Enjoy their symptom: of woman,men and other interesting figures in Greek literary texts

Voela and Tamboukou use Slavoj ?i?ek’s notion of the symptom as a lens through which to look at representations of female figures in Greek literary texts of the early twentieth century by Gregorios Xenopoulos. In mapping the construction of the figure of the modern woman in the matrix of discourses, fantasies and power relations of fin-de-siècle Greece, they draw on psychoanalytic insights, interrupted by Foucauldian interventions. Following Judith Butler’s move of making trouble they attempt to open up a dialogic space between psychoanalytic and Foucauldian approaches to the female subject, contextualized in a specific social, historical and cultural milieu. It is in this context that they discuss, first, how feminine and masculine subjectivities are represented in man’s speech; second, how unintended excesses and interruptions occur in the problematic representation of women; and, third, how madness and ultimately death come to play a significant role in the power relations between the sexes.     

The settlement utopia: brotherly love,discipline, and social critique

The Settlement movement, which originated in late nineteenth-century England, was a pioneer in bettering the conditions of the working poor. It pursued the utopian project of locating ‘settlements’ within poverty-ridden neighbourhoods where respectable students should meet slum dwellers on equal terms. This article explores the trajectory of the comparatively under-researched Danish offspring of the movement. It demonstrates the tempering and compromise that occurred when utopian ideals of ‘brotherly love’, ‘God’s Kingdom’, and ‘radical social change’ were realized in concrete social arrangements. Contradictions and ambiguities arose when utopian ideas were confronted with what could be done. The Settlement became a highly ambiguous space, a ‘heterotopia’. The roots of the contradictions cannot simply be identified in the external pressure of legal requirements and funding criteria represented by public welfare agencies. The contradictions can also be excavated from the Settlement’s own ideological doctrines and its historical development.     

台湾后现代散文差异空间美学研究

台湾后现代散文在思想与文体上的新变令人瞩目。以林耀德为首的台湾后现代散文作家形成四度的时空观念,其散文作品呈现出差异空间的多重象征系统,散文的时空形态也表现为差异的、多元的、解构的与未完成的多种特征。台湾后现代散文的差异空间美学是后现代散文空间诗学的重要理论创生点。     

Of clocks ticking: Heterotopic space,time and motion in William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time (2012)

In William Kentridge’s The refusal of time (2012), comment on time as both a scientific and a human entity is produced. A complex mix of the visual and nominal vocabularies of early ‘rudimentary’ technological invention, scientific experimentation and contemporary digital language characterises the artwork. Conceptually, the structural, technological and visual components of the work predominantly articulate figure tropes of space, time and motion. The work is explored through the lens of heterotopia as articulated by French philosopher michel Foucault, with special attention to the artist’s articulation of space, time and motion. the construal proceeds through the investigation of the visual metaphors implied by the organisation of space; the depiction of movement; time ticking; the allusion to human beings’ fascination with invention; science and technology; and the products thereof, especially the creation of automatons. interpreting the work as representing heterotopic temporality in space, it is argued that such heterotopic entities defy clock time as stringent ‘regular’ time. an examination is conducted of the meta-narratives on science and technology alluded to in The refusal of time, including mention of the early development of automatons; modernistic French thought; advancements in physics around 1900; and postmodern takes on science and technology.     

Childhood,Movement and Play: An Analysis of Child Agency and Heterotopia in Linha de Passe (2008) and Los colores de la montaña (2010)

This paper draws on contemporary theoretical debates surrounding the significance of cinematic children in order to examine two recent Latin American films. The Foucauldian concept of ‘heterotopia’ is used to explore the abilities of child protagonists to produce spaces with which they interact both imaginatively and in the films' diegetic realities. Despite distinct urban and rural settings, these productions' staging of playful heterospaces and heterotemporalities permit brief moments of relief within otherwise harsh environments. Such spaces enable child characters to demonstrate an ‘agency’ that is denied their elders, whilst somewhat evading the symbolic ‘futurity’ with which children are often burdened.