Фантастично и фантасмагорично в контекста на романтическата традиция

Author(s): Boris Minkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

The present study attempts to abandon the genre-related discussion of the fantastic. For this purpose, it develops a working concept of phantasmagoria: image projection of cognitive universalia which have been frozen after passing throught the prism of the ironic turn. To trace the various characteristics of the phantasmagorical, the article provides examples from the work of Е. T. A. Hoffmann, Clemens Brentano, Wilhelm Hauff and Heinrich Heine. In relation to the romantic tradition of phantasmagoria after the 19th century, it discusses Stanisіaw Lem’s The Star Diaries. An essential point in the study is the contention that phantasmagoria is unrelated to the ‘realistic art-unrealistic art’ opposition.

Soviet Colonial Modernity and the Everyday in Twenty-First Century Latvian Literature

Author(s): Benedikts Kalnačs / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

This paper intends to discuss the case of Latvia in comparison with other European postcolonial situations and to trace the problems which determine the complexity of self-consciousness of the inhabitants of the country from postcolonial and post-Soviet perspective. The focus of this investigation is on the series of novels which deal with twentieth-century history and memory in Latvia. Due to the fact that the chosen texts attempt an evaluation of the Soviet past, an attention is paid to those aspects of representation of the everyday which considerably distinguish contemporary fiction from literary works created during the period of socialist realist dominance. The importance of history and of different everyday practices in forming specific features of national identity is also seen in the context of the attempts of contemporary authors to discover and define themselves as part of today’s global community as they try to position themselves within world literature. In this perspective, the contemporary as well as the historical experience of the Baltic nations testifies to the common roots of European society helping to build bridges between different ethnic and social groups and their members.

Пътуване и превод: Маргьорит Юрсенар като преводачка на Вирджиния Улф

Author(s): Francheska Zemyarska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The core topic of this paper is Marguerite Yourcenar’s translation (1937) of Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves. I also trace back the major debate in France in 1993 when a second translation of The Waves by Cécile Wajsbrot appeared in French. In conclusion, the paper provides Marguerite Yourcenar's reflection on Virginia Woolf. By outlining the genealogy of Marguerite Yourcenar's writing, it goes beyond the obvious predecessors like Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann, in order to unmask Woolf as a possible precursor.

Stratégies d’adaptation de La vie devant soi : fonctions éthiques et transformations filmiques

Author(s): Antoaneta Robova / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2022

The paper analyses two film adaptations (1977, 2020) of Romain Gary’s novel The Life Before Us exploring the transformation strategies originating from the transition from page to screen as well as different forms of (re)contextualisation in the 20th and 21st century. The comparative case study examines the evolution of dominant adaptation approaches going from fidelity to the source text to intertextuality and reinvention. We aim to reveal the relevance of the author’s humanist views through the strong visual thematisation of universal values and empathic figures’ interactions.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s. From Page to Screen. The Making of a Classic. Transformation of Gender Relations

Author(s): Ioana Pankova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The aim of this article is to explore how the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s translated the literary original into cinematic language. My claim is that the essential transfigurations ensued in terms of gender relations. The question of what motivated them, and how they impacted the cult status which the movie work acquired, is approached by focusing on the transformations from the perspective of the dramatic structure. Through the use of script development tools: type of narration, thematic premise, central question, controlling idea, mediation, protagonists, setting, and the ways in which casting, style of cinematography and music interact with them, I will attempt to pinpoint and analyse the key differences.

(Self-)Portrayals of Mixed Cultural Identities in the Works of Emily Carr and István Fujkin

Author(s): Krisztina Kodó / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

The article examines the work of two artists, Emily Carr (1871 – 1945) and István Fujkin (1953), focusing on Carr’s early and mature “Indian paintings,” and Fujkin’s “Blue Owl” series, completed between 2001 and 2005. The paintings chosen from among Carr’s works are thematically linked to Klee Wyck (1940), her first fictional work describing her travels and experiences with the First Nations People in British Columbia. Though the two artists come from different cultural backgrounds, since Carr was descended from English immigrants and Fujkin is a Hungarian born in the former Yugoslavia, there are similarities in their work. Both artists depict work across time and make use of transnational imaginaries of nature and Native Canadian cultural symbols that ultimately function as a bridge between Native and western culture. Fujkin’s talent lies in his ability to “paint the music” composed and performed by Canadian Mohawk musician Robbie Robertson. Emily Carr’s paintings offer images of her visionary world that transcends cultural identities and provides an insight into nature infused with spiritual and magical elements.

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS IN THE POST-9/11 AGE. LITERATURE, TRAUMA, GEOPOLITICS, Florian Andrei Vlad

Author(s): Alina Buzarna-Tihenea Gǎlbeazǎ / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Review of: LIGHTS AND SHADOWS IN THE POST-9/11 AGE. LITERATURE, TRAUMA, GEOPOLITICS Florian Andrei Vlad, Editura Universitară: Bucureşti, 2021. pp. 166. ISBN: 978-606-28-1385-7

Narratives of Hegemony and Marginalization: Deconstructing the History Legends of India

Author(s): Sabina Zacharias / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2022

Myths and legends as local sources of history reveal their implicit assumptions and demonstrate the way in which events are filtered through the interpretations of their authors. By examining a variety of these interpretations, we might piece together a refracted image of the past which will ultimately present a history of “what actually happened”. There is also an attempt to create a single narrative supported by various sources that claim to reveal the truth in political and social terms about what may have happened there. I have substantiated my arguments by drawing examples from the compilation of legends, Aithihyamala (Garland of Legends), a pioneering and exhaustive collection of 126 legends of Kerala (India), compiled and published between 1909 and 1934 by the Sanskrit-Malayalam scholar Kottarathil Sankunni. My contention in this paper is that there is a politics behind the subversion of “other histories” (local or subaltern) to establish a hegemonic history. One finds a "politics" behind the legend-making, a deliberate attempt at compiling an elitist record of legends and through it the homogenizing of the cultural past of a region.

Joseph Conrad’s Adventure with English

Author(s): Joanna Skolik / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

This article discusses Conrad’s Anglophone linguistic identity to show how writing became his “promised land” and fictional homeplace. This fictional retreat reflects his childhood experience, (connected with his Polish background), hopes, and fears, but it is likewise refracted through episodes of his later life. Conrad’s own articulation of his complex relation to English, England, and his own nationality, reveals his outlook on literature and language: “When speaking, writing or thinking in English the word Home always means for me the hospitable shores of Great Britain” (𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 1:12) and “Both at sea and on land, my point of view is English, from which the conclusion should not be drawn that I have become an Englishman. That is not the case.𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑑𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥 has in my case more than one meaning” (Najder,𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑟𝑎𝑑‘𝑠 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 240).

Illustrating Death in Caitlin Doughty’s Creative Nonfiction: 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 and 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑀𝑦 𝐶𝑎𝑡 𝐸𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑦 𝐸𝑦𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠?

Author(s): Cristina-Mihaela Botîlcă / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The purpose of illustrations is to enhance the reading experience, improve the text, and add another layer of representation. In death-acceptance literature, such as Caitlin Doughty’s creative nonfiction books 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 and 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑀𝑦 𝐶𝑎𝑡 𝐸𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑦 𝐸𝑦𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠?, illustrations portray the highly sensitive topic of death. Landis Blair and Dianné Ruz, the illustrators whose works complete the two books, create a multimodal text with the help of literal and conceptual illustrations. This article aims at analysing the use and structure of these illustrations in the context of multimodality and death acceptance. In addition, the paper also contains two interviews that are meant to offer the perspective of the two illustrators on their own work and on illustrating death in nonfiction.

Elavaks kirjutatud kunstnikud

Author(s): Pille-Riin Larm / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 4/2020

Reviews of: Andrus Kivirähk. Sinine sarvedega loom. Tallinn: EKSA, 2019. 294 lk Eero Epner. Konrad Mägi. Tallinn: Sperare, 2017. 528 lk

Bahtinova sociološka stilistika romana

Author(s): Maša Grdešić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2022

Review of: Mihail M. Bahtin, Teorija romana, preveli Ivo Alebić i Danijela Lugarić Vukas, Zagreb: Edicije Božičević, 2019, 661 str.

Рецепциja бугарске приповетке код српских младих читалаца – ка интеркултуралном образовану

Author(s): Biljana Soleša / Language(s): English,Serbian Issue: 1/2019

This paper examines the reception at the Bulgarian stories Serbian high school students as well as their basic knowledge of the literature in the region. The paper is based on the attitudes mihi Bakhtin who stressed that the literature can provide a unique understanding of ourselves and the societies and cultures to which we belong, but also an insight into the lives of others and their cultures and societies. The modern concept of education implies the development and acquisition of student competences. One of them is intercultural competence, which implies the ability to recognize and use cultural differences as one of the learning resources. Literature teaching provides great opportunities for the enhancement of intercultural competence. The aim of this work is that in this particular case, by the results of empirical research point to the need to strengthen intercultural competence and active participation of teaching literature in the concept of intercultural education. The paper presents the results of the reception at the Bulgarian stories high school students. The reception of the literary text and its performance are the factors underlying the teaching of literature, which is based on the acceptance of student work and the effects which it produced thereby. The survey includes stories in the fields of Anton Strashimir, Baja-Ganjo at Irecek Aleko Konstantinov and narrative by wire jovko Jordan. The results of empirical studies confirm our initial hypothesis that the literature of the Balkan people our students virtually unknown. On the other hand, the survey confirms that the reception of the Bulgarian stories in a very satisfactory level, which means “horizon of expectations” is not an obstacle to enrich the content of teaching literature, literature of the Balkan peoples.

Historical and Social Aspects of Migration in Marina Lewycka’s 𝐴 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑈𝑘𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑛

Author(s): Ingrida Eglė Žindžiuvienė / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

This article analyses migration as a modern-day phenomenon and discusses the most common reasons for emigration out of Ukraine, as described in the novel 𝐴 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑈𝑘𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑛 (2005) by the contemporary British author Marina Lewycka (b. 1946), a descendant of post-Second World War Ukrainian immigrants. The novel alludes to many historical facts that reveal Ukraine’s painful past and represents the lives of Ukrainian immigrants in the UK. Its close examination of a Ukrainian family reveals characteristics typical of post-Second World War migrants from eastern Europe. The article also discusses the history of the emigration of Ukrainians into the UK, dwells on different periods and types of migrants, and focuses on the cross-cultural problems of migration described in Lewycka’s novel.

Burcu Alkan and Çimen Günay-Erkol, Editors. 𝑇𝑢𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒

Author(s): Hristo Boev / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Символисти: авангардисти – книги: илюстрации

Author(s): Violeta Ruseva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

This article focuses on emblematic books written in the 1920s, taking as its immediate background the poetics of symbolism and avant-garde aesthetic strategies, along with the controversial, both umbilical and conflicting relationship between verbal account and illustration. In its close inspection of the dynamic historical development of critical reflection, it demonstrates how the book covers and illustrations of the first editions performed the function of a visual metalanguage and a critical reference to the verbal narrative.

Към „софийския роман“ на Иван Вазов

Author(s): Antonia Velkova-Gaydarzhieva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

One of the core themes in Vazov’s short stories offers an original chronicle, a picture of the city life and culture in Sofia, its character and mentality. The capital city motif in Vazov’s works was approached and analyzed forty years ago by Svetlozar Igov in his article “On the Sofia Novel of Ivan Vazov”, which in turn was rejected by the then literary circles. Taking this article into account, this paper reconstructs and interprets the complex relations and the literary clash between the most original modern Bulgarian literary historian Svetlozar Igov on the one hand, and the key poet and leader of the “April generation” Lyubomir Levchev on the other hand.

Наивистичните небивалици на Йордан Радичков

Author(s): Denitsa Astahova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The article examines the connection between fine arts and literature, and compares the naivist style of the painting and poetics of Yordan Radichkov in order to explain the emergence of a new phenomenon in the artistic style of the writer and the Bulgarian fiction of the 1960s – the collection Svirepo Nastroenie (Fierce Mood). The analyzed examples from the writer’s stories reveal correspondences with typical features of naivist painting – emphasis on detail, naivist mixing of distant images, and unmasking fear by interweaving comic and grotesque elements in the plot picture.

Български автори от Таврия

Author(s): Elena Nalbantova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

The object of observation is the literature created in Bulgarian by representatives of our historical diaspora in Tavria. It is described as series of three episodes, the emergence of which became possible after changes in the political context. The considered creative manifestations are from the time of the Russian Empire, from the 30s of the XX century and from the most recent time. Specific observations on the prose, published between 1932 and 1940, are made for the first time thanks to my collaboration with the Bulgarian from Chisinau Elena Raceeva. Despite the indisputable manifestations of creative talent, for the most part Taurian Bulgarian literature is an illustration of circumstances, rather than of creative potential.

Романът „Временното“ на Габриела Адамещяну като още един прочит на миналото

Author(s): Yoana Slavcheva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The Novel “The Temporary” written by the Romanian novelist Gabriela Adameshtyanu was published in 2010 as a sequel to her first novel “The Same Road, Day after Day” and is both a political and a social novel focusing on the fate and the social position of the individual in the political context of Communist Romania. It presents a vivid and realistic picture of people’s lives in those years and deals with a number of issues such as the totalitarian regime as an evil that marred the destiny of entire generations, the fear, the strive for survival and personal growth in the context of various restrictions as well as the inevitable notion of “temporariness”, which was ubiquitous in those days.