Didactic Message Research Articles

George Sand's Mauprat: an ecological tale? For an ecopoetic reading of chapter IV.

Chapter IV of the novel Mauprat distinguishes itself by an ecopoetic dimension aimed at denouncing Bernard de Mauprat’s ecological crime through the murder of the Patience’s owl. To this end, Sand uses the poetic codes of the fairy tale as literary material to sensitize the reader to Bernard's reprehensible crime. Indeed, Sand uses the topical motif of the punishment scene, inflicted on the tale's heroes by a sorcerer or fairy, to inscribe a didactic message in favour of respect for animals and environment. She also uses the terrifying setting of the wood to offer an eye-opening experience that invites Bernard to discover the supernatural powers of nature and become aware of its smallness. Thenceforth, the punishment scene is transformed into an ontological experience that leads the story to rediscover the origins of myth through the folkloric motifs of the tale. This aesthetic experience responds to Jean-Christophe Cavallinés recent ecopoetic vow: the ecology of story aims to return to an archaic world, reconnecting the human to the environment.

The Politics of Stardom, Entertainment and Industry: New Studies in Egyptian Cinema History

Since at least the 1970s, Egyptian cinema has animated scholars of the Middle East; a by-product of a cultural turn in the discipline and broader interest in using film as a scholarly source. No doubt, Egypt's rich history of film production—often (and perhaps misleadingly) referred to as the “Hollywood on the Nile”—has encouraged scholars to use its films to examine broader political issues or capture the “mood” of a particular historical moment. Scholarship has mainly focused on films of the post-1952 era, often ones that reflect a definitive ideological bent or didactic message. The early period of cinema in Egypt, from the 1920s to 1940s, is much less studied. The perception of early Egyptian films as mere “imitations” of Hollywood and devoid of blatant political messaging contributed to consigning it to the dustbin of cinema history.

Platońska eudajmonia. Autor Politei o życiu szczęśliwym

The article deals with several issues related to the concept of happiness that emerge from Plato’s triptych: the Gorgias, the Republic and the Laws. The focus is on (1) the question of the alleged overcoming of the eudaimonistic imperative, i.e., natural human pursuit of happiness, in the didactic message of the Republic; (2) the question of to what extent the path of cognition ending in the contemplation of the perfect being is at the same time a strive for the supreme happiness; (3) the dilemma of choosing between a reductive and a cumulative model of complete satisfaction in human life; and finally (4) the problem of affiliative condi­tions of full life satisfaction.

Meno and the Slave

AbstractThis paper argues that the slave demonstration in Plato's Meno contains a carefully-wrought analogy of Meno's dialectic which can guide our understanding of the dialogue. This analogy exposes and diagnoses Meno's failings as a student who is unwilling to engage in the learning process but simply wants to be spoon-fed information. This, in turn, reveals the way Plato wants us to interact with his text: insofar as the author makes his point implicitly and allusively, we are aptly required to puzzle our way through the text to unravel the meaning. We must actively engage with the text. The Meno, thus, exemplifies its own didactic message. In this way, I hope to offer a meaningful interpretation of a significant passage in Plato as well as provide a case study of how he can marshal the literary resources at his disposal towards his philosophical ends.

От Москвы к Океану: художественно-философское осмысление образца столицы в трудах Л.М. Леонова

The article undertakes an attempt to show transformation of Moscow image as the capital of the USSR in the works written by the Russian and Soviet writer L.M. Leonov. Sources of this work are based on the writer’s journalist articles as well as on his philosophical novel – “The Road to the Ocean” (1935). The author displays that L.M. Leonov was focused not really on development of the “capital mythology”, transforming with his word a city geographic space by his right of the prominent author, but he also tried to conceptualize and to present the idea of renovated Moscow itself, as a centre of actual and perspec­tive communist world in artistic and philosophical mode. The writer attempted to develop generally convincing optimistic eschatology of communism, which was expressed in the super-city idea, the global capital named Ocean with its headstream originated in Moscow, the capital of the USSR. This optimistic es­chato­logy was considered, among other, as a didactic message for the writer’s contemporaries; the new future required the new brand of Soviet people, who should be trained using distinctly formulated aim (despite it was an utopic one). It is concluded that urban educational practices should not be focused only on “external” city space, but also take into account its complicated “internal” ideological background which has direct or indirect influence on education of the new generations.

THE NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE: REPRESENTATIONS OF DEATH IN J. K. ROWLING’S HARRY POTTER SERIES

In line with previous studies about the importance of breaking with taboos surrounding death in children’s and YA literature, this article examines how this topic is treated in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Whereas other critical works have focused on Rowling’s excessive representations of violent deaths, I concentrate on the more benign portrayals of this reality that can also be found in her novels. I contend that the series ultimately renders and treats death as a complex issue. On one hand, Rowling embraces the pedagogy of death with her explicit didactic message that death is not evil per se and has to be accepted as a natural part of our existence, an idea which is central to the series. On the other hand, this study also looks into the ways in which deviates from the pedagogy of death, arguing that this does not necessarily detract from the series’ potential to promote a healthy view of this topic among readers. On the contrary, Rowling’s capacity to teach her audience lessons about death while, at the same time, acknowledging that these lessons may sometimes be at odds with how readers actually feel about the end of life makes for a complex, sensitive and humane rendering of this subject.

Adam Grener. Improbability, Chance, and the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel.

Adam Grener. <i>Improbability, Chance, and the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel</i>.

National Solidarity and Unity in the Works of Fra Rajmund Rudež, Fra Josip Vergilij Perić and Don Ilija Ujević

The paper analyzes the cultural, literary, and political activities of three priests related to the area of Imotska Krajina in terms of their by origin, works and service. An analysis of selected political and literary texts written in the last two decades of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century will show how (the)?priests’ discourse followed the development of Croatian intelligentsia in terms of balancing between spiritual and political Slavic unity and the vision of an independent and properly united Croatia. While in political works the priests expressed stronger rebellion, their literary works are a continuation of pastoral work, but without greater artistic value with a clear didactic message. The purpose of both types of texts is to continue the revival work, to enlighten the Zagora part of Dalmatia and to spread Croatian thought. They differ in their view of the solution to the Croatian question, political affinities, level of engagement, position and function, while what they have in common is the work on internal harmony, which among those more politically engaged included rebellion against Croatia's internal and external enemies.

Communication and communicology in the didactic message

The article presents the results of multiyear studies on modern social relations. Author states that underuse of the results provided by previous communicology studies is a partial reason why communication skills of the Poles are so low. As a remedy the author postulates to modernize the core curriculum and implement both theoretical and practical teaching of communication in schools. This proposition is based on the author’s diagnosis and goals. Taking into account that communicology is a multidisciplinary field of study, the author emphasizes the importance of presenting the issues from various perspectives, depending on the school subject. The author states that it is the most effective way of neutralizing social aggression.

ОБРАЗ СУМРАЧНОГО БОГАТЫРЯ В ПОЭМЕ М. М. ХЕРАСКОВА «ВЛАДИМИР» И СКАЗКЕ А. С. ПУШКИНА «РУСЛАН И ЛЮДМИЛА»

The article uses a comparative text analysis of the poem “Vladimir” and the fairy tale “Ruslan and Lyudmila” to reveal a number of parallels associated with the image of the warrior Rogdai. Previously, researchers have not considered this aspect of the works in detail. The character has a conventionally historical prototype – the epic hero Rogdai is mentioned in the “Core of Russian History” by A. I. Mankiev, and his laconic description in the source sets the type of character in Kheraskov’s and Pushkin’s poems. In both works Rogdai occupies a prominent position at the court of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, and is distinguished by his strength and violent temper. Kheraskov's poem emphasizes the immorality of the character, which is due to the didactic message of “Vladimir” and the need to discredit the warrior who is an opponent of Christianity, while Pushkin omits the ethical points. As the plot develops, the relatively neutral character becomes the antagonist of the main hero – Kheraskov's Vladimir and Pushkin's Ruslan – and at a certain point fights with them, which results in the warrior's dishonorable death. The comparison of “Vladimir” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila” shows that, in addition to the name, Rogdai has similar characteristics in the works of Kheraskov and Pushkin; the image is created according to the model of the epic hero, overshadowed by negative traits. The texts show common motifs - the anger, resentment and vindictiveness of the hero, the corrupting influence of the evil spirit and its helpers, Rogdai's wandering through the desert places, his death at the hands of the enemy. The similarity between Kheraskov's and Pushkin's characters of the same name leads to the conclusion that the image of the gloomy warrior from the poem “Vladimir” was borrowed into Ruslan and Lyudmila.

The situation of conflicting loyalties and the Old English Genesis’ version of the story of the Fall

The paper addresses the idiosyncratic version of the story of the Fall presented in the Old English poem Genesis from the perspective of religious and political moral of Early Medieval Society. The methodology of the research bases on the analysis of the social functions of texts. To understand the didactic message of the poem the poet’s conception of “fall” should be looked attentively. “The Fall” of angels and men is presented in the text as the failure of choice, due to overconfidence or the appellation to the wrong authority. As could be seen from historical sources the problem of choice in the situation of conflicting loyalties was essential for Anglo-Saxon society. Person’s behavior in this situation was judged according to the results of his or her actions, not according to his or her initial reasons.

The Construction of the Didactic Message from the Computer Science Perspective

The main scope of our study is to analyse the sociological and psychological resources of the pedagogical communication employed at the level of didactic message, exploited from the perspective of computer science approached as a model of applied philosophy. The structure of the didactic message is pedagogically fixed at the level of the correlation between student acquired knowledge and his positive formation. From the computer science perspective, it is necessary to analyse the sociological (cultural) and psychological (cognitive and noncognitive) resources of the information. This information included in the school programs, must be related to the competences that include in their structure three categories, defined in terms of knowledge: theoretical, applied, conditional. The transformation of knowledge into special informatic resources, with a positive formative value, requires their transforming within an ascending informatic process. It involves the following actions: a) transformation of data into information; b) assembling information at the database level, by creating and using algorithms and graphs; c) correlation of information integrated into the database at the network level, applicable in open contexts; d) continuous improvement of the results under conditions of external inverse connection (realized by the educator, the teacher) and internal (realized by the educated, the student).

Risk Communication During COVID-19

During the unprecedented times caused by the novel coronavirus disease 2019, there is rapidly evolving information and guidance. However, a focus must also be on proper and effective risk communication. This is especially the case during pandemics that have high rates of infection, significant morbidity, lack of therapeutic measures, and rapid increases in cases, all of which apply to the current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. A consequence of poor risk communication and heightened risk perception is hoarding behavior, which can lead to lack of medications and personal protective equipment. One potential way to ensure appropriate risk communication is using social media channels, and ensuring an ongoing consistent media presence. Another important step is to include all stakeholders including members of the allergy community in broader public health messaging. As we continue to face unprecedented times in the allergy community, an understanding and appreciation of risk communication will be essential as we communicate with, and inform, our patients, and our colleagues, moving forward.

Chef Yasmina and the Potato Panic by Wauter Mannaert

Reviewed by: Chef Yasmina and the Potato Panic by Wauter Mannaert Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Mannaert, Wauter Chef Yasmina and the Potato Panic; written and illus. by Wauter Mannaert. First Second, 2021 [160p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250622044 $22.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9781250622051 $14.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-7 Aspiring chef Yasmina loves nothing more than whipping up delicious meals for her single father, creating dishes from scratch and using veggies from her community garden. Unfortunately, that garden is ripped up by a shady corporation, and when the grocery store proves to be too expensive, Yasmina sneaks onto the rooftop garden of her secretive neighbor. There's a whole lot more growing there than simple greens and beans, however, and it may all be connected to a new type of potato (grown by the aforementioned shady corporation) that's making people literally howl for more and generally behave like animals. The goofy B-movie plotline of this graphic novel leavens what could have been a didactic message about mindless consumerism with a Scooby-Doo–like flair, and Yasmina's tenacity and [End Page 180] ingenuity in rescuing her friends and neighbors from potatoes gone very, very bad makes her easy to cheer for. Traditional paneling is foregone for open borders and fluid scenes, giving the book a sense of movement while easily guiding the eye, and savvy viewers will either initially catch or double back to the various hints dropped throughout the scenes. Yasmina's creations look absolutely scrumptious and it's clear that dad and daughter bond over her meals, making this ultimately a celebration of the art and heart of cooking; readers will just wish that Yasmina would share a (potato-free) recipe or two. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The Pig Who Went to Market: Entrepreneurship and Exploitation in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Little Pig Robinson

The Pig Who Went to Market:Entrepreneurship and Exploitation in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Little Pig Robinson Jen Cadwallader (bio) In a letter to her American publisher, Alexander McKay, Beatrix Potter wrote, "I think Pig Robinson looking into a shop window is the best black and white I ever did" (Letter to McKay).1 The illustration to which she refers (Fig. 1), on page 83 of the American edition of The Tale of Little Pig Robinson,2 is one that many modern readers of Potter's works never encounter. The little-known story follows Pig Robinson to town to complete his aunts' errands, to sea after he is kidnapped and taken aboard a ship bound for Newfoundland, and to the tropical island to which he eventually escapes. As its title and plot indicate, Pig Robinson's literary progenitor is Robinson Crusoe; as a Robinsonade,3 the novella belongs to a tradition at the height of its popularity when Potter wrote her first draft in the 1890s. Readers of Pig Robinson would also recognize two other famous literary sailors playing supporting roles in Potter's narrative: the Owl and the Pussy-cat of Edward Lear's 1871 poem, itself inspired by Defoe's novel. By weaving together elements of Defoe's and Lear's texts in Pig Robinson, Potter situates her tale at the nexus of two versions of the Robinsonade. While Robinson Crusoe, the Owl, and the Cat have in common an adventure on a desert island, what the three do upon these islands differs significantly: Crusoe becomes a model of industry and piety, while the Owl and Cat "hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, / … danced by the light of the moon" (ll. 29–30). One works; the others play. These activities perhaps explain the popularity of the Victorian Robinsonade. Parents, as Susan Naramore Maher notes, saw in the typical Robinsonade an appealing didactic message: these texts "privilege action, hardwork, and material progress" (169). Child readers, on the other hand, were eager consumers of the exotic adventure and escape from responsibility the genre seemed to offer. Obedient, industrious, and entrepreneurially spirited, Pig Robinson is poised to capitalize on the economic fantasy the Robinsonade tenders; his failures in the marketplace, his exploitation (by consumers of both the capitalist and gustatory variety), and the exaggerated Lear-esque ending Potter chooses for him critically undercut both the genre's formulaic association of hard work with economic success and its [End Page 32] Click for larger view View full resolution Fig 1. Original line drawing for The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (American edition). Image provided courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia. © David McKay Co., 1930. depiction of natural economic laws governing human interactions with the environment. In sending Pig Robinson to market, Potter explores the market forces that influence personal autonomy and childhood identity. Obscure though it is, Pig Robinson's focus on political economy aligns it with a number of major works in the Potter canon that share this same interest—including The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or, The Roly-Poly [End Page 33] Pudding (1908), The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909), and The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913). The image of "Pig Robinson looking into a shop window" is not simply of interest to Potter scholars because she thought it was her best line drawing; it also serves as the culmination of a lifetime ruminating on the subject of political economy. Around this image coalesce Potter's ideas about the economic underpinnings central to her vision of children's role in capitalist society. I. Pig Robinson's Antecedents While its publication date places Pig Robinson at the very end of Potter's literary career (in fact, it is the last work she both wrote and illustrated), the story actually belongs to the same twelve-month period (1893–94) in which Peter Rabbit and Jeremy Fisher were created. Like Lewis Carroll's creation of the Alice books, or Edward Lear's creation of the Nonsense books, initially, Potter wrote her stories as "picture letters" to the children of her former governess, Annie Moore. Most famous is the opening of her letter to Moore's oldest...

A Stage of Her Own? ‘Michele Lu Lanzone’ as Blueprint for Franca Rame’s Emancipation

ABSTRACTThis article addresses L’operaio conosce 300 parole, il padrone 1000, per questo lui è il padrone (1969), one of the first plays produced by the couple Dario Fo and Franca Rame after their rupture with the mainstream bourgeois theatrical circuit. Through a close reading of one section of the play – the monologue ‘Michele lu Lanzone’ – we trace the beginnings of a process of re-negotiation of Rame’s role within their professional relationship. We argue that the monologue both represents and plays out a series of tensions around ideological, artistic and gender issues, thus ‘othering’ the female protagonist from the rest of the piece and its didactic message. We also show how the complex intersections of discourses and agendas that constitute the tension within L’operaio are in fact the ongoing context in which Rame will ‘find her own voice’, gaining independence without ever abandoning the partnership.

Birds of a Feather: Deciphering the Didactic Iconography and Humour of Adriaen van de Venne’s Hoe dienen wij bij een!

ABSTRACTDelft-born Adriaen van de Venne (1580–1662) is an artist well-known for his genre scenes, portraits, and book illustrations. He also created images with great moralistic and comic value, such as his painting Hoe dienen wij bij een!, made between c. 1614 and 1662. This painting portrays two brown and black-spotted owls in the guise of humans skating on a frozen lake. As other more conventional birds soar above the distant skeletal trees, these feathered creatures both wear contemporary clothing. The male owl also clenches a rope in his beak with a pair of glasses knotted at the end. This same rope attaches behind him to the female owl’s chest, but instead of spectacles, her end holds several dead mice. Above the two anthropomorphic animals floats a banderole, which translates to ‘How well we go together!’ Although scholars believe van de Venne intended this work as lighthearted with only a vague message of foolishness, I contend that through the artist’s use of iconographic imagery and well-known proverbs and themes, van de Venne produced a humorous painting with a moralizing and didactic message which condemned the vice of adultery and warned the male audience about the dangers of a cunning woman.

Perspektywa aksjologiczna w Wypisach polskich Stanisława Tarnowskiego i Franciszka Próchnickiego

&#x0D; The purpose of the article is to present the world of values inscribed in Polish Extracts for the classes of lower secondary and real schools by Stanisław Tarnowski and Franciszek Próchnicki. After discussing the structure of the school textbook, there were presented ways of creating of the autors’ biographies with the presentation of their didactic message. Then attention was focused on the characteristics of the writers by Tarnowski. The statement ends with considerations that are the answer to the question to what extent the comments of the Krakow professor in Extracts… met the assumptions of such publications.&#x0D;

Teoretyczne i praktyczne aspekty współpracy nauczycieli wczesnej edukacji dziecka ze środowiskiem rodzinnym

One of the basic factors that influence a child’s correct development is the environment where the process of education takes place. The environment is made of the family home and the school zone. Both these elements have to cooperate correctly to make the didactic message consistent and effective. However, educational practice shows that in a number of cases the flow of information between the teachers and the parents is insufficient; joint activities are often lacking, along with mutual determination of objectives and tasks implemented in the didactic process. In the article, the authors try to show the problems related to the possibilities of cooperation among teachers of early school education and the environment of parents in various contexts. In the first part of the paper, legal aspects pertaining to the cooperation are described in detail, taking the historical perspective into account, along with legal provisions applicable in Poland and regulating the principles and the range of information provision by the school to the parents. The second part makes references to school practice, presents interesting and untypical examples of activities and solutions conductive to increased level of the parents’ involvement in the educational process. In the final part of the paper, ICT tools which may be used to build the online space of mutual communication and cooperation are described.

The Post-Human Masquerade of Diseased Meat

If a prime cut of steak infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) underwent the talking cure, what may it have to say? Diary of a Steak, an experimental text by Booker Prize-nominated author Deborah Levy, ostensibly answers this absurd question, offering an anthropomorphizing performance of the voice of a piece of meat languishing in a supermarket freezer during the BSE crisis. Yet, playing upon the dual valence of the British slang term ‘mad cow’, the narrator concurrently positions herself in a lineage of patients canonized in historical accounts of feminized madness. Knotting together the voices of BSE-infected meat and the female hysteric, Diary of a Steak has been seen to construct a protesting agency on behalf of these two mad cows. This article argues that to attribute a didactic message to the text obscures the seductive danger of the narrator’s voice, which oscillates from human to animal while remaining simultaneously both. Instead, the article reads the narrator as an interspecies femme fatale, drawing out the animality of this feminine archetype to both stimulate and thwart the desire to penetrate her narrative. Diary of a Steak thus offers a textual performance of post-human masquerade, entwining the hermeneutically compelling bodies of BSE-meat and hysteric in a knot of danger and desire that evokes both the historical co-construction of animality, femininity and madness and the contradictory ideals governing industrialized meat.