Reception History Research Articles

Dorothy Bussy’s Olivia as born-translated autobiography

ABSTRACT Dorothy Bussy’s autobiographical novel Olivia was published almost simultaneously in English and French: the Hogarth Press published Olivia by Olivia in England in April 1949 while Stock published Olivia par Olivia in France in July of the same year. Bussy first drafted Olivia in French in 1933 but set her manuscript aside after receiving an unenthusiastic response from André Gide. Fifteen years later, Bussy translated her original draft into English and then re-translated the English manuscript into French in collaboration with Roger Martin du Gard. This history makes Olivia an example avant la lettre of born-translated literary, Rebecca Walkowitz’s term for contemporary literature that is not only published simultaneously in multiple languages but takes translation as a primary rather than secondary concern. In this article, I use the concept of born-translated literature to rethink Olivia from the perspective of its multilingual composition, publication, and reception history. I argue that the novel’s multilingual history blurs the boundary between original and translation and problematizes the traditional hierarchy of a text’s reception in multiple languages and cultural contexts.

Echoes Across the Pacific : A Performance and Reception History of Arirang in the US

Echoes Across the Pacific : A Performance and Reception History of Arirang in the US

The reality of words. Martin L. Davies and Jean Paul

ABSTRACT Martin L. Davies’s academic trajectory originates in German literary studies, focusing on Jean Paul (1763–1825), a prominent figure in early 19th-century German literature. While Jean Paul is often regarded as an ‘Idealist’ exploring intellectual and emotional realms, Davies examines his overlooked realism in economics, politics, and linguistic metaphors. His 1978 Oxford dissertation, ‘Jean Paul’s Realism: A Study in the Relationship between Literature and Reality’, challenges prevailing interpretations but faced rejection due to its departure from scholarly consensus. Drawing from unpublished archival materials, including preliminary works and correspondence, Davies’s study situates Jean Paul’s contributions within broader contexts of poetics, politics, and reception history.

Cultural resonances of Cocteau’s Orphée: some new perspectives on its production and reception history

ABSTRACT Seen as a masterpiece of postwar filmmaking, Orphée (1950) is best known for the cinematic devices Cocteau used, some borrowed from La Belle et le bête (1946) and some reflecting the French experience during the German Occupation and in the post-Liberation period. Transposing the ancient story of Orpheus to the contemporary era, Cocteau sought to externalize France’s painful recent history and at the same time to express his own grievances resulting from the indignities he suffered as a suspected collaborationist. Less noted in the scholarship on Orphée, however, are those elements that reflect Cocteau’s exposure to the political and ideological currents of the 1920s and 1930s – fascist or proto-fascist by their own identification – and his affinity for aspects of the Occupation, sinister in nature, that were to pass into the larger postwar culture. More specifically, the homoerotic images and subtexts in Orphée would re-emerge full-blown in what has been called the ‘dark rider’ phenomenon in motorcycle culture, especially in North America. This article assays these connections and argues that, just as Orphée represents a psychogram of France’s political and cultural history in the first half of the twentieth century, its resonances continue in the twenty-first.

Alternative Books in black and white: race and homoeroticism in South African male nude photography from the apartheid period

ABSTRACT Representations of black-white homoeroticism and sensuality between men of colour in apartheid-era male nude photography aimed at white gay men, which, in South Africa, were exclusive to selected titles published by Alternative Books (AB) (1981–1991), are remarkable yet neglected in queer African studies. In this article, I explore how sexual apartheid was respectively maintained and transgressed in the historical reception of such photographs by two radically different readerships: that is, by censors involved in proscribing homoerotic commodities, and by AB’s intended audiences. Drawing from historical censorship reports on AB’s titles, I propose that the inconsistent treatment of photographs from these publications according to the racial categories of the men depicted is a particularly revealing iteration of selective homophobia and ‘official’ perceptions of homosexuality during apartheid. Considering, then, that AB’s titles anticipated a historical minority readership comprised of queer insiders rather than homophobic outsiders, I make the case for a corrective by ‘outing’ the queer and anti-racist potential of such diverse homoerotic images, which rendered intelligible possibilities for intimacy repressed elsewhere in consumer markets that catered to predominantly white gay audiences and that were, in a sense, complicit with the state’s whitewashing of male homosexual identity and desire.

Reception of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Works Among Chinese Readers

Existing research on the reception of Fyodor Dostoevsky's works in China primarily focuses on the academic reception history, with limited attention paid to ordinary readers on the internet. This study employs the qualitative analysis software NVivo 12 to analyze comments from ordinary readers on Douban. By integrating Stanley Fish's reader-response criticism and Stuart Hall's reception theory, the study identifies three distinct reader reception models and analyzes their influencing factors. Faithful fans, influenced by the Russian classical literature horizon of expectations, offer highly positive evaluations. Rational evaluators exhibit a complex attitude of both criticism and appreciation, driven by their rational stance and cultural aesthetic differences. Critics, encounter frustration in their expectations due to conflicts between their local aesthetic perspectives and the works. This study broadens the scope of audience in the reception research of Dostoevsky's works in China, revealing the diversity and complexity of ordinary readers' reception, and provides important insights for cross-cultural reader studies.

Johann Jakob Bodmers anthologische Ausgaben des Codex Manesse (Zürich 1748; 1758/59)

Abstract J.J. Bodmer’s editions of the Codex Manesse (produced in Zurich around 1300) from 1748 and 1758/59 are examples of early modern German-language lyric anthologies. They lend themselves to discussing the central thesis of this volume, according to which early modern lyric anthologies were relevant for cultural-political interventions and consequently for canon-formation processes, insofar as – as will be shown – they exhibit a distinctly ideological-programmatic character. In order to work this out, Bodmer’s work will first be contextualized by examining his motivation for scrutinizing the German language, literature and culture of the Middle Ages as well as the historical images, discourse and thought traditions in which he was embedded. Bodmer’s editions are then examined with regard to their function and their significance in the history of reception.

Dewey's Art as Experience in Global Perspective: An Introduction

Abstract This essay introduces a special issue devoted to studying the global impact and rich, ongoing legacy of John Dewey's aesthetic masterpiece Art as Experience, ninety years after its initial publication in 1934. After noting the role that the Journal of Aesthetic Education played in assessing the book's influence, this introductory essay surveys the international reception of the book by exploring its history of translation and explaining the difficulties of its reception in certain countries. This survey demonstrates that the international reception of Art as Experience was largely retrospective, coming long after the book's initial appearance and apparently benefiting from the rise of neopragmatism and the international attention given to this new pragmatist expression. The translation and reception history of Dewey's book also reveals the economic and political factors that shape the international circulation of ideas. After five essays that focus on the reception of Art as Experience in cultures where it was translated, the special issue concludes with three more essays that discuss how the book's ideas can be applied to contemporary issues in aesthetics and philosophy more generally, while suggesting ways where the book's goals could also be furthered by treating its limitations.

The Merchant Scene in Medieval Conceptions of the Visitatio Sepulchri: Origins and Transmission

This article aims to elucidate the origin of the merchant scene within the Easter drama, which can, by extension, be interpreted as representative of the entire Visitatio Sepulchri. Given that the troper-proser Vic 105 is the oldest attestation of the scene, we have used this manuscript as our starting point. Through a critical edition of the first nine stanzas of the drama, we propose a multidisciplinary working hypothesis that combines tools from reception history and cultural transfers studies with more traditional methods of stemmatics. As part of an ongoing project, we present two types of results: those that are well-supported by strong evidence, and others in the form of plausible hypotheses, awaiting further data to be substantiated.

Psalmsic Prophecies as Evidence that Jesus is the Messiah

This journal article explores the prophecies found in the Book of Psalms, employing a hermeneutical research method to argue that these prophecies serve as substantial evidence for the claim that Jesus is the Messiah. Through a detailed examination of key Psalms traditionally considered messianic, the article highlights the historical, literary, and theological dimensions of these texts, demonstrating their fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Book of Psalms, a central text in the Hebrew Bible, contains numerous passages that have been interpreted as prophetic references to the coming Messiah. This article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of these Psalms, employing hermeneutics to uncover their messianic significance and to present a compelling case for Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of these ancient prophecies. Using the hermeneutical research method, this study examines the Psalms through multiple lenses: historical context, literary analysis, theological exegesis, canonical context, and reception history. This multifaceted approach ensures a thorough understanding of the text and its implications. Through hermeneutical analysis, this article provides substantial evidence that the messianic prophecies in the Psalms find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The convergence of historical, literary, and theological insights underscores the coherence and credibility of the claim that Jesus is the promised Messiah. This study not only enriches our understanding of the Psalms but also strengthens the theological foundation for Christian belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

Fernliebe. Zur Semantik eines trobadoresken Distanzkonzepts im 12. Jahrhundert

Abstract This article explores the semantic alterity of the concept of amor de lonh characteristic of twelfth-century troubadour song. To this end, it explicitly refrains from exploring concretely biographical understanding of the concept in the mid-thirteenth-century amor de lonh of Jaufré Rudel, which has been so influential in terms of reception history, and instead considers the Vida in the context of French narrative literature of the twelfth century. Through a close reading of Jaufré Rudel’s song Lanquan li jorn and the consideration of passages from twelfth-century French texts dealing with amor de lonh, the essay posits a new semantic modelling of its concept: ‘love from afar’ does not arise, the essay contends, from a conceptualization of lack and from the potential of the lyric ‘I’ both desiring and catching sight of the longed-for object, two possibilities that cannot coincide. Rather, the lyric ‘I’ should be considered as the final goal of the love (of God) that reaches out from afar. Through the movens of the amor Dieu, amor de lonh is thus reevaluated with new implications that enable it to permeate and overlap with the concept of fin’amor.

The First Biography of Laurence Sterne: A Correction

Dr John Hill is considered to have produced the first biography of Sterne, printed in a magazine in early 1760. This Note re-examines the provenance of this piece and the role it has played in accounts of Sterne’s early reception. In doing so, it encourages a reassessment of the wider significance of newspapers and magazines in constructing that reception history.

Buddhism as ‘Chinese Philosophy’: Buddhism in Hegel's History of Philosophy1

AbstractThe question of Hegel's views on Buddhism and its place within his system must be asked again as the history of effects, transmission, and reception continues to unfold. This unfolding highlights not only Hegel's effect on the Western European reception and understanding of Buddhism (and its sharp orientalist critique), but also the canny use of Hegel's philosophy by certain members of the so‐called Kyoto School of Japanese neo‐Buddhist philosophy, who, though primarily concerning themselves with Heidegger, were notable in their creative use of Hegel's philosophy of spirit (especially Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe, and Abe). Our present task is likewise to look back to Hegel's own writing on Buddhism through the lens of the history of its effects—that is, to read Hegel again with his legacy in mind—so that we might, as strange as it may perhaps seem, see things more clearly. Our goal is relatively modest, as it aims only to seek out and coordinate Buddhism within Hegel's history of philosophy. Thus, as we have a proximate goal in mind, we also have an order of importance with respect to Hegel's texts, which, of course, brings the Lectures on the History of Philosophy to the fore.

Women leaders lost in translation? A Study in Romans 16:1–16

This paper sets out a study in the text, interpretation, translation, and reception history of key terms and phrases relating to the ministry of particular women in Romans 16:1–16. It aims to show the complexity of translation and interpretation and demonstrate the importance of careful reading of the Greek text. It argues that terms and phrases relating to the women have not always been given their wider sense, thereby diminishing or denying the (leadership) roles of women in the early church. The phrases investigated are: διάκονος (v1) and προστάτις πολλῶν (v. 2) relating to Phoebe; συνεργούς (v. 3) and κοπιάω (vv. 6, 12) relating to Prisca, Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis; Ἰουνιαν (v. 7) and ἐπίσημοι ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις (v. 7) relating to Junia.

O atraso como condição da crítica

In this article, we present Paulo Arantes' new interpretative approach to the manuscripts of The German Ideology: the understanding that the fundamental problem of Dialectic – the mediation between the universal and the particular, or, the settling of accounts between the idea and the effective reality – persists precisely in Marx and Engels’ consideration of the political and economic backwardness of Vormärz Germany and in the way in which post-Hegelian philosophy expresses this backwardness. By emphasizing Stirner’s critique of universals as fundamental to the Marx and Engels’ critique of ideology, Arantes both differs from the history of the classical reception of these manuscripts, which centralizes the authors’ critique of Feuerbach, and anticipates the widespread position in recent bibliography on Marx and Engels, without resorting, however, to philological studies, as has been done in the literature surrounding the MEGA² project since the 1990s. With this, the text that is commonly seen as a departure from philosophy towards the so-called historical materialism can be read as a “determinate negation [to idealism] [...] whose materialism, it can be seen immediately, does not stop at reducing ideas to the literal matter that supports them” (Arantes, 1996, p. 369).

Hansard as Literary Reception: The Uses of Poetry in Australian Political Debate, 1901–1950

ABSTRACT Hansard—Australia’s record of parliamentary debate—might seem an unlikely site for literary analysis. It is, however, a publisher of original poetry and its criticism a forum for the performance and citation of poetry, and a complex archive of literary reception in Australia since Federation. In this paper, we discuss our findings in relation to the uses of poetry in the Australian Hansard from 1901 to 1950, focusing on how the work of two settler Australian poet-parliamentarians, J. K. McDougall and John Cash Neild, is put to use in parliamentary speeches as recorded in Hansard. Together, these examples indicate that poetry is not only deployed for a range of heightened rhetorical effects on the floor of parliament; it is also part of the fabric of routine political debate, put to a range of adversarial and racist purposes, and part of the wider history of literary publication and reception.

Elizabeth Acevedo, Laura Esquivel, and the Politics of Multilingualism

AbstractA number of bloggers, journalists, teachers, and librarians have compared Elizabeth Acevedo’s 2019 young adult novel With the Fire on High with Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para chocolate (1989), recommending that fans of Esquivel’s work pick up Acevedo’s—and vice versa. These suggestions echo Acevedo’s own comments about the narrative, which she has characterized as “parecido a ‘Como agua para chocolate,’ pero en el barrio” (Acevedo & Pichardo, 2019). This article takes this recent reception history as an invitation to think through how With the Fire on High deepens and course-corrects the revolutionary path of Esquivel’s earlier text. More specifically, I interrogate how Acevedo and Esquivel engage with linguistic identities and with multilingualism in particular as source material for political resistance and healing. Acevedo, like Esquivel before her, represents multilingual identities in ways that disrupt and resist the neocolonial violence of the United States. However, whereas Como agua para chocolate’s references to minoritized languages are executed in a manner that threatens to reinscribe traumatizing ethnoracial and class hierarchies passed down via colonial history, multilingualism in Acevedo’s novel works more systemically to intervene in and undermine such established matrices of power. Acevedo participates in a project of linguistic resistance and healing that involves reclaiming a heritage language for a multiply marginalized protagonist and, through that act of reclamation, rejecting the received cultural wisdom propagated by both colonial and neocolonial systems.

The Orangist Appropriation of Erasmus

The attribution of an Erasmian spirit to William of Orange is tenuous but has nevertheless been made consistently since the early twentieth century. This article makes use of reception theory to connect this association to events of the early nineteenth century that happened in response to the French dominance in the Netherlands and their subsequent expulsion. In 1810 and 1813 Rotterdam Orangists and opponents of the French presence appropriated the Erasmus statue in the city for their own cause by adorning it with orange accessories and by attaching short verses to it. The repetitive recollection of these events throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century culminated in the attribution of an Erasmian mind to William of Orange, who was himself associated with Orangism as of the twentieth century. While the initial Orangist actions were local and public endeavours, the association gradually entered the national political and academic sphere in the twentieth century. This transfer is exemplary for the changeability of ‘isms’ such as Orangism and Erasmianism. This article therefore ultimately emphasizes that besides the caution it requires, this changeability provides opportunities for reception histories.

“This Musical Peace is Worse than War:” Cultural History, Musical Banality and Political Context in the Ballet Excelsior

AbstractFrom 1847, the head of the Budapest ballet was Federico Campilli (1820–1889), an individual of Italian origin. He regarded Viennese taste as authoritative in designing the program, thereby building on the international ballet repertoire. This repertoire included romantic pieces from Western Europe, along with Campilli's own choreographies. Campilli concluded his forty-year tenure in Budapest in 1887, and Cesare Smeraldi (1845–1924) assumed his position. The imperial city served as the model for shaping the ballet program, commencing its operations with the staging of Manzotti's spectacular Excelsior, which had premiered in Vienna two years earlier. This sensational performance, focused on the rise of human civilization and the development of technology, involved hundreds of actors and was destined for success throughout Europe. It ran for 29 years in Vienna and nine years in Budapest. In this study, an exploration of the driving forces behind this ballet success story with unconventional themes is undertaken. Various aspects are examined, such as the discourse of dance and the articulation of otherness in local and global spaces. The study delves into what technophile ballet entails, how cultural history, abstract concepts, discoveries, and inventions can be narrated through ballet. The thesis also highlights the debatable aspects of the ballet's music, utilizing music reviews from Budapest and Viennese newspapers. Through these reviews, an attempt is made to map the reception history of the ballet in Vienna and Budapest. The significance of Excelsior in the political power field within Hungarian conditions is also emphasized.

“Good company”: The Interpretative Communities of The Golden Bowl

Abstract: This paper, arising from work towards the Complete Fiction of Henry James edition of The Golden Bowl for Cambridge University Press, starts from a consideration of the novel’s reception history, then proceeds to reflect on the models of interpretation the novel might be taken to imply. It tries to draw out the implications of a stimulating remark by James in a 1904 letter to Alice Stopford Green, with reference to The Ambassadors : “[T]he creation, the projection and evocation by hook or by crook, of some human and personal good company , . . . is as kind a turn as one can render.”