Contemporary Criticism Research Articles

On What Lacks in Current Film Theory

The review does not make the case that the recent republication of George Littera’s work is relevant for todays film criticism. On the contrary, it suggests that contemporary film criticism might not stand very well in the light of Littera’s work. In particular, it shows how his writing is concerned with the idea of value and contradictions, which is less investigated in new work concerned with subjects of history such as the working class. First, it details Littera’s assessment of Soviet avant-garde cinema. Second, it compares his book with the work of one of his UNATC collegues such as Florian Potra. Finally, it briefly investigates a mode of production and essay writing which has disappeared as technique.

An inclusive case study of multimodal metaphor

Abstract This article provides a detailed analysis of multimodal metaphor by means of a case study which focuses on the contemporary art project, ‘Laboratory of Dilemmas’ (Venetic Biennale 2017), by George Drivas. The analysis focuses on multimodal metaphors which instantiate the source concept of labyrinth, utilizing constructs from Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Critical Metaphor Analysis and Multimodal Metaphor Analysis within a more encompassing framework of Contemporary Art Criticism. The present study aims to define properties of multimodal metaphors, i.e. their forms, concepts and usage, reveal conceptualizations of both the creator and the spectators-analysts of a system of multimodal metaphors, and clarify key contexts, such as embodied, cultural, and ideological, which influence their production, comprehension, impact and analysis. According to the analysis proposed, the multimodal metaphors affect the spectators very deeply, engaging their mental, emotional, multisensory and bodily responses to ideological dilemmas that are prompted by the current refugee migration.

THE EVENT: ON SCREEN, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

This article analyzes the feature film The Happening (Audrey Diwan, 2021) based on the journey and experiences of its protagonist, a young French woman in the 1960s who seeks a safe abortion despite living in a patriarchal context marked by oppression, condemnation of women's bodies, and violence. The aim is to relate the aesthetic, visual, and sound analysis to the current and urgent debate on women's reproductive rights, with an emphasis on abortion. The theoretical framework is anchored in contemporary feminist theory and criticism, especially Federici (2018) and Diniz (2020), and the methodology of film analysis is understood here as a recreation of the original narrative, an exercise that prioritizes passages and frames allied to interlocutions with the theme addressed.

The Evolution of Modern Literary Criticism From Structuralism to Postmodernism: A Case Study of Edward Said and His Critique of Orientalism in Literature

The study aimed to examine the development of literary criticism throughout its history from structuralism to postmodernism, using Edward Said's criticism of Orientalism as a case study. A discourse-grounded analysis approach was used to analyze critical texts and articles related to this development. The results showed, according to Said, that the traditional Western depiction of the East is biased and based on power relations, which influenced postcolonial philosophy and the literary canon (Smith, 2018). Said sought to expose biases in Western literature’s depiction of the East (Jones, 2016). His writings have sparked debate about the role of the critic in shaping literary discourse, shifting critical focus toward questions of power, representation, and identity, and increasing opportunities for underrepresented groups to have their voices heard (Brown & Johnson, 2019). Said's critique of Orientalism has influenced contemporary literary criticism, opening the door to a more diverse and comprehensive literary study (Garcia & Lee, 2020).

Neither Populist nor Neoclassical: The Classical Roots of the Competition Principle in American Antitrust Law

Contemporary critics of American antitrust law lament a supposed misinterpretation by modern, welfare-driven enforcers of the true meaning of the competition principle. This essay contributes to the debate by reconstructing the principle's historical origin. While it did not feature in the Sherman Act, the competition principle was introduced by the Supreme Court during the early years of antitrust law. The court formulated alternative versions of the principle; the one that eventually prevailed was neither populist nor neoclassical, as it was based on classical political economy and, in particular, on freedom of contract and “natural” values. This historical circumstance may pave the way for a new approach to antitrust law.

INSTITUTIONAL ART CRITICISM IN 20TH- AND 21ST-CENTURY IN KAZAKHSTAN

The independence of Kazakhstan and its state sovereignty became important reforming factors in the new social fabric and worldview of the nation, its culture and art, the main component of which is the replacement of former political ideals and the mythologization of its own past. In Kazakhstan, official and unofficial art lives side by side and is displayed in various exhibition venues, which avoids a mindset of opposition and allows for art historians and curators to create divisions by preference. In Kazakhstan, there is a long-overdue need for serious comprehension of, and fixation on, artistic initiatives. Here, we are not regarding ‘fixation’ as the photography and videography of events; we need something different – analysis of the work of individual researchers, painting a picture of the direction of research and the development of the creative side of art criticism institutions in Kazakhstan. This article is an attempt to understand the realities of 21st-century Kazakhstani fine art. It is important to determine the most important institutions and bring the achievements of art criticism in Kazakhstan to the global community, based on the work of individual researchers. Aiming to grasp and examine the main directions and goals of contemporary art critics, we have discovered the individual directions and themes of leading researchers, which serves as a basis for the revealing the characteristic traits of art criticism in Kazakhstan through the prism of individual knowledge and passions.

The splendors and miseries of narrativity the virtue of the fragment and the formation of clinicians in XXI century

I review the virtues and limitations of the narrative paradigm in contemporary clinical practice. I contrast ‘episodic’ and ‘diachronic’ forms of life, the former characterised by no particular predisposition to see one’s life in narrative terms and the tendency to experience oneself fragmentarily. After highlighting a progressive decline of storytelling in the current socio-cultural scenario, I show how a number of conditions (borderline-type personality and identity development in adolescence) are marked by reduced ability to organise narratively one’s own experiences. I emphasize a mismatch between the episodic and fragmentary phenomena characterizing these conditions and the prevailing opinion among clinicians belonging to academic culture that values instead the narrative paradigm. In the training of the clinicians, in addition to the necessary skills related to the diagnostic framing of the patient’s symptoms, and in addition to narrative competence, the capacity to embrace all that is fragmentary (that is, what at face value escapes diagnosis and narration) is necessary. I corroborate the approach with a theory taken from contemporary art criticism called ‘aesthetics of post-production’ and its capacity to re-signify the meaning of fragments by recontextualizing them. The personal ‘knots’ in the patient’s experience can be preserved and enhanced only through fragment-oriented listening.

Keinen Verfasser, nur eine Verfasserin? Literarische agency schreibender und ‘geschriebener’ Frauen in Prag (1770–80)

ABSTRACT This article deals with the characteristics of female authorship in Prague in the 1770s. The moral weeklies Die Unsichtbare (1771) and Die Sichtbare (1771) highlight the differences between the Prague reading public's expectations for female writers to focus on superficial, feminine topics and the complex and sophisticated writing of the female authors themselves. Experiences of limitation due to writing in Bohemia, in less valued genres such as novels, and because of their gender in fact led to women writers such as Viktorie Rupp and Maria Anna Sager developing self-confidence as authors. A central aspect of this paper is the juxtaposition of male and female writing patterns and their contrasts, as illustrated by Sager in her novels Die verwechselten Töchter (1771) and Karolinens Tagebuch (1774). Finally, her contributions as a female writer are contextualized within the framework of contemporary literary criticism and the academic aesthetics surrounding the Prague professor Karl Heinrich Seibt.

On Foucault’s Legacy: Governmentality, Critique and Subjectivation as Conceptual Tools for Understanding Neoliberalism

The text addresses Foucault’s critical understanding of neoliberalism as a new contemporary governmentality strategy for the conduction of people’s lives. A major aspect of Foucault’s analysis of neoliberalism relies on his understanding of the neoliberal homo oeconomicus as dependent on subjectivation processes related to self-assumed values and standards oriented by the competitive economic market. Our hypothesis is that governmentality, critique and subjectivation are the core notions that shaped Foucault’s understanding of neoliberalism and form the legacy of his seminal analysis. Contrary to critics who affirm that Foucault flirted or even became fascinated with neoliberalism, we argue that he offered critical tools for its understanding in a critique that is not to be confused with denunciation, however. Accordingly, we discuss Foucault’s conception of critique and relate his analysis of neoliberalism to his notions of governmentality and subjectivation. Finally, we briefly point out how some contemporary critics of the neoliberal order have appropriated and developed Foucault’s conceptual tools in their own understanding of it. We conclude that although Foucault did not propose a comprehensive theory of neoliberalism, he offered important critical insights for the understanding of it in our times.

A Distinct Flânerie: Roleplaying and Affective Responses to the City in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Miskinler Tekkesi

ABSTRACT A significant response to the urban experience of Istanbul in the early decades of Republican Turkish literature (1923–1950s), is the expression of pride for the past. Pride, during this era of change, indicated an individual’s coming to terms with the loss of the empire and its prosperous days. As the profile of Istanbul changed with the demolition of old buildings and Europeanization, prominent flâneur figures, who were intellectuals familiar with European culture, appeared in canonical Turkish writing. Contemporary criticism interpreted their search for an idealized past in the city as an attempt to assert an original voice. This article examines a different flâneur; one with distinctive affective responses that are not pride. Reading a late-Ottoman panhandler as flâneur figure in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Miskinler Tekkesi (1946) shows how the character undermines pride by emphasizing his inability to acknowledge the loss of the empire, manifested in the feature of hüzün.

Musthalah al-Tanash Nasyatuhu wa Ta’shiluhu wa Huduruhu fi al-Adab al-‘Arabi

A number of contemporary Arab critics have sought to root many Western critical concepts by searching for their origins in the ancient Arab and rhetorical heritage, including, for example, “intertextuality.” These critics agree that the ancient Arab critical heritage is full of critical theories and concepts, and it is necessary to return to it to uncover the origins of these modern Western theories and concepts, and to reintegrate them into modern criticism. The concept of intertextuality is one of the most Western concepts exposed to rooting in contemporary Arab criticism. This concept was rooted by linking it to old concepts created by Arab critics in the past, such as quotation, inclusion, literary theft, and others. Thus, Arab critics have enriched the human critical heritage with critical theories that they produced and applied to Arab poetic creativity. Arabs knew the idea of intertextuality in its concept, dimensions, and some of its functions, but they did not naturally create this Western term. Some modern Arab critics sought to purify the concept of intertextuality from its impurities that make it a dangerous concept, so that it could be rooted and considered a new and contemporary formulation of the concept of legalized thefts, which Abdul Qaher Al-Jurjani defined as "imitation".

Notas sobre escultura e Notas sobre escultura, parte 2

The articles “Notes on Sculpture” and “Notes on Sculpture, Part 2” by Robert Morris mark a milestone in the history of sculpture, challenging traditional notions of form and function. The emphasis on basic geometric elements and the understanding of sculpture as a spatial event, rather than a static object, transformed artistic discourse. By proposing an approach centered on the viewer’s experience and the work’s interaction with the environment, Morris paved the way for Minimalism. Through his reflections, the artist significantly expanded the possibilities of sculpture, influencing contemporary art production and criticism in a decisive manner.

Research on the Development form of Chinese Contemporary Oil Painting in Recent 30 Years

This paper analyzes and discusses the development form of Chinese contemporary oil painting in the past 30 years, and thinks that in the past 30 years, after the baptism of Western cultural thoughts, postmodern thoughts have been deeply rooted in the hearts of Chinese people. Under this background, Western modern culture has brought rich topics to Chinese oil painting, and Chinese oil painting language is also transforming under the impact of Western artistic thoughts. This paper also summarizes the two aspects of Chinese contemporary art criticism during the period of 1990-2020. This paper holds that only by accurately grasping the characteristics of The Times and starting from the simple life can contemporary Chinese oil painting see the truth, goodness and beauty of art from life, and only by returning to the real "contemporary" can it absorb the essence from it and have enduring vitality.

Sensuality and Spirituality in the Novel Crossroads Jasmine Musabegović

This essay follows Fatima (Fata), the protagonist of the novel Crossroads within the context of contemporary criticism, which essentially identifies all types of novelistic prose with a certain note of dialogism. In the role of mother and wife, the main character's communicative position directs the idea pattern of the novel from the external to the internal dialogue with herself. Fatima, wrapped in the mantle of an absolute subject, in the general chaos of war and existential paradox, transcends the role of victim and passive witness of the pogrom and through spiritual healing becomes an actor in the struggle. In the cognitive structure of the novel, the author breathes into her protagonist the knowledge that human destiny is almost always subject to the discursive power of intuition. And this undoubted power is given to people as a means and a rare possibility to overcome chaos.

Book Review of Michael Heumann, Contemporary Criticism of Growth from a Philosophy of Economics Perspective

Book Review of Michael Heumann, Contemporary Criticism of Growth from a Philosophy of Economics Perspective

Художествената критика в капан: кризата на субективизма през 20-те години на XXI век

Art criticism has the privilege of being part of all the transformations in the history of Bulgarian art, with its role in the avant-garde situation in the 1990s being particularly significant, which left a lasting impression of its usefulness and necessity for the world of contemporary art. Over the past ten years, critical writing has progressively declined until the last dedicated portal for criticism has disappeared, and this circumstance has given rise to disturbing articles and questions in the public domain such as Where is criticism today?. Numerous attempts have been made to revive it, and the results have shown that not every generation is privileged to participate in a revolution, and not every decade gives rise to the writing of heroic criticism. For this reason, its temporary attenuation is not necessarily a cause for alarm—on the contrary. The self-serving writing and artificial motivation of criticism in recent years have left a more troubling sense of unprofessionalism, naivety, and illegitimate subjectivism in an age that rejects rigid norms and rules about good art. On the one hand, this ultra-democratic nature provoked dissatisfaction from connoisseurs of critical thought, but on the other hand, it placed the artist in the most liberal regional artistic situation of the last hundred years. The text analyzes the typology of contemporary art criticism, the factors contributing to its decline, and the possibilities for its legitimate emergence.

Feminisit Discourse in Albanian Political Communication

Objectives: According to Foucault, "... dealing with the discourse on human sexuality cannot be done without understanding the power-knowledge-pleasure relationship. The longevity of power is proportional to its ability to hide the mechanisms it uses". The facts show that, in these three decades of upheavals and political changes, even political communication in Albania has known great changes, certainly with ups and downs, different tones and colors. Feminist discourse has tried to show that every woman, who is part of politics, can get out of those "frames" that have placed and labeled her and show herself in one way or another to prove that her own room for which Virginia Ulf spoke in 1928. Methods: The discourse texts in this paper are analyzed using various concepts of contemporary criticism of (Critical) Discourse Analysis. which is a type of literary research that studies how abuse of social power, dominance and inequality are developed, reproduced and resisted within the text in the social and political context. Results: This paper, aims to examine and highlight the way in which this type of discourse, i.e. the feminist discourse, tries to establish balance in a rather difficult terrain, harsh and wild as is the political terrain related to other aspects such as power, rhetoric, dominance, etc. Conclusions: The discourse approach of women in Albanian politics has a marked orientation in highlighting their values in decision-making and making rational politics. Women in Albanian political communication are still labeled simply as beautiful images, prejudging and leaving aside their professional aspect.

The 'Discovery' of Gentrification

This paper examines the rise of gentrification in 1970s Amsterdam, based on coverage of the Jordaan neighborhood in Het Parool and a limited number of other Dutch newspapers. Although the term was not yet common at the time, newspaper articles from the 1970s already show a critical attitude toward social change in a working-class neighborhood. Far before policymakers were talking about it, journalists identified the negative effects of gentrification, such as rising rents and a loss of neighborhood identity. The resistance and criticisms of Het Parool and original residents bear striking similarities to contemporary criticisms on gentrification, as visible in the mocking and stereotyping of gentrifiers. Interestingly, developments in American cities were used as a frame of reference for Dutch newspapers in this regard. This exploration of the initial phase of gentrification in Amsterdam shows that both residents and journalists have always viewed the process of gentrification with suspicion.

Miraji and South Asian aesthetics, poetics and politics

ABSTRACT Muhammad Sana Ullah Dar ‘Miraji’ (1912–1949) remains one of the most controversial figures in Urdu letters. An extraordinarily prolific poet and critic during his short lifetime, Miraji’s work has drawn renewed interest from contemporary critics. This special journal section uses contemporary critical frameworks to re-examine Miraji’s writings and legacy and to present them to a broad audience.

Pope, Spinoza, and the Limits of Thought: (Re)Thinking An Essay on Man

Abstract: In this article I (re)think An Essay on Man with respect to the history of philosophy, by reading Pope's poem comparatively with Spinoza's Ethics , a method suggested by Jean-Pierre de Crousaz's contemporary critiques of the Essay , which accused Pope of Spinozism. I also consider the Essay in the light of Fredric Jameson's assertion that there exist perennial problems that "philosophy," "theory," indeed "thinking" itself cannot solve, but which must continue to be posed anyway, not set aside or abandoned. I thus suggest a new approach to the Essay , focused on several such problems, which have often vexed previous criticism.