Ce Qui Est Research Articles

Advances in our understanding of canine atopic dermatitis.

Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a genetically inherited clinical syndrome that encompasses a diversity of mechanisms and can have a variety of triggers. Development of clinical disease is the result of genetic factors and environmental conditions, which shape the resulting immunological response. Clinical disease becomes evident once a threshold of inflammatory response is achieved. Skin barrier impairment plays a role in promoting cutaneous dysbiosis and increased allergen penetration. Keratinocytes shape the response of dendritic cells and subsequent lymphocytic response. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin is one of the links between the damaged skin barrier and the modulation of a T-helper (Th)2 response. It is still unclear whether mutations in skin barrier genes exist in atopic dogs, as they do in humans, or whether the observed alterations are purely secondary to inflammation. A dysregulated immune response with increased Th2, Th17 and CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells has been reported. A variety of cytokines [interleukin(IL)-31, IL-34, Macrophage migration inhibitory factor] are proposed as potential biomarkers and treatment targets because they are increased in the serum of atopic dogs when compared to controls, although a correlation between serum levels of these factors and severity of disease is not always present. The main issue with many published studies is that atopic dogs are always only compared to normal controls. Thus, it is unclear whether the changes that we find are truly a signature of cAD or merely a manifestation of nonspecific broad inflammatory responses. Studies considering comparison with other inflammatory diseases different from cAD are urgently needed to correctly identify what is specific to this complicated syndrome.

The roles of social economic status and undernutrition in regional disparities of the under‐five mortality rate in Vietnam

From 2005 to 2017, the prevalence of mortality in Vietnamese children under five years old showed large regional disparities. In 2017, mortality in the wealthiest region was 12.6‰, whereas the most disadvantaged region it was three times as high, at 36‰. This study aims to identify factors affecting regional disparities of the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) in Vietnam. We applied Structural Equation Modelling to estimate the degree and the pathway through which undernutrition and socio-economic status (SES) contributed to the under-five mortality disparities. SES is estimated as a common latent factor of three socio-economic measures, that is, education, poverty and income. The direct effect of SES on U5MR is at 2.16 through the underweight pathway, which is 5 times higher than the effect of underweight on U5MR. Through the stunting channel, this direct impact is 1.43, nearly twice as high as the impact of the stunting rate. SES also has an indirect effect on U5MR through these undernutrition pathways. In total, we estimate that an increase in SES index will make the U5MR increase by 2.73‰. Among the three indicators of SES, poverty conveys the strongest signal of a considerable change in SES, thus to a subsequent change in U5MR. Among two types of undernutrition, the effect of stunting on U5MR is dominant, more than 3 times as high as that of underweight. These findings have important implications for socio-economic and health interventions: those that strongly focus on the reduction of regional poverty and stunting rates would be effective in bridging the regional gap in the U5MR in Vietnam.

Tombes à dalles néolithiques (cistes et chambres) du nord-est de la péninsule Ibérique : une vision historiographique et chronologique

Les sépultures à dalles néolithiques sont connues depuis le début du XXe siècle, tout particulièrement grâce au travail débuté par J. Vilaró et poursuivi par M. Cura, J. Castany et Ll. Guerrero. Cependant, elles ont reçu de la part des archéologues moins d’attention que d’autres structures funéraires (même si elles sont souvent mentionnées dans la littérature archéologique), ce qui est surprenant. En effet, les tombes découvertes sont nombreuses, ainsi que les parallèles avec d’autres manifestations néolithiques contemporaines ou proches dans le temps du sud de la France, du nord de l’Italie ou de la Suisse. Il s’est donc avéré nécessaire d’effectuer une série d’analyses pour améliorer nos connaissances à leur sujet. La faible visibilité de ces tombes (ou l’absence de visibilité), leur mauvais état de conservation, le manque de prospections et les dégradations dues aux remaniements des sols des zones agropastorales dans lesquels elles se trouvent, peuvent être les causes du nombre peu élevé de découvertes réalisées ces dernières décennies. L’objectif de cet article est de présenter les derniers résultats obtenus par notre équipe de chercheurs réunie autour de l’étude de ces tombes. Nous présenterons l’état de la question sur leur historiographie, ainsi que les caractéristiques qui les définissent, en partant des structures pour arriver aux personnes inhumées et au mobilier funéraire associé. Il est important d’insister sur l’existence de nouvelles datations radiocarbone et sur les analyses statistiques effectuées, car elles nous ont permis d’évaluer la distribution chronologique des tombes et leur durée d’utilisation. Jusqu’à la réalisation de ce programme de datation, la chronologie des sépultures à dalles était assez incertaine en raison du nombre restreint de dates, dont certaines obtenues à partir d’échantillons de longue durée de vie. Ces données ont servi de trait d’union pour établir des liens avec d’autres manifestations funéraires du néolithique d’Europe centrale et occidentale.

Factors associated with Chinese pregnant women's preference for a cesarean section based on the theory of planned behaviour.

Cesarean delivery on maternal request is one of the important public health issues in China. Our study aimed to apply the theory of planned behaviour to comprehensively determine the factors regarding pregnant women's preference for cesarean section and to provide references for establishing measures to reduce cesarean delivery on maternal request. This cross-sectional analysis was conducted in four women's and children's hospitals in China from May to June 2018. Eligible women arriving for routine antenatal visits at these hospitals were recruited to answer a structured questionnaire. A total of 1853 pregnant women consented to participate in the investigation, with a response rate of 88.75%. Finally, 1677 pregnant women (984 nulliparae and 693 multiparae) were involved in the analysis. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were used. Of the study participants, 20.39% preferred cesarean section. For both nulliparae and multiparae, those who had lower scores of attitudes towards vaginal delivery, lower scores of childbirth self-efficacy and higher scores of subjective norms were more likely to prefer cesarean section. Pregnant women's birth preferences were significantly associated with their attitudes towards the delivery mode, childbirth self-efficacy and subjective norms, which is consistent with the theory of planned behaviour. Interventions to reduce cesarean delivery on maternal request can be developed based on the theory of planned behaviour.

The Use of Photography as a Mode of Social and Historical Investigation

American Readers at Home by Ludovic Balland, Against Photography by Akram Zaatari and Qu’est-ce qui est different ? by Wolfgang Tillmans all have in common the fact they consider photography as a decisive element in the construction of histories, while also integrating it into the narrative chain text is also part of. Akram Zaatari and Wolfgang Tillmans both include pre-existing photographs in their work, thus questioning the medium per se. This is a far cry from the unique, context-less phot...

Rereading Baudelaire’s “Le Cygne”

Rereading Baudelaire’s “Le Cygne” Massimo Verdicchio (bio) Baudelaire’s “Le Cygne” (1861) stands out among the other poems of Les Fleurs du mal not only for the number of studies that have been devoted to it by the best critical minds writing on poetry today,1 but also for certain characteristics of the poem that render it unique. According to F. W. Leakey, “Baudelaire’s unusual achievement and innovation in “Le Cygne” is … to have made a poem simply by setting down the thoughts that freely came into his mind at the actual moment of composition.” (38) Leakey links Baudelaire’s thoughts to the letter he wrote to Victor Hugo on December 7, 1859 that accompanied a manuscript copy of the poem. The dedication not only provided the basic structure of the poem but also its basic theme: Voici des vers faits pour vous et en pensant à vous. … Ce qui est important pour moi, c’était de dire vite tout ce qu’un accident, une image, peut contenir de suggestions, et comment la vue d’un animal souffrant pousse l’esprit vers tout les êtres que nous aimons, qui sont absents et qui souffrent, vers tous ceux qui sont privés de quelque chose d’irretrouvable. (622)2 This is the theme of exile and compassion that the poet feels for Andromache, the swan, the “négresse,” himself, the orphans, the sailors as well as the people who are either captive or vanquished and who give the poem its focus as well as its “universality.” (49, Leakey’s emphasis) According to Leakey, this is the way the poet’s thoughts speak to us, of “our problems: … about Vietnam, Biafra, Ulster, Bangladesh—about any time or place where there are orphans, exiles, [End Page 879] captives, vanquished.” (49, his emphasis) Leakey’s analysis is a good example of how “Le Cygne” has been read to date, as a poem of exile and human suffering that moves from the ancient past (Andromaque, the swan) to the present (la négresse) before reaching out to the universal, “à bien d’autres encore!” When we approach the poem without these received ideas other ways of reading present themselves. For instance, the initial allusion to Andromache (“Andromache, je pense à vous”), besides being an allusion to her suffering and mourning, can also refer to the exiled Trojans who have built a replica of the city of Troy in exile, as Virgil narrates in the Aeneid. Aeneas, on his way to Latium, stops at the hilltop town of Buthrotum where Helenus, the son of Priam has settled with Andromache, now his wife. It is here that Aeneas first sees Andromache grieving her dead husband Hector over a replica of his tomb and the river Simois: I chanced to see Andromache pouring out libationsto the dead—the ritual foods, the gifts of grief—in a grove before the city, banked by a streamthe exiles made believe was Simois River. Just nowtipping wine to her husband’s ashes, she imploredHector’s shade to visit his tomb, an empty moundof grassy earth, crowned with the double altarsshe had blessed a place to shed her tears. (3: 359-66, my emphasis) In Buthrotum, the exiled Trojans have rebuilt another Troy in imitation of their destroyed city: And as I walk, I recognize a little Troy,a miniature, mimicking our great Trojan towers,and a dried-up brook they call the river Xanthus,and I put my arms around a cut down Scaean Gate. (3: 414-17, italics mine) As the poet crosses the bridge of the new Carrousel, “Comme je traversais le nouveau Carrousel” and sees only destruction around him, the thought of Andromache stimulates his imagination, “A fécondé soudain ma mémoire fertile” with the possibility of reconstructing the old Paris that has been demolished to make way for a new city. The examples of Andromache and of the exiled Trojans serve Baudelaire as a literary model to imitate. If Virgil can tell of the exiled Trojans building a new Troy to replace their lost Troy, the poet who feels equally an exile in his own city can create the fiction of a...

The case of the gene: Postgenomics between modernity and postmodernity.

The history of modernity is a story about humans emancipating themselves from prejudice and superstition through reason and science. Scientific research has been a major driving force of progress for human civilization since the industrial revolution in the mid‐18th century. During the past 250 years, humans have rapidly increased their use of science, as a tool not only to understand and shape their environment, but also to improve themselves with better health care and longer, more comfortable lives. Unfortunately, the application of science has not always been appropriate: Darwin's theory of natural selection was applied to social policies in the form of eugenics from the early 19th century until the second half of the 20th century. In this period, eugenics remained a popular ideology and, as a consequence, genetics was a popular science. It was also a period of significant human migration that increased racial diversity in Western nations, with resulting concerns about racial purity. Naturalism and social Darwinism were very popular throughout, while industrialization led to massive urbanization and increasing pauperism. Politically, it was a time of interventionist policies, such as the so‐called Progressive Era in the USA that led to drastic social and political change. > No more divine designer, no more life force is needed; life is determined by a genetic program and evolves as a result of chance—or human choice—and selection Eugenics gained scientific legitimacy in the early 20th century owing to Mendelian genetics, which offered a rational, scientific theory to understand, predict, and control heredity and thereby the characteristics of future generations. As pauperism, criminality, and “feeblemindedness” were thought to be genetically determined, eugenics offered a tool to eliminate these undesirable traits from the human population. Of course, the idea of a single and universal definition of “the gene” is currently disappearing together …

'Ce qui est coupe repousse': Jean Genet, Helene Cixous, the Wound, and the Poetics of Omission

This article explores the thematic and structural significance of the figure of the wound to Jean Genet’s Pompes funebres (1947) and Helene Cixous’s Souffles (1975). With reference to the differences between editions of Pompes funebres and through a detailed genetic study of the hitherto unexamined manuscripts of Souffles (Cixous’s direct response to Genet’s novel), the article demonstrates how (self-)censorship becomes constitutive of narrative as such — of its deconstruction and its reconfiguration. By revealing how the later drafts of Cixous’s book operate to conceal its poignant autobiographical origin, and playing with the author’s ambiguous assertion that ‘Ce qui est coupe repousse’, the article exposes omission as a productive textual strategy.

Transnationalizing Home in Winnipeg: Refugees’ Stories of the Places Between the “Here-and-There”

This article asks how refugees narrate home. Based on extensive interviews (oral histories) with refugees in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who arrived from Europe after the Second World War, from Central America during the 1980s, and from Afghanistan during the 2000s, this article argues that refugees are continually engaged in the process of making home, not only in the sending and receiving countries, but also in countries along their often complex and long migration routes. Listening closely to their stories forces researchers to move beyond “methodological nationalism” and a dichotomous “here-or-there” conceptualization of home, toward a transnationalizing of home. Dans cet article je parle au sujet de comment les réfugiés racontent ce qui est, pour eux, leur maison. La recherche est basée sur les entrevues (histoire orale) avec des réfugiés à Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ceux-ci sont arrivés de l’Europe après la deuxième guerre mondiale, ainsi que de l’Amérique Centrale pendant les années 80, et d’Afghanistan pendant les années 2000. Je parle du processus de s’établir un domicile, dans lequel les réfugiés se sont continuellement engagés, pas seulement dans leur pays d’origine et d’accueil, mais aussi dans les pays tout au long de leurs voies de migration, souvent complexes et longues. L’écoute attentive de leurs histoires fait en sorte que les chercheurs se déplacent au-delà du « nationalisme méthodologique » et de l’idée des pôles opposés représentée par « ici ou là », pour aller chercher les innombrables connections entre les différents pays, ainsi qu’une transnationalisation des maisons.

Thematic markers in informal written French:pour ce qui est de, au niveau (de) and en matière de

ABSTRACTThis paper studies three thematic markers (TMs) in informal written French:pour ce qui est de, au niveau (de)anden matière de. We will demonstrate that they have different syntactico-semantic and discourse-functional properties and that the exact function of the TM construction results from the interplay between the inherent properties of the TM and the specific syntactic construction it appears in. We will demonstrate that TMs do not only introduce the aboutness-topics, but that they can also establish the frame in which the main clause holds or functions.

Stendhal, Illogicality, and Imagination: The Dirt of Politics and the Politics of Dirt in the Vie de Henry Brulard, Lucien Leuwen, and La Chartreuse de Parme

This article looks at the ways in which Stendhal foregrounds representations of dirt in a number of his autobiographical and fictional texts, most notably the Vie de Henry Brulard, Lucien Leuwen, and La Chartreuse de Parme. It shows how Stendhal assigns apparently contradictory political meanings to these representations. In particular, the article aims to recontextualize Henry Brulard’s declaration: ‘J’ai horreur de ce qui est sale, or le peuple est toujours sale à mes yeux’. It is argued that, in his fiction, Stendhal takes care to distinguish between the physical dirt imputed to ‘le peuple’ imagined as ‘la canaille’ and the moral dirt that he detects in all classes and shades of political opinion in Restoration and Orleanist France. It is further argued that Stendhal uses this distinction to draw attention to a series of disjunctions between reality and illusion that together came to shape the post-Revolutionary political order as far as he was concerned. The article begins and ends by setting its analysis of the dirt of politics and the politics of dirt within the broader context provided by longstanding critical debates revolving around the questions of Stendhal’s alleged (political) inconsequentiality, that it is to say the illogicality of his reasoning, and the dominant role played by his imagination.

Condensing the Media Mix: Multiple Possible Worlds in The Tatami Galaxy

Cet article identifie quelques unes des distinctions générales dans les pratiques narratives transmédiatiques plus précisément entre ce qui, en Amérique du Nord, a été appelé la culture de la convergence des médias et ce qui est connu au Japon comme le media mix. Rédigé à partir d’une lecture de la série d’animation La galaxie Tatami (Yojōhan shinwa taikei, 2010), cet article illustre les différentes approches de la cohérence diégétique à l’intérieur de chacune de ces formations industrial-médiatiques. L’article s’inspire des concepts leibnitzien de compossibilité et d’incompossibilité pour dresser un cadre théorique permettant de comprendre les différences dans la création de mondes médiatiques. En lisant La galaxie Tatami comme un méta commentaire sur la pratique du media mix, l’article vise aussi plus généralement à développer les termes pour l’analyse d’oeuvres transmédiatiques.

P.3.010 Genetic variability at IMPA-2, INPP-1 and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β increases the risk of suicidal behaviour in bipolar patients

Le traitement au long cours des troubles de l’humeur conduit à une diminution marquée de la mortalité, notamment par suicide, de ces patients dont le risque suicidaire est majeur. Les données s’accumulent depuis 40 ans pour proposer que le lithium bénéficie d’un effet suicide, lui conférant une place à part dans l’arsenal thérapeutique. En effet, le lithium présente un effet préventif des conduites suicidaires dans le trouble bipolaire comme dans le trouble unipolaire. Cet effet semble indépendant de son efficacité thymorégulatrice et supérieur à ce qui est observé avec les anticonvulsivants. Les mécanismes d’action du lithium continuent d’être étudiés tant ils sont complexes. Les pistes se multiplient pour envisager que le lithium agisse sur différents traits de vulnérabilité suicidaire ou qu’il puisse corriger des anomalies cérébrales associées au suicide. Les travaux scientifiques, de la molécule à l’épidémiologie, concourent à proposer le lithium en première ligne pour lutter contre le risque suicidaire des patients souffrant de troubles thymiques. Il est alors envisageable de recourir au lithium dans une perspective dimensionnelle, pour traiter le risque suicidaire, l’impulsivité et l’agressivité, et ce, indépendamment du traitement thymorégulateur choisi pour le patient.Affective disorders are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior. For instance, 18% of bipolar males having a past history of suicide attempt die by suicide. In comparison to untreated patients, those receiving a continuous pharmacological treatment for bipolar disorder have a reduced surmortality, including by suicide (Angst et al., 2002). Evidence shows that lithium has specific antisuicidal properties. Meta-analyses including long-term randomized controlled trials have shown a 80% decrease of suicidal behaviors in patients receiving lithium for 18 months or more. In a recent meta-analysis including controlled studies comparing lithium vs. placebo or active drugs in both unipolar and bipolar disorders, Cipriani et al., 2013 have shown significant reduction of suicide mortality in patients on lithium. In addition, lithium is more efficient than anticonvulsants to prevent suicidal behaviors. In a large Danish study (Sondergard et al., 2009), although the rate of suicide was higher during periods when patients purchased anticonvulsants than during periods with lithium, the suicide rate decreased with the number of prescriptions in a rather similar way for patients first treated with lithium and patients first treated with anticonvulsants. But switch to or augmentation with lithium to patients initiated on anticonvulsants was associated with a significantly reduced rate of suicide whereas a switch to or augmentation with anticonvulsants to patients first started on lithium showed no additional effect on the suicide rate. Antisuicidal effect of lithium is now admitted in bipolar disorder as well as in unipolar depression and seems to be independent of the effect on mood. Ahrens et al., 2001, have investigated a group of high-risk patients with recurrent affective disorders who had committed suicide attempts before the start of lithium. According to their recurrence-related response to long-term lithium prophylaxis, nearly 50% of poor responders did not exhibit any further suicidal behavior during lithium treatment. Khan et al., 2011, have conducted an exploratory proof of concept-randomized trial comparing suicidality in depressed patients assigned to citalopram + lithium or to citalopram + placebo for 4 weeks. Lithium when used in therapeutic doses (> 0.5 mEq/L) was associated with prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. It is important to know that lithium has to be discontinuated very slowly (by 10% a month). After the discontinuation of lithium, suicidal acts are more frequent in the first year than at later times or before start of lithium treatment (Tondo et al., 1998). The mechanism of action of lithium remains poorly understood. It may be due to an action of lithium on suicidal physiopathology. Indeed, lithium reduces aggressive and impulsive behaviors in both humans and animals, and possibly modulates suicidal vulnerability traits. Indeed, decision-making alterations are associated with suicidal phenotype and rely on orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction. In euthymic bipolar patients, decision-making performances have been correlated with lithium dose (Adida et al., submitted). In addition, main molecular targets of lithium, Wnt - GSK3 – β-catenin and IP-3 pathways, have been involved in suicidal vulnerability through post-mortem and genetic studies. In addition, SAT-1 pathway could be involved in antisuicidal effect of lithium. To summarize, for a therapeutic dose, lithium has well demonstrated preventive effect on suicide behaviours in mood disorders, independently of its action on mood. It improves clinical dimensions associated with suicidal risk (impulsivity, aggression), raising the question of dimensional prescription. Finally, further studies are needed to elucidate the antisuicidal mechanism of action of lithium. However, it could be suggested that lithium acts on suicidal vulnerability factors at a macroscopic level (decision-making, cerebral volumes) as well as microscopic level (molecular pathways).

Corps sanglants, souffrants et macabres, XVIe–XVIIe siècle éd. par Christine Bouteille-Meister, Kjerstin Aukrust

but sought to build something new and positive; Garnier’s Spatialism distinguished itself with supranational intentions. The six essays in the opening chapter, “Langue poétique, langue maternelle ,” comment on Garnier’s poetic apprenticeship and his efforts to revive literature in Picard, helping to save the language from oblivion. In 1966, Garnier served as literary editor for Eklitra, a new journal devoted to Picard; thence and into the twenty-first century, he discusses Picard and composes even Spatialist poetry in it. The next section, “Pierre et Ilse Garnier: œuvres croisées,” presents four articles about their collaborations and, among other interesting aspects, examines the international blend of Ilse’s Germany and Pierre’s France. Stressing Pierre Garnier’s rejection of language as a national political construct, the discussants examine how the marriage of the two writers and their bilingual texts become statements of supranational reconciliation. Most important and useful in this section is the analysis of several of their Spatialist works. Avant-garde works of this nature are difficult to explicate, and rarely attract the attention that this volume devotes to them. Gaby Gappmayr’s essay deals with the question of space around the physical word on the page, while Alfons Knauth discusses Spatialism as supranationalism and explores the poetic space created by the Garniers’ French-German interlecte. Today’s graphic design studios make page layout seem easy, but not long ago it was difficult to get words and letters arranged in anything but straight lines. Thus the Garniers’ poem “Adam et Eve im Paradies,” published in Poèmes mécaniques, is drawn and lettered in a somewhat clumsy hand and the typewriter becomes the instrument of composition. In this instance the machine’s role is integral to the poetry, while in others it seems simply the means of text creation. The section “Langue des mots, langue des signes” focuses on Pierre’s promotion of Picard, his love of birds, and his connections with writers of the École de Rochefort in East Germany and Czechoslovakia. Contributors Francis Édeline, Claude Debon, and Philippe Buschinger discuss central aspects of visual poetry, such as the text-image relationship, the use of color as an additional visual element , and the Spatialist use of the white space on the page. Each of these authors engages in a convincing close analysis of one work, and they underscore Garnier’s statement, “poetry is typography / typography is poetry.” It is gratifying to see reference to the “reader-viewer,” acknowledging the particular nature of visual poetry. This volume presents a well-rounded portrait of the long careers of the Garniers, illuminating some lesser-known aspects of their work and experience . Most of all, it focuses valuable attention on their Spatialist poetry and gives it in-depth critical consideration. This is an important reference work in avant-garde studies. Georgia Southern University David W. Seaman BOUTEILLE-MEISTER, CHRISTINE, et KJERSTIN AUKRUST, éd. Corps sanglants, souffrants et macabres, XVIe –XVIIe siècle. Paris: PU Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2010. ISBN 978-287854 -489-3. Pp. 376. 29 a. La violence de la représentation de la souffrance, ainsi que la fascination pour la “beauté de l’horrible” (11) marquent le point de départ des actes du colloque 746 FRENCH REVIEW 85.4 international “Corps sanglants”, organisé par l’Université d’Oslo (12–14 octobre 2008). Les études qui sont réunies dans cet ouvrage se déclinent à travers les genres et les représentations des corps martyrisés, marqués par la violence de cette période historique, entre Guerre de Religions, grandes découvertes scientifiques et géographiques et remises en question de l’ordre commun. Toutes ces communications entrent dans la problématique formulée en introduction par Bouteille-Meister, à savoir “cerner le sens de ces représentations dans une société donnée, travaillée par des représentations d’ordre religieux, médical et politique” (9). Ce qui est particulièrement intéressant dans ces différentes contributions est l’utilisation qui est faite du corps et de son image. Elle permet de sublimer la souffrance et l’horreur, en faisant du lecteur un acteur et un voyeur, à la manière de ce que Christina Bien fait remarquer...

Cultures et lexicographies éd. par Michaela Heinz

pas été altéré—une position dont se moque Arthur Buies (45–46). Pour lui, le véritable problème est l’influence du milieu anglais dans lequel la langue est parl ée: “Ce qui est absolument français dans la province de Québec, ce sont les traditions , le caractère [...] et une manière de sentir, d’agir et d’exprimer qui est propre aux vieux Gaulois. Ce qu’il y a de moins français, c’est la langue” (57). Il accuse les professionnels, plus particulièrement les avocats, qui utilisent “quantité de tours, de phrases, de membres de phrases anglais” (57). Un autre sujet à polémiques qui continuera à animer les discussions bien au-delà du milieu du vingtième siècle est l’usage des locutions familières et des canadianismes. Certains auteurs tels que Pierre Baillargeon (379–80) ou Claude-Henri Grignon (381–82) trouvent légitime de “faire parler en mauvais français les personnages rustiques” (379), car il ne faudrait pas leur imposer un langage qui n’est pas le leur; alors que d’autres tels que Pierre de Granpré prônent un universalisme qui servirait mieux “le prestige intellectuel du Canada” (387) et la réputation des auteurs. Il faudra attendre le prochain volume pour savoir comment la question sera enfin résolue. Auburn University (AL) Samia I. Spencer HEINZ, MICHAELA, éd. Cultures et lexicographies. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2010. ISBN 978-3-86596-293-5. Pp. 324. 68 a. Alain Rey is the editor in chief of the Robert dictionaries, and his most significant project was the Dictionnaire culturel en langue française (DCLF). Published in 2005 after years of research by over one hundred authors, it consists of four massive volumes containing more than 70,000 words. Rey was honored at a 2008 conference , Actes du colloque international de lexicographie (journées allemandes des dictionnaires), and the present compilation, comprising fourteen papers from the conference, gives an overview of the theory and practice of assembling dictionaries . As Henri Meschonnic explains in his contribution, unlike other dictionaries, the DCLF stresses the intrinsic relationship between dictionary creation and culture . He points out the factors involved in the construction of words, emphasizing that their history, geographical origins, and prosody all contribute to their meaning. Thus, the work of lexicographers is more challenging than one might imagine. The history of the genesis of dictionaries is discussed at length in this volume, especially in Jean Pruvost’s paper. He discusses the distinction between the dictionnaire de l’institution, originated by a government as part of a language policy, and the dictionnaire de l’entreprise privée, which is an individual initiative, such as Rey’s innovative and generally well-received work. In the same chapter, Pruvost raises his concern that the Internet may be harmful to the quality of dictionaries because of the easy and free access to information that may not be entirely accurate. In his piece, Pierre Rézean addresses the absence or lack of exhaustive definitions and use of certain lexicons in dictionaries, as is the case for words perceived as “ugly” and “disgusting,” because they represent a set of contre-culture attitudes, values, and norms. Hirao Koichi provides a contribution outlining the dictionary’s presence in Japan, in which we learn that the first bilingual French/ Japanese glossary was created in 1854. His paper compares two main bilingual dictionaries in Japan: the Dictionnaire général français-japonais by Hakusuisha (1981), which focuses on the history of words and their usage, and the Shogakukan 802 FRENCH REVIEW 85.4 Robert grand dictionnaire français-japonais (1988), which aims mainly at introducing readers to a specific, modern, and popular vocabulary to enable them to understand more clearly the newspaper Le Monde. This compiled work highlights some of the successes but also pinpoints some of the flaws in the field of dictionary making, as André Thibault explains in his critique of Francophone dictionaries from sub-Saharan Africa. Thibault argues that there is an explosion of neologisms that requires documentation in these dictionaries . To do so, fieldwork to collect those neologisms, combined with a deep knowledge of the sub-Saharan field and culture, are indispensable...

La belle étoile par Jean Védrines

something wonderful, and how we often sabotage the happiness we have: no matter. We are here for but a small stay, so how does any of it actually impact us? Millburn H.S. (NJ), emerita Davida Brautman VÉDRINES, JEAN. La belle étoile. Paris: Fayard, 2010. ISBN 978-2-213-64427-1. Pp. 352. 19 a. La belle étoile initially appears as a sensitive portrayal of the post-World War II era of France told through the eyes of Giovan, a twelve-year-old boy whose family fled to France from Italy when he was seven years old. Thus, at first, the reader may expect the novel to treat in depth the reason for the family’s departure from Italy, particularly since Gioachino, Giovan’s father, was a steelworker who fought in the Resistance in Italy and who, from 1946 to 1947, wanted to continue the civil war against the bourgeoisie. However, this is not the case. Instead we are treated to a narrative of Giovan’s frustration with not understanding why his family left Italy and with why his parents are insistent that he learn the French language well. The novel is divided fairly evenly into three parts (the first section has nine chapters, the second seven, and the third eight). The first section sets the tone for the novel. It opens with Giovan following his father through a train station and ending up at a rally meeting of sorts for those wanting Gioachino’s support for a communist-leaning movement. Yet the narrative quickly changes focus to a linguistic one, that is to say, Giovan’s struggles with the French language. For example, the following discussion between Giovan and Moustache, one of Gioachino’s fellow workers at the factory, reveals the importance of language for assimilation to a new culture: [M]ais il sert à quoi, ce bâton de fer? [...] Oh, l’innocent! Un “bâton de fer”! On peut pas dire une chose pareille... Qu’est-ce qu’il t’apprend donc, ton père, en français? Un bâton se taille dans une bonne branche, du bois dur, de l’arbre vif, tandis que le fer, l’acier, c’est du métal, de la fusion, tout ce qui est coulé, fabriqué aux usines Saint-Jacques, dans la basse ville. (44) The second section continues with Giovan’s efforts to comprehend the family ’s hasty departure from Italy. He asks everyone, especially his father’s co-workers . But no one is able to answer his questions and he only collects small nuggets of information about the family’s history, opening up the doors for more unsolved mysteries. The third section culminates with Giovan’s interaction with his older brother Pietro, who is also trying to figure out why his family left Italy so quickly. It is Pietro who, in an attempt to understand what his father refuses to share with him and Giovan, turns to revolutionary literature. However, one morning in 1968, when the workers occupy the factory where their father works, Gioachino is forced to re-enter the arena of controversy, finally making it possible for Giovan and Pietro to begin to grasp the consequences of their family’s history. Although La belle étoile is more of a portrait of an immigrant family than a depiction of life and political unrest in post-World War II France, it does have a certain appeal. Moments, such as for example, when Giovan contends with learning the Reviews 797 French language under the watchful eye of his parents, as well as learning to find his own voice as he matures into a young man, will appeal most to French language teachers. Canisius College (NY) Eileen M. Angelini YERGEAU, PIERRE. Conséquences lyriques. Montréal: Québec-Amérique, 2010. ISBN 9782 -7644-0762-2. Pp. 338. $24,95 Can. C’est un roman déconcertant. Un roman tout court? Non pas! L’attente du lecteur qui tourne les premières pages d’un roman, n’est-elle pas de pénétrer l’intimité des personnages qu’il va rencontrer, de devenir témoin de leur vie quelle que soit l’époque et le climat social, politique...

In the eye of the beholder? Universality and cultural specificity in the expression and perception of emotion

Do members of different cultures express (or "encode") emotions in the same fashion? How well can members of distinct cultures recognize (or "decode") each other's emotion expressions? The question of cultural universality versus specificity in emotional expression has been a hot topic of debate for more than half a century, but, despite a sizeable amount of empirical research produced to date, no convincing answers have emerged. We suggest that this unsatisfactory state of affairs is due largely to a lack of concern with the precise mechanisms involved in emotion expression and perception, and propose to use a modified Brunswikian lens model as an appropriate framework for research in this area. On this basis we provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature and point to research paradigms that are likely to provide the evidence required to resolve the debate on universality vs. cultural specificity of emotional expression. Applying this fresh perspective, our analysis reveals that, given the paucity of pertinent data, no firm conclusions can be drawn on actual expression (encoding) patterns across cultures (although there appear to be more similarities than differences), but that there is compelling evidence for intercultural continuity in decoding, or recognition, ability. We also note a growing body of research on the notion of ingroup advantage due to expression "dialects," above and beyond the general encoding or decoding patterns. We furthermore suggest that these empirical patterns could be explained by both universality in the underlying mechanisms and cultural specificity in the input to, and the regulation of, these expression and perception mechanisms. Overall, more evidence is needed, both to further elucidate these mechanisms and to inventory the patterns of cultural effects. We strongly recommend using more solid conceptual and theoretical perspectives, as well as more ecologically valid approaches, in designing future studies in emotion expression and perception research.

Incidence of severe acute maternal morbidity associated with abortion: a systematic review

To systematically review articles describing complications of abortion in settings where abortions are thought to be unsafe and to determine the incidence of severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) attributed to abortion at the population level. We searched relevant databases using search terms related to abortion and complications. We included population-representative studies that listed complications of abortion. We extracted data on the definitions and numbers of severe complications and SAMM, and we report abortion complication rates (per 100 000 women of reproductive age) and ratios (per 100 000 live births) for SAMM, severe complications and any complications. We included 15 studies representing eleven countries (six in Africa, four in Asia and one in Latin America). We found a median abortion ratio of SAMM of 237 (range 91-1892) per 100 000 live births and a median abortion ratio of severe complications of 596 (range 435-5298). There was a great degree of heterogeneity between definitions and study populations. The burden of SAMM attributed to abortion is much greater than what is reported for deaths caused by abortion. However, the great heterogeneity in definitions makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. We call for future work on the burden of unsafe abortion to use strict definitions of SAMM.

Words/Images/Crossings: La mer écrite of Marguerite Duras

Words/Images/CrossingsLa mer écrite of Marguerite Duras Mechthild Cranston Que pourrait-on montrer autre que ce qu'on voit? Ce qui est simplement vrai et qui échappe à l'homme. Marguerite Duras, La mer écrite 38 L'Image absolue, her critics recall, was the first title Marguerite Duras projected for L'Amant, the work for which she won the Prix Goncourt in 1984. Originally conceived as commentary to accompany an album of family portraits, the book appeared, in the end, without the pictures. L'Amant does, however, make textual reference to several photographs, including one of the child Marguerite and her mother: "J'ai quatre ans. Ma mère est au centre de l'image" (21) [I am four. My mother is at the center of the image]. The child's age is significant, because when she was four years old, Marguerite Donnadieu's father died. She sees his death in her mother's face of living despair: "Était-ce la mort de mon père déjà présente, ou celle du jour?" (22) [was it my father's death that was already present, or the day's?]1 While this photograph of the child at four has special significance for the author, the most important picture Duras recovers—via the text—from her childhood, the image absolue of L'Amant's original title, is one that, like her father's was never taken: a photograph of the girl at fifteen and a half, crossing the Mekong river: C'est au cours de ce voyage que l'image se serait détachée, qu'elle aurait été enlevée à la somme. Elle aurait pu exister, une photographie aurait pu être prise, comme une autre, ailleurs, dans d'autres circonstances. Mais elle ne l'a pas été. L'objet était trop mince pour la provoquer. Qui aurait pu penser à ça? Elle n'aurait pu être prise que si on avait pu préjuger de l'importance de cet événement dans ma vie, cette traversée du fleuve. Or, tandis que celle-ci s'opérait, on ignorait encore jusqu'à son existence. Dieu seul la connaissait. C'est pourquoi, cette image, et il ne pouvait pas en être autrement, elle n'existe pas. Elle a été omise. Elle a été oubliée. Elle n'a pas été détachée, enlevée à la somme. C'est à ce manque d'avoir été faite qu'elle doit sa vertu, celle de représenter un absolu, d'en être justement l'auteur. (17) [End Page 55] (It was during this trip that the image is thought to have come detached, removed from the whole. It could have existed, a photograph could have been taken like any other, elsewhere, in other circumstances. But it did not happen. The object was too slight to provoke it. Who would have thought it? It could have been taken only if we had been able to foresee the importance of this event in my life, this river crossing. However, while it was taking place, nobody even knew of its existence. Only God knew of it. That is why this image, and it could not be otherwise, does not exist. It was omitted. It was forgotten. It was not detached, removed from the whole. It is to this omission of having been produced that it [the image] owes its power: the power of representing an absolute, of being, in fact, its author.) Shortly after this speculation about her missing picture, Duras comes upon a photograph of her son at twenty: "C'est cette photographie qui est au plus près de celle qui n'a pas été faite de la jeune fille du bac" (21) [It is this photograph that comes closest to the one that was not taken of the young girl on the ferry], she comments. In mid-career, Duras's interest in the visual arts and, some critics suggest, writer's block, oriented her toward the cinema2 From La Musica (1966) to Les Enfants (1985), she kept returning to cinematography as an alternate and/or complementary form of artistic expression. Those familiar with her films know, however, that for Duras language always remained primary...

Multi-Media Stardom, Performance and Theme Songs in Hong Kong Cinema

Cet article examine le phénomène du vedettariat multi-médiatique à Hong-Kong. Ce phénomène repose sur le passage fluide, d’une pratique médiatique à une autre, des « stars » mais est aussi associée à l’histoire, unique, d’une performance. Historiquement, la musique a jouée un rôle important dans le cinéma d’Hong Kong. L’héritage de l’Opéra Chinois a suscité le développement de talents à plusieurs facettes, ce qui est rendu manifeste par les performances, dans plusieurs médias différents, des chanteurs. Le développement de talents multiples a poursuivi son influence dans le discours sur la performance à Hong Kong, maintenu par les médias Cantonnais dans les années 1970 et 1980. Les vedettes de la télévision se sont déplacées dans d’autres médias et on attendait d’eux qu’ils soient des artistes multi talentueux. En explorant les thèmes de chansons des années 1970 jusqu’au milieu des années 1990, en se concentrant particulièrement sur leur capacité à transcender les médias, sur les récits qu’ils contiennent et sur leur portée symbolique, cet article montre comment la performance occupe un rôle important dans l’univers singulier du vedettariat multi-médiatique à Hong-Kong.