Landscape Symbols Research Articles

A Study on Analyzing Symbolism in Literature by Combining Computer Vision Techniques

Abstract The development of computer technology has greatly promoted the analysis and research of literary works, mainly in the aspects of information collection and data analysis. The analysis model of symbolism in literary works is constructed using the Word2vec algorithm and TextCNN text classification algorithm in this paper. Using computer vision-based OCR text recognition technology, text data is collected from poetic literary works related to a watershed. The dataset is analyzed using the constructed text analysis method to uncover the symbols and symbolic meanings in the sample literary works. Through the analysis of the sample poetic works, two categories of landscape symbols, natural and humanistic, are extracted, and the former is characterized by symbols such as “stream beach”, “shore tide”, “flowers and birds”, “fish and dragons”, etc. Fish and dragons” and other symbols, while the latter is represented by “city buildings” (0.11%), “boats” (0.41%), and “travelers” (0.59%). 0.59%). Five symbolic images are summarized, namely mountain climbing, hearing sounds in temples and monasteries, searching for antiquity in deep forests, boating in rivers and lakes, and fishing songs in idyllic gardens. The research in this paper explores a text-mining method for symbolism in literary works, which is conducive to the development of data-oriented and efficient analysis of literary works.

Symbolic significance and cognitive dimension of the Latvian landscape

As well as physical reality, the landscape is also an emotionally symbolic structure that closely intertwines with human cognitive perception, self-identification, with the perception of the homeland, as well as affects our daily habits. The landscape, as a cultural expression, forms a close connection with historical and political events, with traditions and customs, with each individual and with the nation as a whole, all of this manifests itself in a symbolic sense of the landscape, often used as a national recognition, for marketing purposes, but the symbols of the landscape are also a close connection between each individual and their native place and ancestors. The research analyses various aspects and phenomena that influence the symbolic importance of the landscape and relate to both cognitive aspects of each individual or community, nation, and collective memory and other expressions of identity and self-awareness. The landscape has a holistic nature that explains the close connection of several processes, both physical changes in landscape and changes in perception of each individual, according to the political and social situation of the country. Not least importance has the history of the development of the landscape perception of each country, which has been formed relatively recently in Latvia and art, photograms and the systematic division of the landscape created by researchers also play a big role in it. The regional context and cultural and historical division of Latvia should also be noted in the creation of landscape symbols. Cognitive processes are therefore associated with such concepts – Genius Locci, memory and event landscapes, landscape identity, place names, landscape biographies, etc. As a result, the author's model for the development and operation of the symbolic meaning of the landscape is presented, reflecting the structure and specificity of the symbolic creation of the landscape, as well as related processes that influence the symbolic meaning of the landscape.

Literary Space as a Means of Historical Representation in Contemporary British and Belarusian Fiction

Artistic concepts of space in contemporary fiction remain one of the most important tools for explaining, evaluating, and interpreting a particular historical period. This article focuses on the comparative study of the functions of spatial images in the works of modern Belarusian and British writers: H. Mantel, P. Ackroyd, J. Crace, A. Miller, A. Arkush, L. Rublevskaya, V. Orlov, etc. The aim of the study is to identify various aspects, functions, and characteristics of literary landscapes in historical fiction and determine which of them are universal, and which are unique for authors from different countries. Based on the principles of the comparative method and the method of hermeneutic analysis, the author identifies and interprets universal spatial imagery of a house, ruins, a church, a gate, a bridge, and other significant landscape symbols. Also, she analyses the metaphor of the palimpsest in the diachronic aspect. The significance of literary visions of space in historical fiction is determined by its primary connection with the notions of culture and identity. More particularly, it is the strong historical associations that turn the national landscape into an element of cultural heritage, a repository of collective memory. This feature manifests itself in the motifs of return to the parental home (as a way of the character’s spiritual rebirth); unsuccessful restoration and architectural monstrosity as an expression of the loss of cultural codes of the past; mapping as a revolt against chaos; a revived murderous statue as a repressed, “haunting” history and its destructive influence on modern society. The perception of the physical landscape as a material form of the past determines its axiological potential. As a result, the images of Victorian architecture are used as symbols of lost greatness (P. Ackroyd, S. Waters, A. Byatt), and the images of modern (Soviet in Belarusian texts) buildings reflect the ontological emptiness and failure of the twentieth-century ideologies. The models of literary space in the texts analysed point to the perception of the historical process as a history of regress and degradation.

A Reflection on the Phenomenon of “argot” in linguistic view of landscape of Macao Shop

the landscape of Macao shops is first architectural symbol, which has the significance of design, then landscape symbol, which has geographical significance, and also public regional symbol, which has sociological significance. No matter which kind of symbol, in the final analysis, the essence is the collection of symbolic elements, first manifested as language symbols, then is the political, economic, cultural, educational and other multi-element word-formation, and finally affect its written writing style and communication mechanism is comprehensive and pluralistic. This paper expounds the phenomenon of “argot” in the language landscape of Macao shops from the aspects of folk culture, industry linkage and resource particularity, hoping to arouse more thinking about Macao’s language landscape. It also hopes to provide some strategic thinking for changing the “single economic structure” mentioned in the outline.

Street toponymy and the decolonisation of the urban landscape in post-colonial Nairobi

ABSTRACTKenya attained independence from the British in 1963 and immediately following this, the country embarked on a decolonisation process in the political, social, and economic sectors. As a result of this process, urban landscape symbols began to change. In this paper, we examine how decolonisation occurred through the naming and renaming of streets. Using critical toponymic theory, we analyse the socio-political processes that influenced the inscription of street names as part of the symbolic production of the urban space of Nairobi. Our study suggests that, during the period of British rule (1895–1963), toponymy was used as an exercise of power and ideological dominance over space with the purpose of reflecting British control. Soon after Kenya gained independence, the erasure and re-inscription of street names were used to renounce the colonial regime and its ideology, and redefine the city’s identity with toponymic symbols of nationalism and pan-Africanism. In the process, street names acted as sites for the restitution of justice and arenas for reputational politics, spatial scales of memory, and symbols of ethnic diversity and unity. This research demonstrates the role played by street names as symbols of memory and socio-political ideology, especially during major political transitions.

Debatable Peaks and Contested Valleys: Englishness and the Dolomite Landscape Scenery

ABSTRACTThe toponym “Dolomites” qualifies a mountainous region in the north-east of Italy, located at the cultural and political frontier with Austria. They represent a unique borderland marked by competing ethnic and cultural divides, which are subtly obscured by their inclusion onto the World Heritage List (2009) and by the role they play within a globalized heritage of natural sites. It is the external voice of the first English travelers to the region during the 19th century that UNESCO has identified as central in initiating the promotion of the Dolomites’ status as geologically and aesthetically unique. Travelers to the Dolomites first appropriated the “bizarre” shapes of their mountain forms by attaching them to an utterly English gaze reflecting a particular “way of seeing” a landscape. In their “invention” of the Dolomites, Victorians elevated their peaks to a sublime abstraction of aesthetic “space,” while reducing their valleys to a cultural “place” in which life was enacted picturesquely. In charting this history, this paper asks how, why and to what extent this foreign voice contributed to overshadow the historically contested narratives of this region by transforming it into a “neutral” set of aestheticized English landscape symbols.

The Perception to the Symbolic Meaning in Landscape Designing

It is believe that the experience of landscape for people is the complex content in many ways, which is based on the sight people looks, the body perception and the experienced aesthetic object are regarded as the landscape, yet, what the focus of the landscape perception researches has changed from biology to social culture as the foundation. This paper points out that the landscape is not only a space place, but also can reflect people's ideology, moreover, landscape is even more a kind of meaning experience foe people. Using Saussure 's Signifier and Signified Theory and Pierce's three theory of types to discuss the meaning of the landscape symbol, the landscape is regarded as a symbolic text, referring to the relationship between signifier and signified, emphasizing on the landscape symbols to show the meaning recognized by the audiences by means of the the specific form. On this basis, the meaning representation of the landscape symbol can be divided into three types: image symbol, indexing symbol, symbolic sign, and points out the complexity of the symbol is the highest, which needs the viewer has the relevant cultural background. Finally this paper states the ambiguity and openness of the landscape significance, and the relationship with the context design, aiming to provide references and inspirations for the related designing.

Forging a national identity for France after 1789: the role of landscape symbols

ABSTRACTThe construction of a national identity for France after the Revolution of 1789 was a slow and deliberate but complex process, associated with the control from Paris of flows of ideas, goods, capital and people over the territory of France. Above all, it was a battle for the minds of those living within its boundaries. The State's powerful armoury included landscape iconography, and it used that weapon effectively. Its impact reached into the remotest corners of the country, deep into la France profonde, distant both physically and psychologically from Paris. This article considers the role of some key cultural icons (including the national flag, the Gallic coq, public buildings such as government offices and schools, and war memorials) in contributing to the construction of a new mental map of France for those who lived within its territory.

Chinese Calligraphy and Tourism: From Cultural Heritage to Landscape Symbol and Media of the Tourism Industry

In this article, the authors attempt to explain whether and how Chinese calligraphy – a characteristic cultural symbol – plays and will play an important role in the modern tourism industry in China given its historic context and modern renaissance. Chinese calligraphy as heritage, with its long history, diverse types and forms, broad connotation, maturity in theory, wide distribution, pervasive existence, and close relationship to living culture, is a tourist attraction and also a symbolic element characterizing the cultural landscape as national identity; in fact there exists a substantial calligraphic landscape. Investigations have revealed that there are many diverse calligraphy landscapes perceived. Chinese calligraphy connects a system of cultures and forms a cultural chain. Reviewing recent research on cultural landscapes and heritage as well as calligraphy landscapes, some new ideas on tourism landscapes integrated with this culture of calligraphy are discussed in this paper. Based on characteristics of a culture chain that links calligraphy and the Chinese cultural system, a possible model with calligraphy to promote tourism is presented. The transformation process is as follows: calligraphy heritage→calligraphic context→traditional calligraphy landscape →generalised calligraphic landscape→pervasive calligraphic symbolic system. With this process, calligraphy is transferred from cultural heritage to a holistic medium for the development of the tourism industry.

El Palacio de las Artes. Campus de las artes escénicas

The whole of the Arts Palace and the attached spaces, are located in the south-west of Valencia town, in a place limited by the old bed of Turia river, between the Paseo de las Moreras -that leads to Nazaret -and the Saler highway, as well as in the extensions of the streets Tomas Montanana and Hermanos Maristas , in the east side of Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias , The Arts Palace main building was conceived with a double purpose: lo construct a multiple auditorium and to be implanted in Valencia 's urban area, not only like a dynamic element, but also like a landscape symbol, with monumental character.

Harvesting Willa Cather's Literary Fields

Literary geography examines relationships between landscape and its portrayal in literature. Virtually all scholarly work in field cites humanistic interpretation of perceived landscape: individuals experience, perceive, and then conceptually re-create space (Tuan 1977). Interpretations vary because individuals bring different mind-sets and affinities to same landscape. Writers transform geographical facts into literary symbols through topophilia, bond or sentiment between people and place (Tuan 1974). Human-land relationships are inspiration and impetus for invented landscapes; people best express that which they know and feel. Authors use invented literary settings, where of a story, to represent landscape symbolically. Literary geographers examine an author's conceptual sense of place to enhance understanding and to enrich readers' geographies. Sensitive to gender in spatial issues, feminist geographers agree that women are important subjects for geographical research (Monk 1984; Domosh 1991; Kay 1991) and that feminist geographical practices should be grounded in theory (McDowell 1988, 1989). For literary geography I propose a theoretical foundation called feminist criticism. Currently, there is general agreement that research in literary geography is a humanistic endeavor that uses subjective assessment of creative literature to clarify relationships between individuals and their spatial environment. With abundant text and thought, literary geography is indeed a field ready to harvest with respect to content and methodology. Assuming that literary landscapes are open to interpretation, authors are both cognizant of and influenced by their social milieu in their use of setting to express perceived conditions of society. I proffer this theoretical approach as a beginning of literary-geographical theory and criticism. I then analyze O Pioneers! by novelist Willa Cather in this framework. FEMINIST CRITICISM The purpose of feminist criticism is to produce a reading of gendered space in literary text. It interprets women's experience with environment as expressed in woman-centered fiction. This viewpoint concurrently dislodges traditional masculinist ideologies and celebrates uniqueness of female perspective. Feminist criticism analyzes female author's subjective view of reality. Her portrayal of landscape is truthful in that it represents her feelings and attitudes about a place. When transparent, surface meanings of settings are accepted as author-intended landscape descriptions, different viewpoint can be understood and appreciated. Such a reading of literary setting descriptions elucidates an author's geography, her sense of place. Women use and interpret language in unique and different ways (Tannen 1990). Their metaphors and free associations reflect their sense of connection as they relate ideas, people, and places to themselves (Gilligan 1982). It is important to look for recurring landscape symbols in women's writings to uncover their intended, yet hidden meanings. On walking through a wooded glade and witnessing a wild sow suckling her young in lush greenery, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings referred to her fertile Floridian lakeside hammock as the universe, the cosmic life (Rawlings 1942, 39). To Sarah Orne Jewett (1886), an elusive white heron symbolized freedom in Maine woods. Significantly, she used a girl-child to keep location of heron's nest a secret from a male hunter. Though poor, girl understood and valued freedom above handsome monetary reward hunter would have paid her for information. Here, too, it is important to consider how an author symbolizes women in a landscape and image of women that this produces. These symbols may indicate women's cultural roles. For example, when Meridel Le Sueur (1991) was pregnant, she likened herself to a curling-branched pear tree, heavy with ripening fruit. …

Creating the Landscape Symbol Vocabulary for a Regional Image: The Case of the Kentucky Bluegrass

Abstract A case study of the creation of an image symbol vocabulary for Kentucky is presented. The process of creating a regional image through landscape symbols involves two principal types of actors: patrons and interpreters. Patrons initiate the process by creating or contributing to a prototype landscape in the form of land use, building type, style and design, or manipulation of natural features. The patrons who contributed to Kentucky's preferred landscapes were wealthy gentry from England, Virginia, and Maryland. The interpreters were the architects and landscape designers who selected and filtered elements of the prototype landscape for reproduction and adaptation in new formats, contexts, and locations. Kentucky's regional image symbols are rooted in English gentry landscape tradition with imputs from Virginia and, after the turn af the 19th century, northern and eastern architects. Since aboul 1975, Post Modern architectural themes have found a rich source of images in the Bluegrass landscape, which are being used to further develop the use of symbols to represent not only the region but the entire state.