‘Nobody is saved alone.’ El Eternauta/The Eternaut (2025) and the Comeback of the Collective Hero

The question of whether or not literature should focus on social and political commentary has been a particularly sensitive one in Japan since the early twentieth century; over the past hundred years, heated debates have unfolded over the relationship between junbungaku ("pure literature"), critical thinking, and social and political activism. In the aftermath of the Tohoku (Northeastern Japan) disaster of 11 March 2011, the issue was further complicated by the challenge posed to the role of literature as social commentary with the emergence of a number of other media that performed a similar function, particularly online social media. Japanese literary authors and critics found themselves engaged in the production of, and reflection on, a newly forming "literature of disaster" at a time in which the conceptual boundaries of "literature" itself were being questioned by new forms of expression that in many ways overlapped with traditional ones.

Marc-Uwe Kling’s QualityLand (2017) is set in a dystopian future. It is the story of a young man at the bottom of society, tired of technology dictating what he wants or needs. At a staged press conference on Kling’s YouTube channel—all questions asked by home appliances—Kling called QualityLand a “funny dystopia.” But what exactly is that? What at first sounds oxymoronic, is, in fact, a brilliant form of social commentary. This chapter interprets funny dystopia as a conflict of utopia and dystopia, with both satire and anxiety allowing Kling’s novel to pack a punch as it first shrouds the proximity to reality, only to then tear through the veil to highlight this proximity. The analysis highlights the novel as both a timely and effective commentary on our modern capitalist consumer-driven society, showing potential trajectories of technology and the ongoing exploitation of the public that it is used for. The combination of satire and political and social commentary makes QualityLand a perfect example of critical German SF in the twenty-first century.

In this chapter the author suggests that, in their preoccupation with the Oxford Movement’s theological and ecclesiological legacy, historians have until recently overlooked its extensive social and political commentary. The author argues that the Tractarians’ obvious anti-Erastianism did not typically conduce to a simple anti-establishmentism, and that in fact the Tractarians nourished a high ideal of relations between Church and state. Equipped with that quasi-theocratic ideal, first-generation Tractarians—and not only the later Ritualists and Christian Socialists who are often thought to have first developed an incarnational politics—directed an extensive periodical and fictional commentary to the ‘condition of England’ question.

The resurrection of Malaysian modern drama began with the revitalization of Malaysian theater after 1930s. Since then, Malaysian modern drama has expanded values to various forms in terms of narrative, issues, genres and performance elements. Many research have been done in general by focusing on individuals dramatic work but none of the documentation is collected comprehensively to show the contributions and values of the published drama that activated by the modern theater groups movements construction of its upsurge glorious of Malaysian social development. In addition to individuals, there are several groups that appear in the evolution of the drama movements in Malaysia peculiarly in the 1970s. These group are the main stimulus of active and open social commentary. The only active dramatist who enthusiastic emersion from the inception until to this date is Dinsman. Since the 1970s, Dinsman and his group calling themselves the Grup Teater Elit (GTE) have astounded the country's theater industry with experimental and controversial works that shows freedom of discourse in addition served as current social and political commentary. Many works identified and procure attentiveness by the Malaysian political opposition press of the dissident party. The latest two play that directed by Dinsman were Teater Atas Pokok (TAP) and Teater di Sawah Padi Muzika Uda dan Dara (TdSPMUD). These play were made to show the subaltern voce of the repression in current situation which is caused by economic pressures and current urban development. It aims to highlight a matter of serious discussions amend for the imbalance of Malaysian political malfunction and social oppression hegemony in various sphere especially inward developing countries.

Victor Hugo's Notre‐Dame de Paris (1831) was translated for English readers as The Hunchback of Notre‐Dame in 1833. One year later, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Frollo, and the rest of Hugo's cast of characters appeared in London theaters. This article is the first to discuss three nineteenth‐century English stage adaptations of Hugo's novel: two adaptations penned by dramatist Edward Fitzball – Esmeralda; or, The Deformed of Notre Dame (1834) and Quasimodo; or, The Gipsey Girl of Notre Dame (1836) – as well as Andrew Halliday's Notre‐Dame; or, The Gypsey Girl of Paris (1871). These adaptations rewrote Hugo's historical romance into domestic dramas that eschewed the novel's tragic ending in favor of a happy ending. They also erased Hugo's political commentary and social critiques from the drama. Overall, the essay demonstrates that although these changes kept Hugo's story in mass circulation for almost two centuries, they have done so at the expense of the novel's republican politics and social commentary.

Let us consider the notion of ‘experimentality’ prior to the professionalization of Science and against the backdrop of a particular visual apparatus of the nineteenth century. It is often in the realm of literary fiction that relevant social truths, political attitudes and scientific dramas unfold. Writing was a more holistic field before the systematic codification of information fields had begun to seek out a radical divide between the humanities and ‘pure’ science. The key to experimentation as a social enterprise could be said to lie in oppositional models of thought, which captured the imagination of artists, imperial administrators, merchants and explorers alike, as they determined the course of Western modernity at the roaming intersections of empirical and rational experience. While living ‘outside’ of familiar grounds to surrender unto swarming oceans, people and pluralistic culture, knowledge-gathering in Europe became mobilized within the reach of industrial prowess, missionary zeal and the continuum of Empire. Several remarkable figures of this era may be understood to perform as ‘a proliferation of hybrids’1 as their fragmented lives were antithetical to those who eventually became official guardians of disciplinary regimes and the emblematic association between the state and science as a corporation. ‘The English seem as silent as the Japanese, yet vainer than the inhabitants of Siam. Upon my arrival, I attributed that reserve to modesty, which I now find has its origin in pride.’ Letter IV ‘To The Same’ from ‘Chinese Letters’ (1760–61) The Letters From A Citizen of the World, To His Friends In The East by Anglo-Irish poet, playwright, and essayist Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774) first appeared under the title ‘Chinese Letters’ in The Public Ledger — a reputable British journal on agro-industry, trade, political commentary, and literature. These letters presented a fictitious travelogue ‘penned’ by Chinese philosopher-traveller Lien Chi Altangi. In them the author developed a character portrait rich in social commentary as well as a literary account on the terrain of cultural life and mannerisms, the question of slavery, and the political condition of England and her neighbors in the mid-eighteenth century. Altangi’s letters were entirely fashioned by Goldsmith himself — who never set foot outside Europe — and thus belong to the genre of epistolary fiction.2 Himself an ambiguous figure, Goldsmith grew up in rural Ireland and later travelled across Europe on foot.3 He then ended up in London, where he gained acclaim as a prolific writer with a penchant for gambling. The author’s position as an ‘outsider’ in British society was inextricably folded into the character traits of his travelling protagonist, Altangi. Expressing the familiar in unfamiliar terms, Goldsmith crafted a selfconscious historiography that doubled as a satirical take on his milieu as well as a lexicon of exaggerated ‘likenesses’ and difference between the West and the Far East. Letters From A Citizen of the World may be interpreted as a ‘stereoscopic’ endeavor as it suggests a continuity between two dialectical forms: the traveller and the author. Put simply, stereoscopy is a technique in which two separate images, when viewed through an optical instrument, visually merge in such a way so as to suggest a sense of dimensionality and solidity. While photography sought to document external ‘truth’ as a flat image, the stereoscope, whose origins precede the daguerreotype,4 made it possible to capture the elusive depth of images. In so doing, it advanced an argument for a ‘binocular’ vision that bestows the viewer

The Pet Shop Boys came of age at a time of deep socio-political tension. From the rise of sexual politics and awareness to Thatcherite neoliberalism and the Cold War, this book explores the cultural and political impact of the band and offers a fascinating window into the late 20th and early 21st centuries. An archetypal ‘gay band’, it shows how their overt queerness influenced generations of LGBTQIA+ music lovers and artists alike. Covering the full oeuvre of The Pet Shop boys; their albums, films, stage productions and collaborations, chapters in this collection show how their work is suffused with political commentary on the past and present covering themes as broad as queer identity, the HIV/AIDs epidemic, globalization and Brexit. It also places them within the context of their times and considers them as activists, authors, social commentators, political actors and personalities to better understand what influenced them. Bringing together a range of perspectives and disciplines, The Pet Shop Boys and the Political provides a unique and untapped insight into a formative pop band of the modern era that has mirrored and shaped society over the past forty years.

OF THESIS A CHRONOLOGY OF RECORDED LONG-FORM COMPOSITIONS IN JAZZ by DANIEL THOMAS PETERSON Thesis Director: Dr. Lewis Porter Jazz composition is rarely given equal consideration in comparison to the attention given to iconic performers and improvisation. This, however, overlooks the important relationship artists and improvisation both have with compositions. As with all musical styles, there is a repertoire that falls outside the expected boundaries of a jazz performance. Long-form compositions, suites and multimovement compositions are song forms which are atypical to the jazz repertoire and often neglected in research. Though several jazz suites are considered historically important, no research has been attempted to compile a comprehensive list of these type of compositions. Long-form compositions in jazz began as works that were often compared to the Western Classical musical model. Historically they became artistic expressions of modern compositional methods, specialty recording settings for great soloists and forums for political and social commentary. Investigating the history, musical content and the reasons why jazz composers pursued atypical repertoire in their compositions offers a valuable perspective on jazz and its composers. This research created an expansive chronology of long form compositions and offers insight into specific jazz musicians and their individual motivations.

This article examines Liu Cixin’s “The Western Ocean” ( Xiyang ), a story in which Liu satirizes Zheng He’s voyages into the Indian Ocean and presents an alternate history of China from the fifteenth century to the present. The combination of China’s imagined future and the historical memory of its past provides a political and social commentary on the Chinese narrative of “peaceful rise.” “The Western Ocean” is also a good example of how the subgenre of alternate history can become a tool for Chinese writers to tactfully express their concerns and criticism of contemporary world politics while strict restrictions on the media and internet, as well as self-censorship among PRC intellectuals in general, still prevail in the country.

In examining Hunter S. Thompson's Gonzo journalism, other themes and aspects have perhaps over-shadowed the consideration of Gonzo as/and sports journalism. Through looking at Gonzo's relationship with sport, and its prominent exploration of the place of sport within wider American cultural contexts, this article examines the ways in which Gonzo differentiates itself as a type of more critical sports journalism, more concerned with the exploitative, corrupt and negative aspects of sports. By comparing and contrasting Gonzo with conventions of sports journalism, and wider conventions governing the presentation of elite sport in America, Gonzo is used to illustrate ways in which ideological deployments of sport are contested, particularly in terms of the complex tensions between mercenary ideas of sport, and myths of sport reliant on ideas of passion, loyalty and emotion. These elements support an argument that the stylistic methods associated with Gonzo journalism facilitate a hybrid form of sports journalism which, though highly subjective, is nonetheless strongly tied to critical social and political commentary.

After the Modernist literary experiments of her earlier work, Virginia Woolf became increasingly concerned with overt social and political commentary in her later writings, which are preoccupied with dissecting the links between patriarchy, patriotism, imperialism and war. This book unravels the complex textual histories of The Years (1937), Three Guineas (1938) and Between the Acts (1941) to expose the genesis and evolution of Virginia Woolf’s late cultural criticism. Fusing a feminist-historicist approach with the practices and principles of genetic criticism, this innovative study scrutinizes a range of holograph, typescript and proof documents within their historical context to uncover the writing and thinking processes that produced Woolf’s cultural analysis during 1931-1941. By demonstrating that Woolf’s late cultural criticism developed through her literary experimentalism as well as in response to contemporary social, political and economic upheavals, this book offers a fresh perspective on her emergence as a cultural commentator in her final decade and paves the way for further genetic enquiries in the field.

The discussion of the literary NGO (LINGO) in the previous chapters revealed that African LINGOs past and present have not simply been producers of literature. Rather, literature produced within and promoted by African LINGOs is equally regarded as an instrumental site for cultural, social, and political commentary. According to their objectives and activities, African LINGOs have clearly perceived themselves as independent write- tanks aiming to explore questions of identity, to contribute to nation building, and to challenge the literary mainstream.KeywordsCivil SocietyIndigenous LanguageAfrican SocietyNation BuildingCreative WritingThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This article examines the representations of fashion and clothing through the history of Copenhagen films and TV shows. Because a comprehensive study of Copenhagen media does not yet exist, we have reviewed, compiled and analysed many examples of historical and contemporary films and television shows that have a special relationship with the city and its fashion. We examine the ways in which the city is mediated, how various film genres (including social realism, historical costume dramas and contemporary lifestyle dramas) and TV shows (ranging from historical and political dramas to Nordic noir crime series) use the characters’ clothing as signifiers and representations of class, careers, lifestyles and identities. The clothing and fashion in these works reveal many underlying cultural messages, motivations of the characters, as well as important social, cultural and political commentary on the city as a microcosm for society at large. Our methodology is grounded in cultural history, fashion history and media analysis, with a particular attention to the cultural, political and urban transformations in Copenhagen over the decades, and the role fashion plays in the city’s cultural landscape.

This paper explores the profound influence of vernacular language on the construction of identity and ideology within Nigerian hip hop music. By analyzing the lyrics of prominent Nigerian hip hop artists, the study highlights how artists like Olamide, 9ice, and Tuface utilize Nigerian Pidgin and local dialects such as Yoruba to forge a distinct cultural and national identity. These artists not only celebrate their linguistic heritage but also leverage it as a form of resistance against linguistic and cultural imperialism, promoting a nationalist ideology that resonates deeply with their local audience. The paper argues that the incorporation of vernacular language in Nigerian hip hop goes beyond mere artistic choice; it serves as a critical tool for social and political commentary. This linguistic strategy enables artists to address and critique socio-economic inequalities and political issues, making hip hop a voice for the marginalized. Moreover, the study sheds light on how the use of local dialects and pidgin enhances the accessibility and relatability of the music, thereby strengthening the bond between artists and their audiences. This exploration into the intersection of language, identity, and ideology in Nigerian hip hop not only enriches our understanding of the genre's cultural significance but also underscores the dynamic role of language in shaping artistic and social landscapes. The paper contributes to broader discourses on language policy, cultural expression, and identity politics within the global context of hip hop.

The Children of Orpheus: How Composers Receive Ancient Texts