Final Battle Research Articles

Hidden in Plain Sight: A Companion Reference to Threats, Real and Imagined, as Configured in Late Twentieth-Century Christian America

Hidden in Plain Sight: A Companion Reference to Threats, Real and Imagined, as Configured in Late Twentieth-Century Christian America Chauna Craig (bio) Ace in the Hole 1. The first Minuteman Missile—America’s first solid fuel, fully automated, push-button missile and John F. Kennedy’s secret weapon against the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis—was buried in Alpha Six silo, forty miles southeast of my hometown. It took only thirty-two seconds to launch. In 1962, when Khrushchev’s threats escalated, Air Command overrode the usual safety procedures requiring four separate approvals from two different command centers to release a missile. Only one command center was actually finished, and rules are always suspended in a crisis. See Great Falls, Montana, Malmstrom Air Force Base, and Minuteman Missile. 2. The unregistered junk gun my father bought from a junior-high guidance counselor “just in case” and hid in a box in our attic. See also Saturday Night Special. American Redoubt With origins in the military concept of “redoubt,” which means a safe or protected enclave, this describes the region in the American West recommended as a refuge for Christians in the coming end times. The American Redoubt consists of eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, an ideal hideaway due to its sparse population, libertarian ideals, and landscape abundant with natural resources, like water and game. Proponents have observed, however, that Christians moving to the American Redoubt would be wise to remain west of missile bases, due to the probability of nuclear fallout. See also Malmstrom Air Force Base. American Doubt and Redoubt are awaiting apocalypse. Doubt is annihilated. Who is left? [End Page 5] Antichrist The opposite of Christ, and thus the opposite of sacrifice and salvation. An ungodly beast whose intention is to enslave us all, the Antichrist can take any form, including that of the Pope, Communist world leaders, and/or Democrats. My ex-husband liked to tell his children, my stepchildren, that he was 666 years old. We lived in the Bible Belt then, and the kids gleefully shared this detail with their classmates and teachers. When I suggested that claiming to be the Antichrist was no way to make friends, he said I never could take a joke. My own children recently told me that their father claims to be 666 years old. I see no reason to argue. See Armageddon and Revelation (Book of). Armageddon The final battle between good and evil, for which the signs and indicators are abundant if you know where to look. All of my childhood was an education in where to look. See Eschatology. Cabin in the Middle of Nowhere Before I was born, my grandfather bought a primitive log cabin in a canyon in the middle of Meagher County, Montana. Single room, sleeping porch, outhouse. It was the summer weekend escape of my childhood. Over the years, he added a well and a root cellar “just in case.” The only thing I remember anyone keeping in that root cellar was a six-pack of bottled Coca-Cola in 1985 when rumors of a new formula felt like the end of the world. See Armageddon, Iodine-131 and Y2K. See also Kaczynski, Theodore. The Day After (1983) A made-for-television movie dramatizing the effects of nuclear war on a town in Kansas and starring Jason Robards and John Lithgow. ABC drew a record 100 million viewers, and the horror of this imagined event was so potentially traumatizing that a free counseling hotline was available. Lawrence, Kansas, was chosen as the setting for The Day After because the 150 Minuteman missiles nearby made the town a “realistic” target. My mother comforted us with this thought: we lived near more missiles than that and would never suffer radiation sickness. We would be annihilated. [End Page 6] Eschatology The study of end times and all the signs and wonders surrounding them. Freemen, Montana On a ranch in southeastern Montana, more properly known as the Middle of Nowhere, a group of people calling themselves “Freemen” gained national attention when one of their leaders declared in the spring of 1995 a holy war of God’s laws versus man’s...

Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War by Perry D. Jamieson

Reviewed by: Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War by Perry D. Jamieson Mandy Tompkins Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War. Perry D. Jamieson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0-8032-2581-7, 320pp., cloth, $34.95. Part of the Great Campaigns of the Civil War series, Perry D. Jamieson’s Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War relates the final campaigns of the Civil War in a concise narrative that will enable the work to be a steadfast source for anyone interested in the final months of the war. The details of the ending battles and surrenders in both the eastern and western theaters of the war will allow the average reader to easily follow the history; yet Jamieson includes enough details and valuable information that Civil War scholars will find the book useful as well. Attempting to provide a succinct history of early 1865 while also contrasting the events occurring in the two theaters of war, Jamieson acknowledges that he focuses on “planning and operations at the strategic and operational levels of warfare” rather than “tactics or more human-interest stories” (xi). His study of the operations involved from February to May 1865 displays the decisions leading generals on both sides faced and how those choices affected the overall outcome of the war. Tactics and human-interest stories are not neglected completely though, and interested readers can use Jamieson’s rich bibliography to find works that focus on these aspects. Jamieson sets the stage for the spring campaigns in chapter 1 with a summary of the winter of ‘64–’65. The siege at Petersburg along with Sherman’s march through Georgia had strongly defeated Confederate morale. Grant’s plan to combine Union forces would be the ultimate blow to Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The next two chapters narrate the Union capture of Fort Fisher and Wilmington and the beginning stages of late warfare in the Carolinas. Jamieson does an accurate job showing the “incompetency” of Braxton Bragg as well as the events leading up to Lee’s decision to replace P. G. T. Beauregard with Joseph Johnston as commander of [End Page 334] the Army of Tennessee (29, 44). Many people believe that the Confederacy lost the war because of defeated morale and low numbers, but by discussing the struggles of the Confederate leadership, Jamieson acknowledges a factor sometimes forgotten. Chapter 4 focuses on Confederate issues at Bentonville before Jamieson switches to the eastern theater, the siege at Petersburg, and Lee’s first idea of combining forces with Joseph Johnston (93). The remaining chapters narrate the final battles of the Army of Northern Virginia and Robert E. Lee’s movement away from Petersburg to the west, ending at Appomattox Court House. With a daily decreasing number of troops under Lee’s command, Jamieson shows that Ulysses S. Grant’s pursuit would ultimately lead to a surrender. The final two chapters discuss the other Confederate surrenders, including the largest one, at Durham Station when Johnston surrendered to William Sherman (199). Ending with the smaller surrenders further west, Jamieson does a good job of wrapping up the final events of the American Civil War. Writing about such a large geographic area and several months of the war might prove daunting for some, but Jamieson manages to recount the events in an easy-to-follow account. Historians looking for extensive tactical details and intensive battle descriptions may not find the book extremely helpful, but it could be a great source to help them review the overall details of the campaigns. Other readers not interested in maneuvers and battle plans will still find the work useful as a way to more fully understand “how an unimaginably painful, and extremely crucial, American war came to an end” (xii). One of the main ideas Jamieson conveys throughout his work is how the choices generals, both Union and Confederate, made greatly affected the outcome of the war. The mistakes made at Fort Fisher, Confederate errors at Bentonville and the lack of communication between Beauregard and Jefferson Davis enabled Sherman to capture places such as Columbia and Fayetteville. Another important aspect the author focuses...

End of Islam, End of Time

The article summarises and analyses Yezidi texts on the final battle before the End of Time that reflect the community’s thorny history of relations with Islam. The author pursues an intertextual and historical contextual reading that provides plastic explanations for symbols, metaphors, and allusions found in the Yezidi texts on the End of Time. Moreover, an eschatological reading of other Yezidi texts that are not primarily concerned with the End of Time suggests that eschatological visions may once have been much more prominent in the community’s mind-set than is the case at present. The article is likely to be the first of its kind in the field of Yezidism.

Race v. Class: The Final Battle

Race v. Class: The Final Battle

The Unlikely Commentator: The Hermeneutic Reception of Śańkara’s Thought in the Interpretive Scholarship of Dārā Shukøh

The varieties of interreligious dialogue that Professor Leonard Swidler has advocated and practiced for the last several decades are not by any means novel initiatives; they have been occurring for millennia in many different parts of the world. Whether found in the comparisons between Roman and Vedic deities in the sixth book of Cesar's Gallic Wars, the transmission of Buddhism from South to East Asia, or modern meetings of the Parliament of World Religions, spiritual traditions have persistently sought ways to explore and encounter one another's ideas and ethical commitments. Of course, such encounters are never easy and, in fact, are often perilous. The sometimes complicated motives, hermeneutic complexities, dangers of misunderstanding, and possibly resultant mutual acrimony between traditions that can result from dialogue are formidable. But, the rewards of such encounters can also be unforeseen and offer lasting legacies and potential promise. One of the most dramatic illustrations of such dangers and rewards can be found in the creative interpretive attempt by the seventeenth-century Mughal prince Dara Shukoh to see ancient Hindu texts the first historical revelations of Islam. The legend, established for centuries now, has it that the justification for the humiliating execution of Prince Dara Shukoh by his brother Aurungzeb in 1659 was Dara's heresy. Of all his works dealing with the relation of brahminical and Islamic thought, we are told by contemporary sources that his original work, Majma'-ul Bahrain, and his translation of the Sirr-i Akbar were what provoked the charge. (1) Indeed, after the public punishment was carried out in the streets of Delhi, when the decapitated head of Dara was brought to his younger brother inside of a box, the new Shah is reported to have uttered the eulogy: as I did not look at this infidel's face during his lifetime, 1 have no wish to do so now.(2) Of course, the fate of Dara a historical matter is much more attributable to his political and military misjudgment, having spent seven years thwarting the expansion campaigns of Aurungzeb and ineptly contesting his forces in the final battle for dynastic succession. (3) However, the return of orthodox Islam to the Mughal court was to be the major legitimization for Aurungzeb's rule, and so the perpetuation of the legend has made Dara appear to his centuries of detractors a decadent apostate in his great-grandfather Akbar's tradition--and to his supporters a tragic martyr for Hindu-Islamic concord in Indian civilization. It is quite ironic then that, far we know, Dara had a much more hermeneutically self-conscious appraisal of his own scholarship, one that combined his personal spiritual interests with a desire to vindicate the universality of the qur'anic worldview through a demonstration of how its monotheism was echoed in classical brahminical religious and philosophical texts. Though this agenda inspired him to see to the translations of sacred Vedic scriptures and practices into the then-open intellectual world of the empire, it also made him their unlikely commentator. This can be gleaned most clearly from Dara's supervision of the translation of some fifty Upanisads during a six-month period in 1657, the Sirr-i Akbar. (4) Dara was a Qadiri Sufi, admittedly one whose associations with ascetics of other traditions steadily increased during the intellectual ferment that followed Akbar's reign, yet one whose primary audience for these historic translations were members of the Ulema of the imperial court. As such, Dara became a commentator on ancient Sanskrit philosophy, but he was a Muslim commentator who selected and presented texts and concepts for fellow Muslims. This seemingly elementary but very powerful fact is borne out in two pivotal ways. The first lies in the brutally frank reasons he stated in the work's preface, which was argued in the manner of an apologia. Dara did not merely claim that he was offering up a noble example of religious syncretism so that the Islamic and Hindu communities of the empire could aspire to mutual understanding and toleration, but, rather, he set out to defend the Islamic orthodoxy of the Upanisads, even claiming that they were themselves Islamic texts, witnessed by the Qur'an, and bearing witness to true and untarnished monotheism. …

Entre a guerra, a natureza e a infância–um retrato das marcas pós-coloniais na obra A guerra dos fazedores de chuva com os caçadores de nuvens: guerra para crianças de Luandino Vieira

O artigo analisa a obra A guerra dos fazedores de chuva com os caçadores de nuvens destinada para o público infantojuvenil do angolano Luandino Vieira. Através de uma perspectiva pós-colonial, é descortinada a violência sofrida por Angola em sua colonização, culminando na luta de independência. A natureza participa ativamente dos acontecimentos, numa metáfora com a nação que passa a ser repensada e as crianças ocupam papel de destaque, sobretudo ao final da batalha. A partir do estudo, é possível reavaliar os vestígios coloniais e pós-coloniais contidos na obra, ampliando a discussão sobre os pós-colonialismos nas literaturas africanas de língua portuguesa.

A NOTE ON THE BATTLE OF MONS GRAUPIUS

A recent book about Agricola's conquest of Scotland presents a Scottish historian's take on a subject that has been dominated by archaeologists: the whereabouts of Mons Graupius, the scene of Agricola's final battle. Unfortunately, in confidently locating it in Perthshire, author James Fraser builds his case on shaky foundations.

Friedreich ataxia today—preparing for the final battle

Research into Friedreich ataxia has been hampered by low availability of study participants. Now, a European consortium has released baseline data from a continuing study of 592 patients with Friedreich ataxia, providing information on clinical features and progression. Such large cooperative studies might herald the final battle against this disabling disease.

Werner Bests fængselsoptegnelser 1945-51. En studie i fortidsmanipulation

John T. Lauridsen: Werner Best’s prison records 1945-51
 The article provides a brief account of the content of Field Marshal for Denmark Werner Best’s prison notes with a list of those which are non-literary. Then the notes concerning Danish conditions are presented in greater detail, since they are characterized as primary defence statements with the intention of explaining and defending the politics that he wishes to present as those he conducted during his time as Field Marshal for Denmark 1942-45. There is a development in the content of the notes concerning Denmark from the first ones in 1945 to the later ones in 1948 in line with the fact that he obtained insight into the contemporary records written by himself, which the public prosecutor had managed to collect from him. The development was in the form of an adaptation of previous statements concerning the material presented or explaining the contents of it away, in the sense that a context was presented, which negated the meaning of what he had written, unless he did not openly state instead that what he had written was a lie already at the time of writing. The latter was supposedly in agreement with the Auswärtiges Amt with the common goal of preventing Hitler from intervening in Danish affairs. On the whole, Hitler is introduced in various contexts as an active party, who had exerted fundamental influence on incriminating documents drawn up by Best, while there is no contemporary documentation that Hitler exerted any influence or even had his attention focused on Denmark. This results in Best’s use of “the telephone trick”, which the author has chosen to call it, namely that Best invokes telephone calls from the headquarters of the fuhrer, from Ribbentrop’s ministerial office located there or from the Auswärtiges Amt, which make him act in another manner that justifies his actions for posterity, or ascribes an impact on posterity to himself, which he had not been able to obtain in some other way. The most obvious examples are the initiative for the action against the Jews in 1943, the April Crisis in 1944, the repercussions from the general strike in Copenhagen in the summer of 1944, and the outcome of the discussions concerning whether or not to conduct the final battle in Mürwik on 3 May 1945. An account is given of Best’s attempt to impose a general reading guide for his contemporary documents upon the reader, followed by a representation of and detailed commentary upon selected statements by Best, which illustrate Best’s form of history manipulation in detail, where he also provides guidance on how he wants specific individual documents to be read and understood. It is inspiring reading. Two records are not about his own trial, but about his relationship to DNSAP (the Danish Nazi Party) and the Schalburg Corps (the Nazi anti-sabotage corps in Denmark) and the group of people surrounding them. Here he continues to manipulate his own role, but also shows his ruthlessness towards partners who did not obey orders. This also gave him cause to dismiss the entire German Reich leadership in Denmark as being more or less amateurish.

REALIST NETWORKS: RECENT WORK ON VICTORIAN REALISM

In his recently published bookThe Antinomies of Realism, Fredric Jameson presents his take on the pervasive struggle between the realist mode's origins and its ostensible demise. Throughout his career, Jameson has been dissatisfied with the numerous binary oppositions into which realism is so often inserted and the insufficiently historicized value judgments that tend to go with them. In this new work, Jameson argues that realism is instead caught between and constituted by the opposing poles of story and affect. He argues that “the irrevocable antagonism between [these] twin (and entwined) forces . . . are never reconciled, never fold back into one another in some ultimate reconciliation and identity; and the very force and pungency of the realist writing [here examined] is predicated on that tension, which must remain an impossible one, under pain of losing itself altogether and dissipating if it is ever resolved in favor of one of the parties to the struggle” (11). Jameson locates the “final battle” between the antinomies of realism “in the microstructures of language” and “against the dominance of point of view which seems to hold the affective impulses in check and lend them the organizing attribution of a central consciousness” (11). For Jameson, this formal and linguistic face-off “exhaust[s] and destroy[s]” realism, and whatever “odd assortment of random tools and techniques” we recognize in the post-nineteenth-century world are but remnants of realism's “shriveled posterity” (11). Thus, Jameson insists the book of realism is closed, and as Harry Shaw has noted, “he appears . . . to have maintained a consistent line throughout his career” (Narrating Reality 27n31).

Bear-Dreaming: Converging Animal Traditions in Hrólfs Saga Kraka

The final battle scene in Hrólfs saga kraka includes a striking episode in which the famed champion Bǫðvarr bjarki fights in the form of a bear. Despite the story of King Hrólfr kraki and his champions surviving in various medieval sources, Bǫðvarr’s taking bear form at the final battle is unique to Hrólfs saga . Traditionally Bǫðvarr and the rest of the king’s champions were berserkir , warriors with the strength and rage of ferocious beasts. However they could not take animal form. The presence of animal double forms is common in the Icelandic sagas, but that tradition is separate from that of the berserkir . By the time that Hrólfs saga reached its current form, continental romance influence was prominent in Icelandic literature. This created a troublesome environment for a heroic berserkr . By analyzing medieval Icelandic animal-warrior and animal-double traditions, this article explores how chivalric influence led to a convergence of these motifs in Hrólfs saga kraka .

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (review)

Reviewed by: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch April Spisak Raasch, Sara Snow Like Ashes. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 2014 416p ISBN 978-0-06-228692-5 $17.99 Ad Gr. 8–10 The Kingdom of Winter was vanquished by the Kingdom of Spring sixteen years ago, and most Winterians are enslaved in their former homeland, with only a handful remaining free. Meira has grown up part of a fierce but tiny group dedicated to restoring the freedom of Winter and creating a kingdom where they can use their own magic, revel in the eternal cold, and avenge the endless deaths brought on by power-hungry evil. Meira’s magical abilities seem to be awakening at startling speed, and she’ll need them in the upcoming climactic final battle in this world of eight kingdoms. The world-building is fairly effective: the setup is a cool premise, and the author conveys the backstory subtly. Unfortunately, there is a troubling racial undertone that cannot be ignored: the bravest, most beautiful, and most heroic of all the people in all eight kingdoms are also the palest, with white hair and frequent descriptions of fair, ivory features. In addition, Meira is not only boy crazy but fickle, and her tendency to miss important clues and key chances to enact change because she is distracted by shirtless chests or twinkling eyes impairs her impact as a protagonist. Even so, Meira’s got plenty of snarky humor and an ultimately earnest devotion to her beleaguered people, and those positive traits may keep readers engaged through to the end to see how it all plays out. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The Final Battle:Creation of Wealth vs Transfer of Wealth

Tulsi Tawari has written this book specifically for entrepreneurs and researchers. It is the result of his search for answers to questions like conditions in poor countries and a clear cut road map for the future. He attempts to discuss the concept of wealth and how its transfer (ToW) differs from the creation of wealth (CoW). He regrets that if leaders in government, business and economics had not strayed in their mission to create wealth, the world would have been a better place. In this context, he offers strategic suggestions which can be applied both individually and collectively.

Tamil diaspora and the political spaces of second‐generation activism in Switzerland

AbstractIn this article, we study the emergence of the political spaces of activism of second‐generation Swiss Tamils resulting from a critical event – the suffering of Tamils during and after the final battle in early 2009 of a civil war in northern Sri Lanka that had lasted for decades. We contend that we can explain the geographies of newly emerging second‐generation activism committed to achieving Tamil Eelam through two factors. These are first, this generation's multiple senses of belonging both to Switzerland and to the Tamil ‘nation’ and, second, the way a specific politics of affect remoulded second‐generation identities because the pain of witnessing the brutality of war and suffering of Tamils occurred concurrently with a perceived lack of interest from their ‘new home’ (Switzerland). The combination of these factors made them want to acknowledge their Tamil ‘roots’ and encouraged them to become politically active. Consequently, these second‐generation activists primarily sought to engage with their host society – to awaken it from its indifference to the suffering of Tamils and from its passivity in taking action on an international level. We thereby witness the emerging of a new type of Tamil activism in Switzerland, which is firmly located in and bound to the host country.

All That Is by James Salter (review)

Reviewed by: All That Is by James Salter Nathan Washatka (bio) James Salter, All That Is (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), 304pp. In James Salter’s new novel, All That Is, we begin at war. It is the spring of 1945. The Allied fleet has begun its assault on the Japanese island of Okinawa. It is to be one of the final battles of the campaign in the South Pacific. The novel’s protagonist, Philip Bowman, is a young navy lieutenant bracing for his first action. Bowman has, at this time in his life, “no experience of love” and, in the opinion of a former high school teacher, “the makings of a fine Latinist.” Meanwhile, desperate to halt the Allied advance, the Japanese counter by launching their greatest, heaviest, and most heavily armed battleship, the Yamato. It is a suicide mission; the Yamato sails with its ammunition lockers full and its fuel tanks half empty. Battles ensue. Bowman and his ship survive. The Yamato is sunk. So end the first twelve pages of Salter’s book, and we are off. The balance of All That Is traces the contours of Bowman’s life: a degree in journalism from Harvard; a career in an up-and-coming publishing house; a fizzled marriage; his concern and care for a mother succumbing to a disease with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms; a passel of doomed love affairs. In fact, Bowman so thoroughly corrects for his earlier romantic inexperience that it is almost endearing to recall that he once laid, alone in his bunk, forlorn and fearful, listening raptly to a shipmate read aloud racy correspondence from a lover in San Diego. Whether Bowman ever fulfills his promise as a Latinist, we never find out. It has been more than thirty years since James Salter published a full-length novel. He has not been idle in the interlude. A luminous collection of short stories, Dusk and Other Stories, won the 1989 PEN/Faulkner Award; a pair of memoirs recounted, among other things, his experience as a fighter pilot in the Air Force; most recently, he co-wrote Life is Meals: A Food Lover’s Book of Days with Kay Salter. Still, the absence of any new [End Page 284] novels since the late 1970s has no doubt tried the patience of his admirers. The scope of All That Is—encompassing much of one man’s life, stealing glimpses into dozens of other lives, and ranging in setting from New York to the cultural capitals of Western Europe—not to mention its title, suggests that Salter has done his best to deliver a novel worthy of the wait. The result, at many points, is admirable. Salter has made his mark as a meticulous curator of pleasures. In A Sport and a Pastime (1967), a slender and meditative book, he seemed determined to catalog all the native charms of rural France, as well as the charms two lovers find in one another. The resulting list of impressions spills forth like an incantation. As in that novel, the greatest pleasure to be found in All That Is is sex. Philip Bowman partakes liberally, but Salter is keen to show that Bowman derives joy from a spectrum of pleasures: paintings, the opera, wine, a plate of fruits de mer from a back-alley restaurant in Paris. There is pleasure to be had from parties with friends, from the quiet calmness of life in the country, from nature. Salter is keenly aware that beauty is not something that can be consumed. Nor can it be properly appraised without patience, that rarest of virtues. Salter’s prose often lingers, almost lounges, on moments that offer themselves to the observant: It had been a long day. The summer had come early. Sun struck the trees of the countryside with dazzling power. In towns along the way, girls with tanned limbs strolled idly past stores that looked closed. Housewives drove with kerchiefs on their heads and their men in hard yellow hats stood near signs warning Construction Ahead. The landscape was beautiful but passive. The emptiness of things rose like the sound of a choir making the sky bluer and more vast...

The Being of Evil in the Classic Romanian Fairytale - Expression of the Shadow

The study shown contains a fragment of analysis of the Romanian fairytales, analysis that is placing an emphasis on the symbolical ways in which the being of evil is represented, as an expression of the Shadow. The therapeutical value of the fairytale lies in activating the unconscious content and the ability to access the contents of the Shadow but also the internal resources of healing, through diminution of the rational censorship, through projection, identification and active imagination. The fairytale facilitates the insight and works as a support for the person's projections, as a mirror of the mental functionality patterns and through that it represents a way of access to the unconscious, to the pulsional dinamic, to the conflictual areas and defense mechanisms of the person itself. The first part of the article includes theoretical perspectives and conceptual clarifications relevant to our study, details about the notions of Shadow, projection, symbol and individuation. The second part aims to present the stages of the hero's journey. This journey is understood as a way of knowledge and self-knowledge, as a meeting with Self and acceptance of the Shadow's challenges. We referred to three major forms of the Shadow's contents (of the being of evil): the initial evil, the evil that must be crossed and the evil that is defeated in the final battle. The initial evil is the one which determines the travel or the cause, and which can be expressed as a lack of material possession, unsatisfied desire, as a suffering of an emotional nature or as an uncontrolled aggression from the outside (i.e. the hero is banished from his home). The evil that must be crossed is represented by the obstacles encountered along the way. The obstacles are meant to bring to light contents of the Shadow. The evil defeated in the final battle is the one that gives the hero the measure of acceptance of his own limits and the knowledge of his own resources. The last part contains examples of Romanian fairytales that illustrate the ways in which the being of evil expresses itself. The meeting with evil, the confrontation with the Shadow helps the hero to know his own fear and courage, pain and joy, doubt and determination in his process of individuation.

Экстремистские группировки в сирийской гражданской войне: новые игроки и новые угрозы

Since 2012 one can speak about a real civil war in Syria with participation of different political forces. Extremist Islamist jihadist groups like “Front al-Nusra” and “Islamic State of Iraq and Levant” (ISIL) play very active role among them. Relations between ruling elites and Islamists have been very complex in Syria during the past decades. On the one hand, Syrian Alawite regime is secular and nationalist. On the other hand, official Damascus used to be one of the sponsors of the militant Islamist anti-Israeli and anti-Western groups in the Middle East. Besides, Syria is a close ally of Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanese Shi'ite Hizbullah. From our point of view, the union between Assad's Syria and Islamist groups was rather tactical than strategic one. Syria always played very important role for Sunni Islam, e.g., “the Land of Sham” had a big importance in eschatological beliefs of Sunni Muslims as a place of the final battle between Believers and Dajjal (Anti-Christ). Many foreign Islamist militant involved in Syrian War are inspired by this belief. Additionally, although a big majority of Syrians are Sunni, a dominance of Alawite sect in the political and social and economic life of the country disaffects of many Syrians with an escalation of Syrian conflict. Islamization of “Syrian revolution” is connected with cruel oppression of opposition by Assad's forces and powerless position of the West. At the same time, islamisation is a common feature of the Arab Spring. Arab Spring extremist Islamists have appeared along with relatively moderate Islamist and secular pro-Western groups. Foreign militant Jihadists play an important role in radicalisation of Islamist factor in the conflict. While Shi'ite groups (like pro-Iranian Hizbullah) regards Syria as a crucial part of Shi'ite belt from Mediterranean to Iran, Sunni extremists are not going to lose ground in the face of Shiite 'heretics'. The involvement of Arab Wahhabi monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) in the current turbulence must be also noted. ISIL is now the key actor of Syrian civil war. It is active not only in Syria but also in Iraq, the homeland of the organization. Initially, this Sunni militant group was closely connected to Al Qaeda. Now the relationships between them are rather tense because of ISIL’s efforts to overmaster another Jihadist group, “Front al Nusra”. The strategic aim of the ISIL is an establishment of an Islamic State (in Iraq and later in Syria) and the restoration of Caliphate. The tactics of the ISIL include guerrilla warfare and cruel terrorist attacks against military and civil people. In Syria ISIL fights against Assad's forces as armed opposition (both secular and Islamist) for control over territories and power. “Front al Nusra” (Front of Support of the Land of Sham People, FN) is genetically connected to ISIL. In terms of ideology there are no divergences between two groups, but they are rivals when it concerns the issues of popular support and political influence. Some Syrian people consider FN as a local group in contrast to foreign militants dominated ISIL. Activities of Jihadist groups is a real danger not only for Syria, but for the whole region and even worldwide.

Antona García

Antona García Rosie Seagraves The 2012 Siglo de Oro Drama Festival, hosted in El Paso, Texas, at the Chamizal National Memorial, featured only three plays. Although the festival ran for the customary span of five nights, from March 7 through March 11, two of the productions (Antona García and Tiempo de Carnaval) were performed twice. Also, the 2012 festival featured just two groups. The first, a student group from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, performed a translation of Antona García, complete with two adapted and translated entremeses. The second group, a professional theater company based in Murcia, Spain, known as Cambalache Teatro, staged Tiempo de Carnaval, a compilation of three short plays, as well as Los milagros del desprecio. Taken as a whole, this year’s festival provided the spectators with plays in English and Spanish, translations, adaptations, more ‘faithful’ productions, and entremeses alongside comedias. Although the number of plays and companies was significantly reduced in comparison with previous Siglo de Oro festivals held at Chamizal, the audience’s experience was still richly varied in language, genre, and production, much to the delight of all in attendance. Antona García As pointed out by Jason Yancey, translator (along with James Bell) of this year’s opening play of the Chamizal Siglo de Oro Drama Festival, Tirso de Molina’s Antona García (staged by the Grand Valley State University theater program) is a striking exception to the rule: it has a bit of everything, enough to upset any tried and true statements about what the comedia does or does not do. Its eponymous heroine, for example, readily gives birth (twice) in the midst of fighting off soldiers, negotiating her problematic romance with the Count, and spearheading resistance within a heated political dispute over Queen Isabel’s and Queen Juana’s claims to the Castilian throne. Antona emerges victorious, in an early modern version of the “how does she do it?” cliché of recent Hollywood lore, reducing her political nemesis to a cowering heap while marriage and two babies wait patiently in the wings. Yancey’s excellent translation brings this eccentric and comic play to a wider audience while preserving some of the original Spanish text. The pleasing blend of linguistic registers connected with Grand Valley State University’s approach to the play’s staging, which integrated [End Page 215] traditional seventeenth-century dress with modern theatrical flair, namely, a lit screen that changed colors to signal shifts in scene, time of day, and mood. The mix allowed for two fine moments of theater: first, when Antona brandishes a burning stick at the end of Act 2, reclaiming her political agency and avenging her husband’s death, and, second, a slow-motion fight sequence during the final battle of Spanish and Portuguese supporters, complete with red screen, dimmed lighting, smoke, and the soundtrack of a heartbeat, creating a pulse that accentuated bodily movement during the fight. The play, directed by Karen Libman, worked best during its crowd and fight scenes, when strength in numbers and animated fight choreography allowed the actors the highest level of expression and dramatic energy. Despite the generally solid nature of Grand Valley State’s English version of the play, which went through eleven sets of revisions from its original translation during rehearsal (a testament to the transformative nature of moving from page to stage), some of its one-on-one scenes would have benefited from further cutting to cater to its student actors. The initial scene between the Count (Chaz Bratton) and Antona (Genesis Loza) lost its momentum once the two had established their mutual romantic interest and distressingly crossed political loyalties, dragging on until spectators may have felt as desperate for a resolution as the characters themselves. The cast, a compilation of students from the university (some drama majors, some not), displayed varying levels of acting ability. Overall, line delivery lacked intention, with the notable exception of Sarah Tryon’s rendition of María Sarmienta, the play’s villainous antiheroine, who made her every word cry out, daring the audience to detest her. Both Antona and the Count played the serious moments well, but these were few and far between. Antona...

Gandhi's Decisive South African 1913 Campaign: A Personal Perspective from the Letters of Betty Molteno

The account of Mohandas Gandhi's final battle with the South African government in late 1913 and early 1914 is widely known. This article juxtaposes this narrative with a personal perspective, drawing on the involvement of Betty Molteno, eldest child of the first Prime Minister of the Cape. She was present during critical incidents in those months. Molteno wrote daily to her life-partner, Alice Greene, and their correspondence contains many illuminating insights into the dramatic events and the personalities of those involved. Molteno's letters attest to an ongoing warm relationship between members of the Phoenix and Ohlange communities and provide a first-hand account of the complexities inherent in the relationship between Gandhi and his near neighbour John Dube, first President of the African National Congress. This indicates that a commonly-accepted view that a hostile relationship existed between them needs to be reviewed. In addition, the correspondence reveals the background to Emily Hobhouse's crucial intervention, on Gandhi's behalf, in the stalled negotiations with General Jan Smuts. Finally, the letters serve to highlight the role played by a network of influential yet disenfranchised white women, through their access to the political elites of the nascent state, in the resolution of Gandhi's decisive South African confrontation.

The Ritual Narration of Mortuary Art: The Illustrated Story of Emperor Antoku and Its Etoki at Amidaji

This article recovers the memorial and placatory function of the Illustrated Story of Emperor Antoku and its etoki (picture-explaining) at Amidaji, the non-extant mortuary temple for the tragically killed Antoku and the Taira. After discussing the content, date, and authorship of the Illustrated Story, this article reconstructs the ritual context and structure of the etoki, and the meaning of each component of this ritual-location, facility, narration, and the paintings. By embedding these meanings into the entire structure of the ritual, the article reveals that Amidaji's etoki was expected to commemorate, pacify, and help the spirits of Antoku and the Taira to attain rebirth in Amida's Pure Land. This study calls for a shift in our view of etoki, from a practical tool to a ritual practice also guided by spiritual purposes, thereby emphasizing the significance of mortuary art as a central medium in spirit pacification.KEYWORDS: Amidaji-Antoku-the Taira-the Illustrated Story of Emperor Antoku-etoki-spirit pacification-mortuary art(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)At the end of the final battle of the Genpei War (1180-1185), the eight-year-old emperor Antoku ... (1178-1185; r.1180-1185) and hundreds of defeated Taira ... clansmen jumped to their deaths into the sea of Dannoura in Nagato province (now part of Yamaguchi prefecture). In commemoration of this event, Amidaji ..., a temple that overlooked this sea, was revived as a mortuary temple for the drowned emperor and Taira clansmen. Because the tragic deaths of the child emperor and the Taira were followed by various calamities, it was believed that their spirits, unable to access the next world, became malicious ghosts who threatened the living and the nation. In order to appease these ghosts and to assist them in attaining rebirth in the Western Paradise of Amida Buddha, the imperial court ordered Nagato province to construct a Buddhist hall at Amidaji in 1191.In this special hall dedicated to the pacification of the spirits of Antoku and the Taira, a set of eight paintings known as Antoku tenn? engi-e ... or the Illustrated Story of Emperor Antoku (see figure 1) (hereafter, the Illustrated Story), was installed. The paintings depict the short life of Antoku as well as scenes from the Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari ...), and they were vocally narrated in the practice of etoki ... (picture-explaining). During the Meiji-period persecution of Buddhism, Amidaji was abolished and then replaced by a Shinto shrine (today called Akama Jing? ...; see Gunji 2011). The temple buildings were demolished and the majority of Buddhist icons and implements were destroyed, and subsequently all rituals, except for a few, were abolished and replaced by so-called Shinto-style rituals. Nevertheless, a handful of key pieces of artwork, including the Illustrated Story and portraits of Antoku and select Taira members, survived the persecution and have survived to this day. They were removed from their original place of enshrinement, however, and their original functions have been forgotten.The subject of this article is those lost functions of the Illustrated Story and its etoki. In particular, this article seeks to recover, and to show the importance of, functions that probably subjected the etoki to the Meiji persecution of Bud- dhism-namely, the function of the etoki as an essentially Buddhist ritual and the function of the Illustrated Story as a central object in that ritual-as opposed to the practical or institutional functions that could have profited the new Shinto shrine as well as they did Amidaji.This study will introduce a new perspective in the research on the Illustrated Story and its etoki and to the study of etoki in general. In previous studies art historians have focused primarily on identifying the date and authorship on iconographic and stylistic grounds, as well as on identifying what goes on in the scenes using not only the inscriptions on the paintings but also the Tale of the Heike (Ky? …