Unwritten Histories: The Rediscovery of Jewish Women’s Literary Contributions

This article examines how two Scandinavian picture book biographies, Anne-Cath. Vestly (2020) by Agnes-Margrethe Bjorvand and Tove: En lille digter (2020) by Line Jensen, convey the lives and literary work of authors to children and young readers. Through a comparative analysis, the article explores how different narrative and visual strategies are used to depict life stories and authorship, and how these influence the child reader’s experience and understanding of the texts and the authors’ literary contributions. The article draws on theories of nonfiction, picturebooks, and multimodality, and demonstrates how iconotext, portraits, and anecdotes contribute to the adaptation and presentation of literary lives for a young audience.

This research paper explores the concept of Sufism, its genesis, growth and its most prominent Sufi schools, in the Arabian Peninsula in general and in Yemen, in particular. It precisely unearths the rise of the Sufi Movement in Yemen from early time of Ayyubids until now. It further sheds light on the renowned Yemeni Sufi Scholar, Ahmad ibn Alwan and his literary contribution to the establishment of Sufism in Yemen in the early twelfth century. It further tackles his philosophy in his very well-known book al-Tawheed al-A’zam (The Supreme Union) which forms the basic ground of his Sufi path (Tariqa). The question of how Ibn Alwan is unique from other Sufi scholars in terms of his literary contributions investigated. Building on a descriptive and analytical approach, the paper attempts to investigate an interesting area which is rarely studied if not ignored or neglected by the researchers. It is concluded that Ibn Alwan is not influenced by any Sufi school and that his ideas and contributions to Sufism and literary Sufism bestows Sufism in Yemen a unique privacy.

Odia Ofeimun’s early life experiences, the sociopolitical condition and intellectual climate of his youth and adult life, and national and other historical circumstances appear to have not only prepared him for but also goaded him into an activist poet’s career. He ranges on the side of the common people and is at the vanguard of forces struggling against tyranny, dictatorship, oppression, injustice, and other sociopolitical vices so as to establish humane and democratic values. Because of this historicist approach, the specific contexts of historical period, geographical place, and local society and culture will be used to locate and interrogate Ofeimun’s work among his peers’ literary contributions since he shares similar public but often different individual experiences with members of his generation. The evolution of democracy must begin with its antecedents of dictatorship, tyranny, and undemocratic governance and vices, which are gradually eroded through struggle for more humane and democratic values.

Reviewed by: Des femmes en littérature Anne Hajek Reid, Martine . Des femmes en littérature. Paris: Bélin, 2010. Pp. 331. ISBN: 9782701155661. In Des femmes en littérature, Martine Reid seeks to contribute to our scholarly understanding of the gendered nature of literature written by women in France. She reminds us that French women have been both writing and publishing since the Middle Ages. Their existence as producers of literature is not in question. In fact, Reid points to a large body of scholarly work devoted to the study of French women's writing. Nonetheless, she cautions that women's place in overarching descriptions of literary history and in collective memory is still problematic: regardless of the large numbers of texts they produced, relatively few women writers are typically represented today in university curricula or in scholarly reflections on literature. Reid explains this absence by hypothesizing a systematic erasure of women's literary contributions. She argues that during the mid- to late-nineteenth century, male critics capitalized on widely-accepted ideas of gender to marginalize progressively and eventually erase the works of women authors from literary history. Reid adopts a two-fold corrective approach to re-thinking women's place in the literary historical record. She first explores the reception of women authors after the Revolution and then analyzes a variety of post-revolutionary women's novels. Throughout the text, she convincingly argues that women's writing is always "singulière;" each text should be approached as a unique literary creation, not reductively categorized under a monolithic label. The first part of her book, "Discours," aims to sketch a history of the reception of post-revolutionary women authors and to highlight the obstacles facing them as they embarked upon literary careers. In her first chapter, "Défenses et illustrations," Constance Pipelet, Germaine de Staël, and Félicité de Genlis serve as examples of the various ways in which women writers defended their own involvement in literary pursuits given the social constraints of gender. In chapter two, "Bas-bleus," Reid turns her attention to pictorial representations of women writers in the nineteenth century. She examines criticism of the bas-bleu in the illustrations of Jules Janin, Frédéric Soulié, and Honoré Daumier. For her, these images represent commonly held perceptions of women writers as a threat to social order because of their perceived transgression or rejection of socially accepted gender roles, especially those of wife and mother. By creating laughable images of women authors, caricaturists took the first step in what Reid views as a process aimed at erasing women's literary contributions. The third chapter, "À Titre d'hommage," examines works by Sainte-Beuve and Lamartine to illustrate further the nineteenth century's growing hostility toward women's literary involvement. At the end of part one, Reid turns to the field of literary history, to demonstrate definitively the existence of a slow process aimed at expunging women writers from the French literary record. She shows how, by the end of the nineteenth century, [End Page 329] women writers had been successfully relegated to the margins of literary history. For Reid, the effects of the process are felt even today: although a significant number of Anglophone and Francophone scholars have excavated and explored many forgotten works, women authors have been only weakly integrated into the broad scope of literary history and have yet to occupy their true place. In the second half of her book, "Fictions," Reid turns to literary texts, primarily novels, to illustrate the ways in which gender affected women's literary production. By using gender as a critical lens, Reid hopes to begin the process of fully integrating women's writing into the literary historical record. Before beginning her in-depth textual analyses, she explores the implications of publication for women. Then, she examines and questions the common association of women with the novel, suggesting that persistent association of women with the genre was yet another effort to keep women on the margins of literature. In chapters seven through twelve, Reid carefully analyzes novels of varying lengths by a diverse selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century women writers. Her goal is to reveal the extreme...

The Postsecular Restoration undertakes an exploration of a phenomenon that is often remarked upon but frequently disavowed: that many of the writers of the Restoration period who are considered innovators in the literary field – in particular Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn, and John Dryden – were politically conservative, in that they supported monarchy, they were Catholic, they were intolerant, or they were antidemocratic. This book makes the case for the synergistic relationship between a nascent postsecular worldview – one based not on clinging to tradition but in a thoughtful response to emergent liberal secular ideals and practices – and the emergence of the modern sphere of literature, in which conservative writers play a prominent role. Thus, it addresses a critical blind spot: The conservative political orientation of these writers has typically been treated as separate from their literary contributions, leveraged against their literary contributions, explained away as a function of their historical conditions, or ignored altogether. One reason for this may be that literary scholars tend to identify with liberal or progressive politics, and, as a result, our means of seeing connections between literature and politics have tended to obscure questions of how conservative political orientation and literary innovations relate.

Most literary scholars believe that Irish literary nationalism originated in the 1840s with the Young Ireland movement. Mary Helen Thuente sets out to refute this claim and to demonstrate that Irish literary nationalism began instead with the United Irish movement of the 1790s. By re-evaluating the writings associated with the United Irish movement, their context within the culture, and their impact on subsequent Irish nationalistic writing, the author establishes that the movement played a pivotal role in the development of Irish literary nationalism. She provides balance in her treatment of elite and popular cultures, salvages information previously ignored by critics, and invites readers to look anew at the history and propaganda of the movement. The United Irishmen began as a club of parliamentary reformers in Belfast in 1791. Influenced by the French Revolution and related movements, these sons of the Enlightenment became ever more radical. Within five or six years, what had been a small club of intellectuals and political agitators resulted in a mass movement (largely composed of middle-class extremists) that was committed to overthrowing British rule in Ireland. This group published a substantial amount of verse and satire in their newspapers and produced four songbooks (Paddy's Resource), which represented an important stage in the evolution of Irish literary nationalism. Their literary endeavours synthesised multiple aspects of the 18th-century culture, including English literary tradition, Celticism and antiquarianism, political literature, music and popular culture. The pluralistic conception of Irish culture and society embodied in United Irish literary nationalism challenges the increasingly xenophobic and sectarian nationalism that developed in the course of the 19th century. The conventional view of this group overlooks their literary contributions and thus the full significance of their cause. Thuente seeks to recover both the writings associated with the United Irishmen and the cultural contexts to their movement to demonstrate that the literary contribution was as significant as their political effect. By making available to scholars an impressive array of little-known material, the author calls for a reassessment of the origins of Irish national literature.

This study delves into the psychological dimensions found within the characters of acclaimed author Rohinton Mistry. Through an examination of his works, the research explores the intricacies of the human mind as portrayed by Mistry, shedding light on the complexities of emotions, thought processes, and behaviours that shape the lives of his characters. By analysing the psychological dimensions within Mistry's narratives, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the human condition, offering a deeper understanding of the psychological realities depicted in his works. The findings of this research contribute to the appreciation of Mistry's literary contributions and provide a foundation for further exploration of psychological themes in literature.

This study explores the cultural and philosophical dimensions embedded in the novels of Raja Rao, a seminal figure in Indian English literature. Raja Rao’s works are deeply rooted in Indian traditions, values, and spiritual ethos, reflecting the convergence of ancient Indian philosophy with contemporary challenges. The research focuses on selected novels, including Kanthapura, The Serpent and the Rope, and The Cat and Shakespeare, analyzing how the author portrays India’s cultural heritage and philosophical thought.Raja Rao employs narrative techniques that resonate with the oral traditions of India while delving into profound existential and metaphysical questions. His protagonists often embody the search for truth, self-realization, and the balance between individual desires and universal truths. By situating these reflections within the socio-political landscape of India, the study highlights how Raja Rao integrates the spiritual and temporal aspects of life, offering a holistic view of Indian identity.This analytical study contributes to the understanding of Raja Rao’s literary contributions, emphasizing his unique ability to blend storytelling with philosophical inquiry. It aims to provide a comprehensive perspective on how literature can serve as a vehicle for cultural preservation and philosophical exploration, showcasing the enduring relevance of Indian thought in a globalized world.

This article examines two key issues regarding Western efforts to interpret Meiji Japan, as illustrated in the life of Boston journalist Edward H. House (1836-1901). They are, first, the difficulty of cutting through the rhetoric of any era, as one seeks to understand what an interpreter meant, and, second, the complexity of efforts to decipher how much influence historical figures exerted. The essay begins with a summary of House's life: his prominence as an American Civil War reporter, his editorship in the 1870s of the Tokio Times , his literary contributions and troubled friendship with Mark Twain in the 1880s, and his final years in Tokyo. It takes up the first interpretative issue by focusing on House's writings about women, arguing that, while House's prose was filled with the male, imperialist rhetoric of his day, his espousal of genuine equality was radically progressive. The second issue, influence, is examined through the lens of House's crusades to have the United States return its portion of the 1864 Shimonoseki indemnity. The essay concludes that, while House exerted undeniable influence in prompting Congress's decision to send back the money, the question of how much effect he had in 'correcting' the historical record of the event remains problematic.

"The Soft Answer":The National Era's Network of Understanding Jarad Krywicki (bio) In January 1847, shortly after shutting down operations of his Cincinnati-based Weekly Herald and Philanthropist, well-respected editor Dr. Gamaliel Bailey launched the National Era, a gradualist anti-slavery newspaper compiled and printed in Washington, D.C. The sprawling seven-column, four-page weekly was the first major anti-slavery periodical to be published in the city since the departure of Benjamin Lundy's Genius of Universal Emancipation in 1833, but it managed to achieve rapid success, which it sustained throughout much of its thirteen-year run.1 According to original publisher Limmaeus Noble, the paper would pay "due attention . . . to Current Events, Congressional Proceedings, General Politics and Literature," but its "great aim [was] a complete discussion of the Question of Slavery, and an exhibition of the Duties of the Citizen in relation to it."2 Providing a vehicle for such discussion was undoubtedly daring in pro-slavery territory—Kentucky mobs had attacked Cassius M. Clay's True American less than two years earlier—but the Era's prospectus also staked out other uncertain terrain for its content.3 Namely, it added "Literature" to an otherwise familiar journalistic grouping of "Current Events, Congressional Proceedings, [and] General Politics." The Era's inclusion of literature did not, in itself, differentiate it from other popular or abolitionist papers of the period; Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, for example, resolved to "devote all the space that can be spared from the topics of the day" to "Literature, Poetry, and Art" while the North Star frequently included poetry on the far left column of its back page.4 Even in this brief comparison, however, we see that the National Era, unlike the New York Tribune or the North Star, regularly incorporated literature as more than an afterthought, ranking it with the "topics of the day" in importance and editorial prominence, rather than as a second-rate alternative. The conspicuous position of literature in the National Era's coverage and the paper's high ratio of literary offerings to journalistic pieces, particularly given its controversial subject [End Page 125] matter, therefore marked it as a standout among mainstream newspapers and somewhat anomalous among anti-slavery publications. At the close of 1848, Bailey reiterated much of Noble's position but, as if registering the newspaper's unusual format, supplemented his prospectus with a defense of the National Era's literary content.5 "It is a difficult task," he wrote, "in a weekly Anti-Slavery newspaper, to mingle literature with politics, so as to provide entertainment for lovers of the former, without interfering with the thorough discussion of the latter; and to keep both subordinate to the presentation and advocacy of the Great Movement in behalf of Human Liberty, to sustain which the paper was established."6 Two years after the National Era's first issue, Bailey saw the newspaper's literary contributions as, on one hand, a mechanism for appealing to alternate audiences, specifically those craving "entertainment," and, on the other, a potential threat to its political purpose. While Bailey proved up to the "difficult task" of balancing the newspaper's content around the anti-slavery movement, he did not yet recognize the importance of literature to its project, except in terms of circulation. By the end of 1851, which included much of the National Era's serial publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Bailey's thoughts about the role of literature had changed: "The National Era is an Anti-Slavery, Literary, and Political newspaper, published weekly. . . . The Literary Department of the Era speaks for itself."7 In the span of a few years, the literary had supplanted politics in the list of the National Era's priorities (appearing before, not after, "Politics"), and its inclusion required no explanation, instead speaking "for itself." Any concerns about the relation of literature to anti-slavery had been answered during the course of the National Era's publication by the very literature in question. But what allowed for such a change in perception among Bailey's rapidly growing list of subscribers, or for such a metamorphosis in Bailey's understanding of his own publication? This...

In 1670 Sir Henry Wotton's advice upon architectural design and practice was republished, the work being retitled The Ground-Rules of Architecture. Unusual though it may sound to us, the term ‘ground rule’ was to Wotton a normal expression which had been common parlance amongst building craftsmen for centuries. John Shute had ako used it in his title to a similar treatise some 107 years prior to the new publication. The expression must, therefore, have derived from an architectural era which antedated the Renaissance to which these two authors were making their literary contributions.

This study seeks to analyze the significant trends of English Romanticism and its reflection on the life and works of Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976). Though Nazrul Islam knew very much the socio-historical condition and the most important poets of the then Romantic period of English literature, especially the late Romantic poets like Shelley, Keats, and Byron, it does not become virtually possible to emulate utterly following the directions of the ideology over the manifold unaccommodating romantic dictions and feelings what is captivated by Nazrul. This paper intends to present the socio-historical scenario and the poetry of Nazrul, the major romantic poet of the generation in Bengali literary history, beholding in his poetry for squeezes of romanticism equally embellished by the English Romanticism. Studying Nazrul Islam’s age, life and works, this study pursues to discover to what extent Nazrul’s life and works were reflected by European Romantic sensibilities and in what ways his literary contributions went through the romantic philosophies in his unique fashion and context.

American Contributions to the Fifth International Congress of Slavists. Sofia, September 1963. II: Literary Contributions

The Rhetorical Arts in Late Antique and Early Medieval Ireland represents the first study of the art of rhetoric in medieval Ireland, a culture often neglected by medieval rhetorical studies. In a series of three case studies, Brian James Stone traces the textual transmission of rhetorical theories and practices from the late Roman period to those early Irish monastic communities who would not only preserve and pass on the light of learning, but adapt an ancient tradition to their own cultural needs, contributing to the history of rhetoric in important ways. The manuscript tradition of early Ireland, which gave us the largest body of vernacular literature in the medieval period and is already appreciated for its literary contributions, is also a site of rhetorical innovation and creative practice.

This study aims to trace the views of Orientalists on Mahfouz's literature, elucidating their approach to studying a model of Arabic literature and analyzing these views through the lens of cultural criticism, particularly through the concepts of the "self" and the "other." The study employed the descriptive-analytical method based on cultural criticism. The study revealed that Orientalists' opinions on Mahfouz'works were diverse, largely shaped by their preexisting ideas. They interpreted Mahfouz's works based on their social and cultural perspectives, often selecting elements that aligned with their own biases. Soviet Orientalist criticism was the closest to reflecting Egyptian reality and demonstrated a deeper understanding of and fairness toward Mahfouz. Meanwhile, European Orientalist criticism provided important insights into the influence of European philosophy and modern literature on Mahfouz's works, yet it was not free from the Western superiority complex toward the East. This perspective often failed to align with Mahfouz's artistic and creative capabilities or with the Egyptian reality, instead being filtered through a cultural intermediary who imposed their own ideological framework. Israeli Orientalist criticism, in contrast, focused on tracking the manifestations of Arab society, aiming to study and understand it as it is—ultimately with the intention of exploiting this knowledge. Naguib Mahfouz served as a mirror reflecting Egyptian society in particular and the Arab world in general, presenting a truthful image to both Arab and Western audiences. However, Orientalist readings of his literary output varied significantly. Some offered a fair and appreciative evaluation of his artistic and literary contributions, while others used their analysis to highlight cultural biases that elevated the Western world's modernity and superiority over the East.