when the first symptoms of an aging society started to show. The author recounts the process of aging of middle-aged people caring for senile members of their families.
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A collection of studies devoted to the presence of Korean women in the social life of different epochs, in history, culture and literature, the beginnings of the feminist movement in many areas of literary and artistic work, as well as the representations of famous Korean women, the heroines of mass imagination. The first volume in the new series Coreana Varsoviensia.
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Against the backdrop of war and violence, social-political as well as lingual repressions, and the challenges presented by a patriarchal society, Kurdish poetesses have been creating meaningful work throughout the centuries. This collection of translated poems brings to light some of these underrepresented female writers, whose work has been essential to the development of Kurdish poetry. Representing various Kurdish regions and dialects, this volume of selected poems touches upon themes such as sexuality, violence, gender domination, intimacy, fantasy, and romantic love. While this collection offers illuminating insights into the work of Kurdish poetesses, it is the hope of its creators, the Exeter Kurdish Translation Initiative, that it inspires further translations and publication of Kurdish literature.
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This collection comprises texts on poets and poems that are interwoven in numerous ways: be it historically, biographically, or literarily. The Polish, Russian, and Jewish authors discussed – some of whom belong to all three categories simultaneously – are gathered in this study based on coincidence, exception, and necessity. These include: Emil Zegadłowicz, Jerzy Liebert, Anna Akhmatova, Rachel Boymvol, Solomon Bart, Tadeusz Różewicz, Adam Czerniawski, Andrzej Busza, Anna Frajlich, and Ewa Lipska. The coincidence relies on their encounter on the pages of this book; the exception – on their relation to language or its rejection, the place of their own or its loss, nationality or its change, if not refusal; the necessity, in turn, embraces the fact that each of the authors is under the impression of being thrown into the 20th century, this so-called “futile time,” when one is bound to confront one’s biography as if it belonged to someone else, and to treat other biographies as the most intimate ones. The knots of biographies and works result in an unexpected surprise, both encapsulated in the poems by the author, and rediscovered by the reader.
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If every age has its signature works, The Captive Mind by Czesław Miłosz is such a work for the Cold War. Published in 1953 and valorized in the West as an incisive critique of the Soviet Bloc, it analyzes the inner world of Eastern Europeans caught in the grip of Stalinist tyranny. This subjectivity is what Miłosz calls “the captive mind.” But with the Cold War long over, it is time to rethink and reassess his classic. This is the purpose of this paper. Casting a critical look at it, the paper argues that The Captive Mind is afflicted and debilitated by an implicit, but all too serious, aporia. As a part of his analysis of Eastern Europe’s incarcerated mind, Miłosz articulates a conception of human nature. In a profound irony, however, that conception aligns with—harmonizes with—his portrayal of the evil Stalinist tyranny enthralling Eastern Europe. Unwittingly, Miłosz in effect naturalizes that tyranny. He suggests that, rather than being evil, it is all too human—corresponding to elemental propensities of human nature. This paper problematizes this dramatic contradiction. Ultimately, it reflects on the implications of this momentous paradox for understanding the character and history of political oppression.
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The Madness of Hercules is one of the tragedies written by the Roman philosopher and politician Seneca the Younger, who was Nero's tutor and advisor. He spent eight years in exile in Corsica during the reign of Claudius, and briefly exerted an influence over the ruler after Nero's rise to power. However, he was ultimately accused of plotting against Claudius and was forced to commit suicide in 65 AD. The Madness of Hercules is a work depicting a hero who devoted his entire life to fighting monsters in defence of humanity, but who was unable to protect his own wife and children from the monster within himself. Under the influence of the mad frenzy by his stepmother Juno, who hates him, Hercules brutally murders his family and then comes back to his senses and has to live with the crime he committed. The tragedy can be read as an allusion to the reign of Nero, but in essence it touches on the universal theme of evil and madness that lies within each of us, and asks what the basis of humanity really is.
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The book explores the portrait in Modernist literature by focusing on the novels The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce and Doña Inés (a love story) by José Martínez Ruiz – Azorín. In order to put the theme in the necessary cultural, historical and theoretical perspective, the first two chapters are dedicated to the autonomous pictorial portrait and to different types of portraits in literature. The remaining three chapters offer a close reading of the three chosen literary works from the point of view of the portrait: the diverse manifestations of the portrait are registered, their functions are pointed out and analysed, the relationships existing between them are established, and, finally, the problems that the portraits pose are determined. As a result, the comparative analysis of the novels of Wilde, Joyce and Azorín outlines their common commitment to the representation of a contradictory, constantly developing and self-reflexive human individual. The three protagonists reject the authorities, value their individual freedom highly and perceive their identity as subject to their past. By revealing the capacity of the portrait to expound the issues pointed out above, the research deems it an adequate embodiment of Modernist worldview.The present book is a revised version of a PhD thesis defended at Sofia University in 2012.
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Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) was written before more than a thousand years and is perhaps the best-known work of classical Japanese literature, sometimes even dubbed as the world's oldest novel. This publication explores the ways in which Genji monogatari was treated by authors of popular literature in the Edo period (1600–1867), especially Ryūtei Tanehiko, author of the contemporary bestseller Nise Murasaki inaka Genji, which is based on Genji monogatari. This book offers an introduction to early-modern Japanese literary paraphrases and examines creative strategies used in works that inventively drew from Genji monogatari.
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The second volume of texts submitted for the international conference celebrating 100 years of Japanese Studies at the University of Warsaw contains articles on the uniqueness or universality of Japanese literature, language, theatre and film. The authors examine both classical and modern examples of Japanese prose, poetry, and performative arts, debating whether the numerous ‘unique’ areas of Japanese culture have become universally recognized, and already constitute an inseparable part of our contemporary transcultural world.
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"Thyestes", to which this monograph is devoted, exhibits all the characteristics of the Senecan plays that facilitate the centuries-long interest in them on the part of scholars and lovers of literature. They are also responsible for the distinctiveness of the author’s work against the background of Greek tragedy — due to the philosophical-critical nature of the work, they disengage from a directly didactic tone in favor of provocation and irony, the potential to engage less with the emotions and more with the intellect of the audience. It is possible to also find here examples of Seneca’s characteristic semantic and formal solutions, which confirm the dynamic development of the genre in Antiquity and at the same time may seem fairly modern today.
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The monograph presents a study of women’s literary responses to the civil war in Lebanon. It focuses on two of the most prominent writers of (post-)civil war novels, namely Ḥanān ash-Shaykh and ʿAlawiyya Ṣubuḥ. The focus is on those works that feature female protagonists, while the scope is narrowed to the study of identity formation. Having situated women’s writings on the war into a broader socio-cultural and literary context in the introductory chapter, the second chapter traces the process of identity formation in the novel Ḥikāyat Zahra (The Story of Zahra), while the third presents the reader with analysis of Maryam al-ḥakāyā (Maryam of Stories). The chapters are complemented by excerpts from the novels that have not yet been translated into Slovak or Czech.
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The present book is a critical edition of Mongolian ritual manuscripts preserved in Czech collections. It offers palaeographic descriptions and transcriptions for all the manuscripts, accompanied by English translations and selected facsimiles. The edition includes the majority of popular ritual text categories written in Classical Mongolian (mostly incense offering rituals) commonly circulating in the extramonastic milieu of premodern Mongolia: texts on fire-worship, White Old Man, Offering of the Fox, Geser Khan rituals, hunting rituals, while several texts related to cults of local deities, protection of livestock, as well as popular religious songs and individual prayers are appearing in the scholarly literature for the first time.
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