Extensive Footnotes Research Articles

Translating Orientalism. Louis-Mathieu Langlès as editor and translator of English literature between Oriental studies, commerce, and popularisation

This article delves into the translation and editing work of Louis-Mathieu Langlès (1764-1824), a significant figure in French Oriental studies during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By examining Langlès’ translations of British literature about Asia, the analysis underscores two interrelated strategies shaping his work. The first strategy involved the dissemination of knowledge about Asia through translations shaped by both a literalist approach to the text and intensive editing practices. These practices resulted in the incorporation of extensive footnotes and additions that served both informative and domesticating functions and highlighted Langlès’ agency as a mediator of knowledge. The second strategy centres on Langlès’ reform project for the French system of teaching and learning Asiatic languages, resulting in the establishment of the École spéciale des langues orientales vivantes in 1795. This strategy is strongly connected with his translation work as it reflects Langlès’ pragmatic vision of Oriental studies as based on the British example, particularly the scholarly activities of individuals working for the East India Company. His translations, therefore, were not mere acts of appropriation but both embodied and encouraged ‘emulation’, allowing us to reveal the interplay of scholarly admiration and political competition and to uncover a distinct strand of Anglophilia within the broader context of early French Oriental studies.

Zmarnowana szansa. O nowym-starym wydaniu dzieł Świętosława Orzelskiego

A wasted opportunity. On the new-old edition of Świętosław Orzelski’s works Between 2019 and 2022, Włodzimierz Kaczorowski, a historian affiliated with Opole University, published a total of five volumes (with one volume being published twice) containing the works of Świętosław Orzelski, a sixteenth-century Polish parliamentarian, orator, and chronicler. It is, in fact, a reissue of the translations of these works made and published by Włodzimierz Spasowicz almost one hundred and seventy years ago with the addition of scholarly enhancements. Kaczorowski enriched the volumes with introductory notes, afterwords, extensive footnotes, and indexes. The article is a critical analysis of the result achieved, pointing out numerous errors, misrepresentations, and raising questions about the advisability of “revitalisation” of an outdated translation. The reviewer justifies the concern that issuing a source publication in such a form can do more harm than good to research on the history of Poland in the sixteenth century.

Companion to Victor Pelevin ed. by Sofya Khagi

Reviewed by: Companion to Victor Pelevin ed. by Sofya Khagi Sarah Gear Companion to Victor Pelevin. Ed. by Sofya Khagi. Boston: Academic Studies Press. 2022. xxxiv+208 pp. $32.95; £23.99. ISBN 9–781–64469776–4. In her essay in the volume under review, 'Transformative Reading for Tailless Monkeys: Metamorphoses in The Sacred Book of the Werewolf ', Grace Mahoney describes Victor Pelevin's novels as 'metamorphs' which 'resist qualification and elude decisive conclusions' (p. 185). Mahoney's statement is thoroughly tested by the comprehensive examination of Pelevin's work in her own essay and elsewhere in this Companion to Victor Pelevin, edited by Sofya Khagi, a leading specialist on the often controversial author. While Pelevin's major novels Chapaev and the Void (1996) and Generation 'P' (1999) receive the most attention here, Khagi's project is intertextual, elucidating both Pelevin's highly self-referential writing and its relation to Russian literature as a whole. Her holistic approach to Pelevin's fiction is demonstrated by the extensive footnotes outlining literary theories and politics, and linking to multiple Russian authors, elevating the Companion from a sourcebook on 'Peleviniana' to a masterclass in post-Soviet literature. Khagi's thorough Introduction schools the reader in Pelevin's literary output. She charts the author's creative evolution from his first short story 'Sorcerer Ignat and People' (1989), then summarizes his work during his early, so-called 'classic', and later periods, ending with the appearance of his novel iPhuck (2017). Khagi also explores Pelevin's critical reception in both Russia and the West, discussing principal debates around his œuvre. The Companion's subsequent chapters underscore Pelevin's thematic preoccupations: the section headings 'Space, Time and History', 'Simulation and Mind Control', and 'Metamorphosis and Utopia' lead the reader through thematic and temporal explorations of his novels. In the first section, Michael Martin's article 'The Early Years: Post-Soviet with a Capital "S"' focuses on Pelevin's The Blue Lantern (1991) and Omon Ra (1992) as reactions to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Characterized by Pelevin's subversion of Soviet literary norms, this early writing became ground zero for his subsequent experimental work. This first chapter is echoed by the Companion's final essay, in which Mahoney considers the theme of metamorphosis in Pelevin's work in relation to the author as well as his texts. Theo Trotman's essay 'The Mythic and the Utopian: Visions of the Future through the Lens of Victor Pelevin's S.N.U.F.F. and Love for [End Page 277] Three Zuckerbrins' considers S.N.U.F.F. (2011) as a reprise of Soviet utopian themes, finding parallels with Evgenii Zamiatin's We (1922) while exploring Pelevin's role as an (anti-)utopian prophet. The central chapters of the Companion focus on Chapaev and the Void and Generation 'P'. Although repetitious at times, the five essays on these novels are justified by the variety of themes they explore. While Khagi's 'Space-Time Poetics in Chapaev and the Void' focuses on Pelevin's references to Zhuangzi, Nietzsche, Freud, and Kant, Christopher Fort's 'Parody of Past and Present in Chapaev and the Void' looks instead at the novel's interaction with Socialist Realism. Fort highlights Pelevin's exploitation of the Socialist Realist preoccupation with dreams and sleep as a vehicle for satire. In 'Masking the Void, Voiding the Mask: Victor Pelevin and the Performance of History', Alexander McConnell reflects on Pelevin's 'restaging of the twentieth century' (p. 103), relying on what he terms 'hyperhistory' (p. 76). McConnell's approach complements Khagi's in her Introduction and her separate essay 'Space-Time Poetics in Chapaev and the Void', examining the themes of temporal and spatial reality in Chapaev in relation to Pelevin's historical fiction. Generation 'P' is also scrutinized from different angles. Dylan Ogden considers the influence of social theorists such as Jean Baudrillard, Herbert Marcuse, and Guy Debord on Pelevin's work in '"The Battle for Your Mind": Transformation of Western Social Theory in Generation "II"'. Ogden explores simulacra, conspiracy theories, and capitalism in its corporeal form, noting that these themes and motifs are developed in Pelevin's later novels Empire V (2006) and...

The “Who Is He?” Commentary Attributed to St. Gregory of Narek [Արուսյակ Թամրազյան. Գրիգոր Նարեկացուն Վերագրվող Մեկնութիւն Ո՞վ Է Դա-ի երկը] by Arusyak T‘amrazyan

Reviewed by: The “Who Is He?” Commentary Attributed to St. Gregory of Narek [Արուսյակ Թամրազյան. Գրիգոր Նարեկացուն Վերագրվող Մեկնութիւն Ո՞վ Է Դա-ի երկը] by Arusyak T‘amrazyan Arpi Nakashian (bio) Arusyak T‘amrazyan, The “Who Is He?” Commentary Attributed to St. Gregory of Narek [Արուսյակ Թամրազյան. Գրիգոր Նարեկացուն Վերագրվող Մեկնութիւն Ո՞վ Է Դա-ի երկը]. Yerevan, Nairi, 2019, 512 pp. Available online at https://www.matenadaran.am/ftp/el_gradaran/A.T'amrazyan.pdf. The scholarly world is indebted to the late Hrach‘ya T‘amrazyan, former head of the Matenadaran, for his extensive research and writing on the Narekean School, particularly for his three volumes of essays entitled Grigor Narekats‘i and the School of Narek [Գրիգոր նարեկացին եւ նարեկեան դպրոցը], published by Nairi in 2013, 2016 and 2017. Now, his daughter, Matenadaran research scholar Arusyak T‘amrazyan, has added to that legacy with a new volume on one of Grigor Narekats‘i’s lesser-known works: his commentary on Job 38–39, a passage often referred to by its first words, “Who Is He?” Edited by Abraham Terian and Gohar Muradyan, the book comprises four chapters, a full transcription of the Narek text, five appendices, and is followed by a bibliography of manuscript and printed sources (pp. 499–508). The subject of T‘amrazyan’s work is a significant but understudied piece attributed to St. Gregory of Narek on the Book of Job. Her writing is a valuable addition to the various works already existing on the Book of Job in Armenian, including Claude Cox’s study of the [End Page 187] Armenian Book of Job1 and more recently, Elya Saribekyan’s article on “Theological Issues in Grigor Tat‘ewats‘i’s Scholia on Job.”2 The four chapters of the volume make up a loosely constructed description of various aspects of the evolution of the commentaries on the Book of Job 38–39 in the Armenian tradition, beginning with their basis in Cyril of Jerusalem’s catechetical lectures. Each chapter section is a short, unique argument that can stand alone or serve as a stepping-stone to the next. The author uses her footnotes to provide a running subtext. T‘amrazyan’s greatest contributions in this volume are two: the first is her reconstruction of the Narek text. Narek’s commentary was published in volume 12 of the series Armenian Classical Authors [Մատենագիրք Հայոց], pp. 885–910, with a one-page introduction by Hakob K‘yoseyan. However, the printed text is based on the only surviving manuscript of the work, Venice ms. 1030/339, dated 1299. The manuscript is severely damaged in many places, and the first pages are entirely missing. T‘amrazyan reconstructs significant parts of the defective text, based both on close physical examination of the manuscript and on comparative study with other commentaries that make use of the Narek material. An extensive footnote at the beginning of the reconstructed text (n. 360, pp. 358–359) describes T‘amrazyan’s reconstruction process. Facsimile fragments from the manuscript are included on pp. 115–116, with a detailed description. T‘amrazyan’s second major contribution in this volume is her comparison of the Narek commentary on Job 38–39 with other relevant works. In chapter 1, she primarily highlights resonance between the commentary and Grigor Narekats‘i’s other works, in particular his Book of Prayers, Festal Odes, and Commentary on the Song of Songs. Among her observations, she emphasizes that the underlying theme of the Book of Prayers is Job’s story, and that Narek, in the persona of Job, is the subject of his own narration. In chapter 2, [End Page 188] she traces references to Job 38–39 in Narekats‘i’s works. She examines themes and symbolism, focusing special attention on the themes and imagery of fragrance and sacrifice. The closing section of the chapter briefly suggests a connection between the sacrifice imagery found in the commentary and the reading of Job 38–39 during Lent. In addition, she discusses the themes’ biblical background or context and compares them with themes that appear in Armenian hymnography. While chapters 1–2 focus on the interconnections within Grigor Narekats‘i’s own works, chapter 3 explores connections with the commentaries of other Church fathers who have written on the Book of Job. The chapter begins with an introduction to the sole surviving manuscript...

The Natural, Moral, and Political History of Jamaica and the Territories thereon depending from the First Discovery of the Island by Christopher Columbus, to the Year 1746, by James Knight, ed. Jack P. Greene

James Knight’s Natural, Moral, and Political History of Jamaica, written during the 1740s, was never published and survives as a set of manuscripts held by the British Library. The manuscripts have been, largely, neglected by scholars and so Jack P. Greene’s edition is welcome. Greene’s thorough introduction and extensive footnotes—accompanied by a set of carefully selected images (edited by Taylor Stoermer) and a useful historiographical essay (written by Trevor Burnard)—help to contextualise this sometimes unwieldy manuscript and will encourage more research on early eighteenth-century Jamaica and the wider Atlantic World. The specific neglect of Knight’s manuscripts reflects a broader neglect of early eighteenth-century Jamaica. As Burnard points out, scholars ‘have concentrated on Jamaican history after 1770’, despite the crucial importance of Jamaica to the British Empire during an earlier period (p. 645). The edition follows the structure of Knight’s manuscripts and is divided into two volumes. The first is a narrative history of the island, from its initial European ‘discovery’ by Christopher Columbus in the late fifteenth century to the War of Jenkins’ Ear in the mid-eighteenth century. The second is a chorography of Jamaica, covering the island’s geography, climate, inhabitants, governance, flora, fauna and position in the Atlantic system. Both volumes are highly detailed and, like the later histories of Edward Long and Bryan Edwards, will provide a gateway to further sustained historical study of British Jamaica.

The Thirteenth-Century Animal Turn: Medieval and Twenty-First Century Perspectives Thinking about Animals in Thirteenth-Century Paris: Theologians on the Boundary between Humans and Animals

<i>The Thirteenth-Century Animal Turn: Medieval and Twenty-First Century Perspectives</i> <i>Thinking about Animals in Thirteenth-Century Paris: Theologians on the Boundary between Humans and Animals</i>

Virtue, Piety and the Law: A Study of Birgivī Meḥmed Efendī’s al-Ṭarīqa al-Muḥammadiyya By Katharina Anna Ivanyi

Birgivi Mehmed Efendi (d. 981/1573) ranks among the most prolific and controversial scholars of early modern Ottoman history. However, despite his significance, especially for the Muslim revivalist tradition, we have seen very little scholarly interest in his life and work in Western academia, and certainly no dedicated studies in the English language. That is until now. Katharina Ivanyi’s examination of Birgivi’s monumental al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiyya (TM) marks what I hope will be a reversal of the status quo. This meticulous study (volume 72 of Brill’s ‘The Ottoman Empire and its Heritage’ series) departs from the typical historical/historiographical approach in Ottoman studies and adopts instead careful textual excavation and exploration along thematic lines. Along the way, Ivanyi engages with an impressive range of primary and secondary scholarship in several languages, including Ottoman, modern Turkish, Arabic, French, German and Bosnian. The end product is an engaging monograph replete with original insights. Neatly spread over five chapters, with extensive footnotes throughout, the book begins with a survey of Birgivi’s life, scholarly oeuvre and historical epoch, then examines the intellectual framework of TM, before presenting its close textual study of the TM in the final three chapters. The first of these (ch. 3) provides an overview of the structure and contents of TM, the second (ch. 4) addresses a key strand in the text, namely sincerity, and the last (ch. 5) explores issues related to the Ottoman moral economy, including Birgivi’s position on cash waqfs. Through her close analysis of TM, Ivanyi sheds light on Birgivi’s thought as it relates to practical ethics, exhortation and advice. Her most significant finding is that Birgivi’s project of individual and societal reform was premised on an uncompromising rigidity of approach that led to inevitable clashes with powerful members of the Ottoman state, not least Ebu’s-Sucud Efendi, Shaykh al-Islam of the realm from 952–82/1545–74.

Religious Horror and Holy War in Viking Age Francia by Matthew Bryan Gillis

Reviewed by: Religious Horror and Holy War in Viking Age Francia by Matthew Bryan Gillis Simon Coupland Religious Horror and Holy War in Viking Age Francia. By Matthew Bryan Gillis. (Budapest: Trivent Publishing. 2021. Pp. 158. €37,00. ISBN: 9786156405197.) This short book analyzes a series of texts from the period 880–920 against the backdrop of the Viking invasions of Continental Europe. It is based on “horror theory,” the notion that some writers use exaggerated rhetoric to elicit horror in their audience in order to provoke a response from them. The author contends that this was a new development in the late ninth century whereby various Carolingian authors used monstrous imagery to intensify dramatically the negative portrayal of Scandinavians, and particularly wayward Franks, found in earlier texts. Gillis takes as his starting point a capitulary of Carloman II from 884, in which Frankish soldiers and magnates are denounced as “flesh-eating, blood-drinking robbers” (p. 35). He goes on to discuss contemporary hymns, sermons, and the poem The Wars of The City of Paris by Abbo of Saint-Germain and highlights similarly graphic imagery within them. This is not therefore a study of events but of the response to them. The book is not interested in establishing what the Frankish nobility or their troops were guilty of, or whether their behavior was any worse than that of their predecessors. Its focus is the way in which they were described. It is an interesting and thought-provoking claim, and although the Annals of St. Vaast are not one of the texts under discussion and are therefore only cited in passing, there is undoubtedly a greater horror rhetoric in them than in the parallel Annals of Fulda, St. Bertin, or Xanten. Sometimes the approach can lead to the unquestioning repetition of contemporary claims: that during the siege of Paris Abbot Ebolus “could skewer seven Danes with a single arrowshaft,” for instance (pp. 79–80). In particular, no consideration is given to the fact that poems (which many of the texts are) do not have the same aims as chronicles, so that the “sword and cudgels” said in a poem to have killed Fulco of Rheims in 900 almost certainly differ from the lances described by Flodoard because of the influence of Matt. 26:47 and 55 (pp. 50, 54). The book performs a valuable service by focusing on a series of texts which are by no means unknown but not often analyzed to this degree (with the possible exception of Abbo’s long poem). Lengthy quotations are helpfully reproduced, translated, and then rephrased, though it would have been good to see a greater critical engagement with both the texts themselves and the secondary literature relating to them. There is no shortage of this, as the extensive footnotes make plain: these alone make the book a very useful resource for those who would take further the ideas set out within its four chapters. In this context it is important not to misunderstand the book’s claims. Contrary to the blurb on the back cover, the author is careful not to claim that the religious horror imagery in these Carolingian texts definitely influenced, still less directly led to, the theology of the Crusades. There is for one thing little evidence that they were widely read: a complete text of Abbo’s poem survives in only one [End Page 795] manuscript, for example. Rather, Gillis shows how these texts foreshadow later medieval developments, and are worth studying in their own right. Moreover, they offer a valuable insight into the mentality of a Frankish populace and especially clergy traumatized by internal strife and Viking invasions. Simon Coupland Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden Copyright © 2022 The Catholic University of America Press

The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling ImmigrantsOne Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924–1965

The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling ImmigrantsOne Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924–1965

Muhammad Asad Dan Epistimologi Tafsirnya: Konteks Sosio-Historis Dalam Interpretasi Teks

The paper discusses the underlying principle of Qur’anic interpretation from rational and socio-historical perspective as brought forth by Muhammad Asad in his magnum opus The Message of the Qur’an. It emphasized on scientific and rational principle that conceptualize its universal and ethical conception as set forth in his erudite commentary and extensive footnotes. The analysis is based on qualitative method using descriptive and analytical approaches. Data provided were analyzed by way of deductive and inference. The finding shows that his interpretation was influenced from the progressive and scientific outlook of Tafsir al-Manar which espoused ethico-socio approaches (social-artistic form of exegesis) that constitute Asad’s principal ideas and methodology. It brought forth dynamic socio-historical and ethico-legal interpretation that contextualize its moral-ethical spirit and connotation and provide the foundation for social exegesis in contemporary ages.

Rewriting Maya Religion: Domingo de Vico, K'iche’ Maya Intellectuals, and the “Theologia Indorum.”

Garry Sparks's recent book examines the interreligious encounters in the highland Maya region of Guatemala during the early decades after Spanish contact. In this volume, intended as a companion to The Americas' First Theologies: Early Sources of Post-contact Indigenous Religion (2017), Sparks presents a theological and intertextual analysis of the Theologia Indorum, or the “Theology for and of the Indians,” presumably written in K'iche’ Maya by the Spanish Dominican friar Domingo de Vico. Completed in 1554 and never published, the Theologia Indorum spanned two volumes and over 800 manuscript pages, becoming the first original theology produced in the Americas. Sparks's assiduous theological and linguistic analysis of the remaining fragments from multiple Theologia Indorum copies uncovers its important role in the transmission of Catholic and Maya religions. Sparks argues that to fully understand its impact, it must be evaluated in relation with contemporaneous religious and legal highland Maya texts, especially the Popol Wuj (1554–58) and the Title of Totonicapán (1554). Sparks demonstrates how Vico, literate K'iche’ Maya intellectuals, and later mendicant priests learned and borrowed from each other to reconfigure highland Maya religious theology.Through careful evaluation of Vico's understudied work and a broader corpus of K'iche’ Maya texts, Sparks focuses on the challenges of translation and the commensurability of ideas between Hispano-Catholic and K'iche’ Maya worldviews. Sparks highlights the diversity of Catholicism in early modern Iberia, which had to be reconciled into the highly localized contexts of the Americas. While Vico's Franciscan counterparts used either Latin or Spanish to present key topics, Vico relied instead on Indigenous terms. Sparks explains Vico's use of K'iche’ Maya linguistic ideology and moral anthropology as evidence of his training in scholastic Thomism, which emphasized the importance of language and the value of analogical reasoning (chapter 2). While the Theologia Indorum was designed for Maya conversion to Catholicism, Vico did not view the two religions as incompatible, nor did he rule out a “mixture of Catholic theology and indigenous culture” in creating the manuscript (p. 162).Sparks traces how Vico and highland Maya intellectuals such as Diego Reynoso reconciled their religions and used Maya terms and images to establish analogies for Catholic concepts. To do so, the volume's first of three parts establishes the “Old World” backgrounds of the highland Maya and Iberian mendicants. Vico's life and work are carefully evaluated in part 2, which provides background on Vico (chapter 3), discusses the Theologia Indorum's structure and creation (chapter 4), and explains his theological method (chapter 5). Through impressive linguistic analysis, Sparks examines how Vico adeptly utilized both the high register (language for ritual speech and elders) and low register (quotidian speech) of K'iche’ Mayan in the Theologia Indorum. By balancing high and quotidian speech and drawing on Maya knowledge, Vico constructed a text that accommodated Maya culture and religiosity. Transcribed or translated over 18 times, the Theologia Indorum became a foundational text in the region, as it was mentioned implicitly or explicitly in many contemporaneous highland Maya writings.In the same way that Vico accommodated Maya religiosity in his work, Sparks reveals how the K'iche’ Maya authors accommodated Vico, as the Theologia Indorum often became synonymous with Christianity in their writings. Part 3 assesses the Theologia Indorum's impact via expert intertextual analysis of contemporaneous K'iche’- and other Mayan-language texts, including the Popol Wuj (chapter 6), the Title of Totonicapán (chapter 7), and other legal writings (chapter 8). Sparks defines these diverse manuscripts as theologies that reveal the various levels of engagement with and responses to the Theologia Indorum by Maya intellectuals. The Title of Totonicapán's authors, for example, took a more conciliatory approach to the Theologia Indorum while also redacting, rather than merely copying, the manuscript in their work. In contrast, the authors of the Popol Wuj presented a slight resistance to Vico by portraying the Theologia Indorum as an “incomplete and deficient” version of the creation story and Maya ancient truths offered by the Popol Wuj (p. 198). Later sixteenth-century writings, however, increasingly saw the Theologia Indorum as an authoritative text and as “truth of God” (p. 297).Sparks's latest work reflects his mastery of the K'iche’ language and offers a welcome addition to the fields of religious studies, ethnohistory, and Maya linguistics. The book contains extensive footnotes and charts comparing the intertextual analysis of the various manuscripts, including a useful “Maya and mendicant intertextual reception history” chart (p. 287). The inclusion of maps could have helped situate readers and further illustrate aspects of the argument, such as the emphasis on locality and the geographical influence of the Theologia Indorum. This is a fascinating, detailed, and insightful work that will be of particular interest to a scholarly audience, as it deepens our knowledge of understudied highland Maya writings and the early evangelization process in Guatemala.

Marrying a Good Story and a Well-Formed Argument: The Metanarrative of Zyx

This article uses a metanarrative of a fictional, gender identity minority community college student (named Zyx) to elucidate and humanize the experiences that students in this population undergo throughout the course of their college career. Using a journal entry format, Zyx (they/them) is followed from the day before their first day at school through to their graduation. Their experience includes being first-generation and mixed race, living through COVID-19, coping with academic failure, and ultimately triumphing over adversity. The story is meant to cover some of the myriad obstacles to success faced by gender identity minorities attending community college while also highlighting their strength, resilience, and humanity. The metanarrative can be read as a stand-alone piece of fiction, but it is also data-driven and has extensive footnotes that explain where the fictional ideas came from including academic and informal research, anecdotal evidence, and stories shared by trans*-spectrum community college students.

Muhammad Asad dan Epistemologi Tafsirnya: Ide Kontekstual dan Sosio-Historis

The paper discusses the underlying principle of Qur’anic interpretation from rational and socio-historical perspective as brought forth by Muhammad Asad in his magnum opus The Message of the Qur’an. It emphasized on scientific and rational principle that conceptualize its universal and ethical conception as set forth in his erudite commentary and extensive footnotes. The analysis is based on qualitative method using descriptive and analytical approaches. Data provided were analyzed by way of deductive and inference. The finding shows that his interpretation was influenced from the progressive and scientific outlook of Tafsir al-Manar which espoused al-adabi al-ijtima‘i approaches (social-artistic form of exegesis) that constitute Asad’s principal ideas and methodology. It brought forth dynamic socio-historical and ethico-legal interpretation that contextualize its moral-ethical spirit and connotation and provide the foundation for social exegesis in contemporary ages

Los sucesos en Orán por el Marqués de Ardalas

Los sucesos en Orán por el Marqués de Ardalas

Unnatural Narratology: Extension, Revisions, and Challenges ed. by Jan Alber and Brian Richardson (review)

Reviewed by: Unnatural Narratology: Extension, Revisions, and Challenges ed. by Jan Alber and Brian Richardson Nozomi Irei Jan Alber and Brian Richardson, eds. Unnatural Narratology: Extension, Revisions, and Challenges. Ohio State UP, 2020. 232p. Reviews are published in alphabetical order according to the name of the author reviewed. We gratefully acknowledge the many review copies supplied by The Ohio State University Press for this issue. Jan Alber and Brian Richardson have compiled a thoughtfully diverse collection of essays as a follow-up to A Poetics of Unnatural Narrative (2013, co-edited with Henrik Skov Nielsen). The editors’ refreshing approach is apparent in their “Introduction,” which might surprise some readers who are looking for a summary of each chapter--yet, careful readers will immediately appreciate the rigorous overview of the recent landscape of unnatural narratology, various definitions of “the unnatural” and other terms (including differences in scholars’ definitions), and responses to critics of unnatural narratology. It is notable that each essay also clearly defines its use of the term “unnatural” relative to other scholars’ use of it. Summaries of the essays are saved for the “Afterword,” but this is not merely a shift in sequencing. Rather than lengthy summaries, the editors present thoughtful, fair responses to each contribution. This section makes the volume a truly engaging work. The editors offer meticulous explanations (with extensive footnotes) of why they agree/disagree and emphasize how each essay opens up possibilities for future engagement. As the “Introduction” describes, “unnatural narratology” might seem to be a “newfangled” approach, but as the essays demonstrate, unnatural narratology cannot be reduced to a study of postmodern fiction and its “deconstruction” of narrative structures. Indeed, references to more traditional texts, such as Shakespeare’s plays or those by other familiar writers like Brecht, end up proving just how “ubiquitous” the unnatural is. While some contributors state this explicitly, others do not. Nevertheless, even the latter, by dint of their analyses of a variety of textual fields and mediums--from novels, short stories, and films to staged performances, TV commercials, interactive [End Page 95] gamebooks, cartoons, and graphic narratives--make a strong argument for investigating the unnatural in textual fields where it may often be overlooked, at the expense of ignoring narrative intricacies and their larger implications. For instance, Richardson’s analysis of the “unnatural” (and its “u-effect” [156] à la Brecht) may offer new ways to consider Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt, beyond conventional discourses on alienation. Several contributions reframe traditional concepts of narratology, such as fabula, syuzhet, and diegesis, explaining how their analyses develop or challenge these concepts. There are also efforts to delineate the differences between concepts, for instance, of “nonmimetic” versus “anti-mimetic” or unnatural narration versus “magical realism.” Each essay, regardless of the historical placement of the analyzed text, highlights the implications for narrative studies that could not be investigated as long as we took for granted concepts of mimesis. In this way, the collection is tied to unnatural narratology’s post-structuralist heritage (insofar as starting as a response to postmodernist texts [1]) but expands the question beyond a binary opposition of mimetic versus non-mimetic--or, natural versus unnatural (10). The essays offer possibilities for (re)interpretations based on the developing concept of the unnatural, including that of challenging traditional concepts of mimesis--which also brings into play challenges to other concepts, such as “the probable” and “the possible.” This collection expands critical approaches to the unnatural to include a wide variety: feminism, affect studies, and “postcolonialism” (albeit the term is used carefully by Klein not as a “temporal” marker but to denote an “enhanced awareness of the colonial legacies” [54], since the status of being colonized is still a reality for many peoples). Unnatural Narratology is also rich in its analyses grounded on close readings of one text, as well as comparative analyses between genre, medium, national languages, philosophical grounding, or theoretical approaches. Furthermore, because of the wide-ranging textual fields analyzed, the volume resists coming across as a private dialogue among only a coterie of “unnatural narratologists.” Rather, its dialogue invites readers to consider the implications not only for narratology, but also for the broader problem of representation. In the interest of space...

The Traditional Mass: History, Form, and Theology of the Classical Roman Rite by Michael Fiedrowicz

Reviewed by: The Traditional Mass: History, Form, and Theology of the Classical Roman Rite by Michael Fiedrowicz Daniel Waldow Michael Fiedrowicz The Traditional Mass: History, Form, and Theology of the Classical Roman Rite Translated by Rose Pfeifer Brooklyn, NY: Angelico Press, 2020. xvi + 331 pages. Paperback. $22.95. English speakers are in Rose Pfeifer's debt for her laudable translation of the 2019, fifth edition of Michael Fiedrowicz's The Traditional Mass. This book is an exemplary scholarly introduction to the content, meaning, and history of what is commonly called the "Latin Mass." The book aims principally for breadth, but at 304 body pages it also treats each of its topics with significant depth. The extensive footnotes and 15-page bibliography, organized by topic, are a tremendous resource for those wishing to do further research. Fiedrowicz's book is divided into three parts. Part I ("History") traces and assesses the historical development of the Roman Eucharistic rite. Chapter 1 succinctly details the growth of the Roman Mass from the apostolic era up to its revision in the 1962 Roman Missal. With this historical context in place, chapter 2 assesses the appropriateness of the various titles which have been given to the "Mass of the Ages" (46). Chapter 3 defends the theological legitimacy of the changes that occurred to the Roman Rite over the course of centuries. These various additions and reforms were always enacted in order to better express and protect the essence of the sacred mystery that is the Mass (54). Reforms were always "cautious and restrained," while additions always consisted of venerable liturgical customs that had already been proven in practice (55–56). Part II ("Form") studies the basic meaning of the structure and various parts of the Mass. Chapter 4 discusses the three levels of solemnity with which the Mass can be celebrated. Chapter 5 is an outstanding, step by step exposition of the meaning and historical origin of every major part of both the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful. Chapter 6 covers the meaning of liturgical seasons and feast days. Chapter 7 treats the history and theological significance of ad orientem, versus altare and ad Dominum liturgical prayer. These practices express and promote faith in the true presence [End Page 150] of Christ in the Eucharist as well as the theocentric and sacrificial character of the Mass (147–150). Chapter 8 concerns the history and value of the Mass's use of Latin and Gregorian chant. Fiedrowicz makes a strong case for the exclusive use of a sacred language at Mass and claims that catechesis, not vernacular liturgies, is the best way to help the faithful understand the meaning of the Eucharistic liturgy (166). Chapter 9 examines the importance of rites, rubrics, and aesthetics to the promotion of the liturgy's sacred character. Fiedrowicz also expounds how the "active participation" of the laity in Mass is actualized primarily through their deliberate, prayerful, interior attempts to unite themselves with the sacrifice of Christ and adore his Eucharistic presence (225–231). Part III ("Theology") is an exegesis of the major dogmatic and theological truths contained in the prayers of the Latin Mass. Chapters 10 and 15 open and close this section by emphasizing how the public prayer of the Mass is the principal means by which the Church proclaims divinely revealed truth and fosters an orthodox, living faith among the people; hence, the theological content of the Mass matters. Chapter 11 describes how some of the orations of the classic rite bear witness to challenging theological truths that get watered down in the corresponding orations of the 1970 missal (239). Chapter 12 explores the history and logic of the lectionary. The readings in the older rite were chosen to illuminate the particular season or feast during which they were read. Their annual recurrence on fixed days helped the faithful to internalize their letter and spirit (252–253). Chapter 13 demonstrates how the offertory prayers which proceed the Roman Canon manifest the Church's faith in the sacrificial nature of the Mass. In the offertory the bread and wine are offered as "victims" to God, but these oblations are not independent and divinizing sacrifices...

Nikolai F. Emin’s Imitations of the Ancients and their French Source

The article establishes the source of Imitations of the Ancients, published in 1795 in Saint Petersburg. The translator and compiler of this book was Nikolai F. Emin (1767–1814), son of Fedor A. Emin (1735–1770), the famous Russian writer and adventurer of Turkish origin who died when his son was only three years old. Emin junior did not know ancient languages and therefore used a French anthology by Julien-Jacques Moutonnet de Clairfons (1740–1813), which was printed many times in the 18th century. For his book Emin choose poems by Sappho, Anacreon (to be precise, Anacreontic poetry), Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Horace and Catullus. Emin also used the biographical preambles to their poems, which he shortened significantly. In the preface to his book, Emin expounded upon the theory of “imitation,” denying the possibility of precision in poetic translation. He also defended the necessity of rhyme in “imitations” of ancient Greek and Latin poetry. Despite these declarations, Emin generally followed quite closely Moutonnet de Clairfons’ French prose. Only once did Emin make fundamental changes. This was in his “imitation” of Theocritus’ eleventh idyll. In this case, he explained his logic in an extensive footnote. Emin changed the ugly cyclops Polyphemes into the gallant and handsome shepherd Menalk, substantiating his decision with the declaration that such a hero better suited “our present age.” In other cases, deviations from ancient texts can be explained not by Emin’s arbitrariness, but by changes made by Moutonnet de Clairfons in the French translation. For example, it was he who combined two poems by Catullus (XCII и LXXXV), a decision that Emin followed. To the famous lament for a sparrow, Moutonnet de Clairfons added an appeal to “sensitive lovers” which is also found in Emin’s text.

Ratnakīrti's Proof of Exclusion by Patrick McAllister

Reviewed by: Ratnakīrti's Proof of Exclusion by Patrick McAllister Joel Feldman (bio) Ratnakīrti's Proof of Exclusion. By Patrick McAllister. Vienna: Austrian Academy of the Sciences Press, 2020. Pp. vi + 394. Paperback $34.95, ISBN 978-3-7001-8400-3. Eleventh-century Buddhist philosopher Ratnakīrti has garnered increasing scholarly interest over the past two decades. The conciseness and logical precision of his work, which encapsulates arguments from the lengthier works of his teacher, Jñānaśrīmitra, make him a convenient window into the last phase of Buddhist philosophy in India. We now have reliable translations of most of the extant philosophical works of Ratnakīrti, and a number of studies have explicated his philosophical views on a range of issues. Patrick McAllister's recent book, Ratnakīrti's Proof of Exclusion, makes an important contribution to this growing body of scholarship by providing not only a clear and precise translation of the Apohasiddhi, but also a new critical edition of the text, and an extensive analysis of Ratnakīrti's formulation of the theory of exclusion. McAllister thereby advances significantly our understanding of Ratnakīrti's views on the ontological status of universals, his theory of language, and his account of conceptual cognition. The theory of exclusion (apoha) is a distinctive aspect of the tradition of Buddhist philosophy tracing back to Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, which embraces a radical nominalism holding that ultimately only absolute momentary particulars exist. The apoha theory is designed to provide an account of the meaning of general terms by appealing to the exclusion of others (anyāpoha) as an alternative to positing real universals. On this view, the word "cow" is able to refer to all particular cows, not because of the presence of a universal, cowhood, in all the particulars, but rather because the word "cow" signifies the exclusion of all those particulars that are not cows. This theory was the subject of much debate over several centuries both within Buddhism and with opponents from the Nyāya and Mīmāṃsā traditions. McAllister's thorough study sheds light not only on Ratnakīrti's late formulation of and argument for the theory, but also on its development during the period from Dharmakīrti to Jñānaśrīmitra. The book begins with a concise discussion of Ratnakīrti's central philosophical views, setting the context for the exposition of the theory of [End Page 1] exclusion. McAllister then undertakes an extensive examination of all available manuscripts of the Apohasiddhi, providing a new critical edition of the text in transliteration with references to all variant manuscripts, which is likely to become the definitive edition for future scholarship. The translation itself aims for scholarly precision over readability, but succeeds admirably in achieving both. References to a detailed outline of the argument are provided in the margins, helping the reader find a clear path through the dense and detailed thicket of arguments and objections considered in the text. The extensive footnotes offer a wealth of references to both modern scholarship and to the works of earlier Buddhist authors and their opponents, setting the arguments into their proper historical context. This goal is also advanced in the fourth chapter, which offers comments on selected passages from the text, tracing key elements of Ratnakīrti's argument through a range of earlier authors, not only from Buddhist sources, but also the works of their Nyāya and Mīmāṃsā critics, often providing translations of key passages. Many other relevant passages from Dharmakīrti, Śāntarakṣita, and Kamalaśīla are translated in an appendix, revealing much about the evolution of the theory of exclusion. One notable feature of the translation is that the square brackets, prominent in many scholarly translations, have been printed in a lighter grey. These brackets are used to signal words, implicit in the original, that have been added by the translator. This stylistic tendency has been criticized by some for inhibiting the readability of translations, including Parimal Patil, who emphasized this point by publishing his 2011 translation of the Apohasiddhi under the title, "Without Brackets." While the elimination of brackets certainly aids the readability of a text, there...

Nota al pie

Este trabajo es una postcomunicación. Es también, un texto sin un cuerpo de texto, es una extensa Nota al pie sin un árbol que la sujete. Pretende ser pues, una mera raíz sin cabeza.

Caribbean New Orleans: Empire, Race, and the Making of a Slave Society by Cécile Vidale

Reviewed by: Caribbean New Orleans: Empire, Race, and the Making of a Slave Society by Cécile Vidale Molly Olsen Cécile Vidale Caribbean New Orleans: Empire, Race, and the Making of a Slave Society. Williamsburg, Virginia: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, and Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. 552 pp. 10 illustrations, 9 maps, 7 tables, notes, index. $49.95 cloth (ISBN: 978-1-4696-4518-6); $29.99 electronic (ISBN: 978-1-4696-4519-3). For those familiar with the caribbean and who also know New Orleans through its cuisine, architecture, or music, it may seem unsurprising that recent scholarly research should identify New Orleans as a Caribbean city. But in her latest book, historian Cécile Vidale has analyzed a rich array of documentary sources to provide abundant evidence of the historical similarities that New Orleans shares with the Greater Caribbean, in particular Saint Domingue and the Lesser Antilles of the French Caribbean. Caribbean [End Page 299] New Orleans specifically examines the racialization of society in New Orleans under the French regime from the founding of city in 1718 through the 1760s and the transfer of the city to Spanish rule. The book is an illuminating and often delightful portrait of a racially complex city of endless conflict that strived to define itself in the midst of myriad demographic influences. Scholars and non-academic readers alike will enjoy the finesse with which Vidale teases out compelling anecdotes from archival documents that hold the story of this beloved city’s rough beginning. As Professor of History and Director of the Center for North American Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, Dr. Vidale brings to this book a deep historical understanding of the Mississippi Valley region as well as a critical Continental perspective on the French empire and its colonies in the Americas. Following her equally illuminating Louisiana: Crossroads of the Atlantic World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), Caribbean New Orleans is the result of Vidale’s decision to undertake a more exacting investigation of New Orleans’s place beyond its North American geographical milieu and reveal its historical affinity with the French Caribbean. Her work is a beautiful example of painstaking archival investigation that generates for the reader a sense of daily life in eighteenth century New Orleans, with a focus on racialized interpersonal relationships. With this book, Vidale has contributed to the labors of New Orleans archival scholars such as Gwen-dolyn Midlo Hall (among her many books, see Africans in Colonial Louisiana, LSU Press, 1992), who insists that any historical understanding of the city demands examination of the original documents in French, Spanish, and English, and Richard Campanella, geographer and prolific author of archive-based research on New Orleans (see, for example, Bienville’s Dilemma: A Historical Geography of New Orleans, Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2008). Vidale’s investigative work in Continental archives is a welcome element of the book that helps readers to understand how New Orleans experienced the influence of the distant but omnipresent metropole. This critical examination of imperial documents complements the author’s extensive research in New Orleans libraries and collections as she interrogates French colonialism in the Americas. Indeed, an invaluable asset of the book is the meticulous annotation of all of the document sources referenced by archive, folio, and number that Vidale includes in her footnotes, details that will greatly assist any researcher wanting to investigate related topics. Regrettably, there is no full bibliography at the end of the book, and the index is limited, so readers and researchers seeking scholarly bibliographic references will need to rely on the extensive footnotes in each of the nine chapters. The various chapters of Caribbean New Orleans, each intriguing for its own thematic content, treat specific spaces and arenas of early New Orleans society where disparate populations mingled. Throughout, Vidale argues that one of the key elements that connects New Orleans to the Caribbean is the creation of a slave society in a port city that maintained power through a repressive [End Page 300] legal structure developed specifically to uphold white supremacy and systematically...