Cross-Currents: Elizabeth von Arnim,Max Beerbohm and George Bernard Shaw

Abstract

When Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel Introduction to Sally appeared in 1926, the critical response was divided. Dame Ethel Smyth may have told von Arnim the book was her ‘masterpiece’ but some were less convinced; the reviewer in Punch, for instance, considered it ‘a coarse-grained fantasy’. By situating Introduction to Sally in a wider literary context that includes Max Beerbohm’s Zuleika Dobson (1911 Beerbohm, Max (1964a), ‘To Reggie Turner, 3 November 1911’, in Rupert Hart-Davis (ed.), Letters to Reggie Turner, London: Davis, p. 126. [Google Scholar]) and George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (1914 Shaw, George Bernard (1914), ‘Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts’, Everybody’s Magazine, Vol xxxi, (5). [Google Scholar]), this article explores the personal connections between these three authors and the thematic cross-currents in these texts. Is von Arnim’s novel really as ‘coarse’ and ‘vulgar’ as some earlier critics suggest? Or is it a novel that successfully mixes the plausible with the artificial, the comic and the socially catastrophic, in ways that, more than a decade later, resonate with the work of her friends to highlight several continuing preoccupations?     

Ana Clavel’s “outlaw” desires in Las ninfas a veces sonríen

As a writer whose fiction is known for its transgressive themes and forms, it is no surprise that the Mexican author Ana Clavel has continued to revel in such contraventions in her novella Las ninfas a veces sonríen (2012). In this article I seek to examine how these, also new transgressions, materialize in the novella specifically within a queer framework. The queer showcases Las ninfas’ exploration of “outlaw” sexual desires as well as the fantastical and intertextual genre-bending. By defying heteronormative sexual normalcy, Clavel is seen to challenge certain “givens” within (Mexican) society, whether these be religious, moral, sexual, or cultural, and thus creating a fascinating representation of society’s particular fears, anxieties, and disavowed desires. In the context of the female character’s sexual experiences, transgressive queereness can be understood by making reference to various theories including those of Kristeva’s abjection/uncanny and Creed’s/Braidotti’s monstrous feminine, whereby the female is positioned in terms of an ambiguous oscillation between unthreatening object of male desire, monstrosity, and celebratory female sexual agency. Ultimately by thus delving into outlawed “no-deseos”, Las ninfas can be posited as a prime example of a Barthesian text of “jouissance” which disrupts the reader’s pleasurable reading experience.     

Accented voices: Iranian–Norwegian readings of media texts on Iran and Iranianness

This study focuses on Iranian–Norwegian individuals' perceptions concerning representation of Iran and Iranianness within the Norwegian media. Twenty Iranian–Norwegians are included in the study. The aim was to demonstrate the Iranian–Norwegians accented voices; that Iranian–Norwegian reading is seen in relation to the wider socio-cultural context of these individuals in Norway and Iran. In so doing, the focus is on the television programme World Cup Studio (Norwegian: VM-studio) broadcast by TV2, a major Norwegian television channel, during the 2006 football World Cup, with Iran as one of the participants of the games. By analysing the Iranian–Norwegian' reading of this particular programme, the study concludes that informants' readings of discursive representation of Iran and Iranianness indicate an opposition to what they consider to be an essentialised view of their identity and position in the Norwegian context, as well as the context of the homeland under the current socio-cultural, and political condition.     

The Path to Political Substance: Exploring the Mediated Discourse Surrounding Controversial Media Texts

This article proceeds from the assumption that entertainment texts—particularly controversial ones—function in a broad intertextual field and that their political significance does not lie solely in their value as stand-alone texts, or in their direct influence on political knowledge, attitudes, opinions, and behaviors, but in their ability to instigate politically relevant discussions in other media venues. Focusing on the mediated discourse surrounding two controversial U.S. docudramas, The Reagans and The Path to 9/11, this study examines the political qualities of the public discourse surrounding these docudramas in the U.S. news media and investigates which factors were significant predictors of political substance in this discourse. Based on a distinction between “issue substance” and “media substance” as the two major types of political substance that emerge in the discourse surrounding controversial texts, the analysis demonstrates how these types of political substance varied across the two docudramas and across various dimensions of the discourse, among them the time in which the discussion took place. The analytical framework presented in this article is offered as a platform for future examinations of the contribution of media-centered political scandals to public discourse, the conditions under which entertainment texts spur substantive political discussions, and the complex interactions between journalism, entertainment, and politics in contemporary media environments.     

Kalevipoeg: Aspects of Genre and Authorship

F. R. Kreutzwald introduced the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (1861) as genuine folklore, overshadowing his own prevalent role in its creation: the problems of genre and authorship persist in the text. Firstly, Kalevipoeg was shaped by the poetics of romantic balladry. This can be proved by its author’s devotion to the ballad; in addition, many a lyro-epic folk song has been integrated into Kalevipoeg. Thus, a ballad-like lyro-dramatical-epical structure bears upon the work which gave rise to a new form: the lyro-epic epic. Secondly, a complex cluster of authorship can be extracted from Kalevipoeg: personal, fictional, intertextual, and discursive authorships.     

Andalusia at the crossroads of Europeanness: immigration as a performance of coloniality

ABSTRACT

The semantics of cultural diversity, based on the political discourses of immigration as they appear in integration and anti-racist policies in Andalusia, underline the sense of Otherness of immigrant groups. In this article, Castaño, Martínez and Periáñez focus on the most relevant texts in the Planes Integrales para la Inmigración en Andalucía (Comprehensive Plans for Immigration in Andalusia). To date, these texts have formed the most significant discursive framework for representations of the third sector, trade unions and public agencies involved in the management of diversity. The key ideas in the plans revolve around transnational political references in the context of the European Union (EU). They impose a sense of Europeanness on Andalusia that is in opposition to its historical heritage, endogenous diversity and cultural specificity, and thus steer the imaginary of Andalusia's identity towards a Eurocentric idea that enhances the region's peripheral position. Immigration is regarded in the hegemonic media discourse and the social imaginary as a risk and a social problem. Integration policies, despite being couched in anti-racist rhetoric, are specifically targeted at immigrants, further enhancing the idea of Otherness. The notion of interculturality is the leitmotiv of these policies. In practical terms, however, action is limited to empty measures in the field of education. These policies, in sum, neutralize, rather than reinforce, the sense of equality on which interculturality is based. The examination of the intertextuality of Andalusian, Spanish and European discourses reveals the conformity of the discourse of Andalusia's coloniality within the framework of the EU.     

异质之女性——克里斯蒂娃的女性主义哲学探究

异质性是贯穿朱莉娅·克里斯蒂娃符号学理论的主题.克里斯蒂娃从符号学的视角探讨了异质性与女性的内在关联,从而揭示了异质之女性所具有的边缘性、颠覆性和革命性对于女性解放的重要意义.     

合成空间理论与仿拟修辞的互文性解读

从认知语言学角度看，“仿拟”修辞本身就是一个复合空间，“仿”说明存在两个输入空间，“拟”则说明了创新性。仿拟的创新主要依赖于源域与目标域这两个输入心理空间的跨空间映射。同时，仿拟修辞又是通过刻意“仿”照人们所熟知的常用词、成语、谚语、名言甚至文章体裁等手段来实现的，它强调文本间的互相吸收，体现了互文性，否定绝对的创新性。     

我国新时期公安文学对警察文化的建构

作为真正的对警察的文学性叙事是伴随着中国人民警察的诞生而出现的,尤其是新时期以来涌现了大量公安文学作品。这些作品迅速地反映公安战线的重大斗争、讴歌公安系统涌现的英雄模范人物,以及后来出现的以平民的视角关注警察的生存状态和日常生活等等。它们所构成的关于警察的文学性图景又与我们所处的时代社会的现实呈现出对应的关系,我们总是自觉或不自觉地回到具体可感的生活中来寻找文本与现实的沟通。因此,在公安文学的文字和声像的语言符号丛里,指涉国家、社会关系的警察文化在文学的场域里得到了建构。     

判决书体裁互文性之鉴衡

在对体裁进行文献综述的基础上，本文界定了体裁的基本特点；通过对互文性不同视角的考察，拟采用Fairclough关于互文性的分类，进一步明确体裁互文性的内涵。本文首先提出体裁互文性在判决书中的普遍性为真实命题的假设，然后通过法理与实例分析予以论证，其研究的目的不仅在于现象性探讨，更重要的在于揭示法学的语言学研究方法对于法学发展的意义。