Re-Writing The Myth Of Motherhood: Short Stories by Okamoto Kanoko and Hirabayashi Taiko

The Varkari Sampradya, a 700-hundred-year-old philosophical movement in India's west-central state of Maharashtra, has been increasingly lauded by conservative forces in the state as a standard bearer of Hindu and ethnic Marathi tradition. More appropriately, the movement should be understood as a key site of identity contestation and widely ranging social criticism. In this essay, the author recounts his field experiences of the Varkari Sampradya and his observations of its massive annual pilgrimage in light of current and historical struggles to control signification of the movement's public meaning.     

阿富汗重建是一场新的较量

阿富汗重建是一个国际力量分化组合和重新布局的过程,有关国家以及阿国内不同政治派别明争暗斗,纵横捭阖.本文分析了各自的优势和弱势,提出了我国的对策.     

Between private and collective in new generation Palestinian literature: Akram Musallam as a test case

The article examines new generation Palestinian writing in the West Bank, focusing on the ongoing tension between the private and the collective dimensions in literary works there. The works of Palestinian writer of Ramallah, Akram Musallam (b. 1971), serve as test case. The article shows that Musallam's novels preserve a connection to the Palestinian problem and the national-political life on one hand, and create meanings beyond time and place limited by this connection, on the other. The tension between the private and the collective is not only well reflected in Musallam's writings, but in fact constitutes their main pivot and it is embodied in an original and unique inner thematic and stylistic struggle within his writings. Musallam's works serve as an example of the fact that despite recent trends to forsake the collective and focus on the private, Palestinian literature almost always relates, either directly or indirectly, either through creative or less creative means, to collective Palestinian issues.     

中国文化的国际使者--记旅美华裔游记作家、画家、诗人蒋彝

谈到 2 0世纪 70年代前以英文写作并在西方世界传播中国文化的华裔作家 ,人们常常会想到林语堂。其实 ,就贡献而言 ,与他齐名的还有旅美华裔游记作家蒋彝。蒋彝以“哑行者”为笔名 ,出版了 12本游记。这些作品在欧洲、美洲、亚洲等地深受欢迎。此外 ,蒋彝在书法、美术、诗歌 ,以及儿童文学等方面也多有建树。本文通过分析“家”的各种层面 ,强调“家”对于像蒋彝这样散居海外的华人在生活、精神上的重要意义 ,着重探讨了“家”对于蒋彝在文学创作上的影响。在蒋彝诞辰百年之际 ,我们刊发此文 ,以为纪念     

Analyzing Afghanistan: The Wartime Culture of Migrants and Militants

Abstract

Three recent texts provide a set of overlapping insights on Afghan culture and society as well as the relationship between militancy and migration, from the Soviet invasion to the present.     

Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb: His World and His Philosophy of Life

This article will explore and analyze the life and times of Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb (1834–1898) who was a self-made man who went on to become Iran's first major entrepreneur and the richest man in Iran. He started life in poverty and obscurity and ended his days in wealth and prominence. His rise to social and economic importance was so meteoric that it became the stuff of legends blending the myth and the reality of his life. He was a visionary with progressive ideas beyond his time. His world view was formed partly by his experiences in childhood and early life but beyond that by his own perspicacity. His cosmos was governed by his devotion to and responsibility for his family both nuclear and extended, by his deep religious belief, by patriotism and by the ambition to succeed in business. The article will investigate all of the above.