Legendary Figure Research Articles

L'Epistola 70 di Cipriano di Cartagine in versione etiopica

Ethiopic literary tradition numbers hagiographical and magical texts centred on the legendary figure of St. Cyprian the magician, but no Ethiopic version of St. Cyprian’s (bishop of Carthage, † 258 A.D.) works has so far been registered in the current literature. This contribution is devoted to the edition, translation, and philological analysis of the only authentically cyprianic text preserved in Ethiopic: Epistula 70. This «synodal epistle» (254 or 255 A.D.) originates from 3rd century baptismal controversies: Cyprian maintains that it is necessary that all who come from heresy must receive full baptism. Besides the Latin original text, Epistula 70 is preserved in a Greek translation (inserted in Zonara’s and Balsamon’s canonical collections), but no oriental version exists, except for the Ethiopic one. Epistula 70 is preserved in 5 mss. of the Ethiopic Sēnodos: EMML 1843, ff. 58rb–60rb; EMML 2430, ff. 42rc–43rb; BN Zotenberg 121 [Éth. 95], ff. 78va–79va; BAV, Borgiano etiopico 2, ff. 173rb–174vb; Uppsala, University library, O Etiop. 39, ff. 121ra–122rc; the 5 mss. can be classified according to a clear stemma codicum and all of them have been used in the present edition. J.M. Wansleben identified Epistula 70 in 1671, but his discovery has remained neglected till now. Concerning the Vorlage of the Ethiopic translation, there are some clues to a direct dependence on a Greek version, which could be older than that preserved in the byzantine canonical collections.

Flinders Petrie and the Curation of Heads

William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) was a legendary figure in the histories of archaeology and anthropology, recognised for his discipline-building efforts and his contributions to various intellectual paradigms including eugenics and anthropometry. Of lesser renown, however, is the donation of his own head to the collections of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in London. This paper sets that donation in the context of Petrie’s lifelong investment in curating other people’s heads and in building representative museological collections for teaching and research. The authors situate the curation of Petrie’s head in the genealogy of his own scholarship and curatorial practice and, in so doing, initiate a conversation about the power of human remains to generate debate, critical reflection and reconsiderations of both historiography and future museum practice.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Literary Giant: Thirty Years of Joyce Scholarship in China

This paper presents “a portrait of the artist” as a literary giant, based on the thirty years of Joyce scholarship in China, with the focus on translations and criticism of his fiction. Joyce’s works have received a diversity of competing Chinese translations, which, in turn, have influenced his reception and criticism, as well as more general translation theories in China. In the last thirty years, there have been continuous outpourings of monographs, articles, and dissertations on Joyce in China. The progress of these publications not only follows significant national and cultural events from the early 1980s to the present but also reflects the changing trends of ideology, politics, and aesthetics in the country. By reviewing the reception of Joyce in a relatively heterogeneous cultural environment, this essay critically examines the development of Chinese scholars’ academic interest in this legendary literary figure since the 1980s.

Toward an Ethical Polity: Service and the Tragic Community in Timon of Athens

Toward an Ethical Polity: Service and the Tragic Community in <i>Timon of Athens</i>

Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance ed. by Neil Cartlidge (review)

Reviewed by: Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance ed. by Neil Cartlidge Raluca L. Radulescu Neil Cartlidge, ed., Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2012. pp. ix, 247. ISBN: 978–1–84384–304–7. £50 At 247 pages tightly typeset, Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance packs in no less than fourteen essays on types and anti-types in various late medieval narrative texts including—but not restricted to—romance. Organized in two sections (Part I: ‘Individual Characters’ and Part II: ‘Character-Types’), the collection showcases new talent alongside established scholars, with contributions on an array of characters, from the ubiquitous Arthurian villain Mordred to the single-text figure Ralph the Collier, but bringing in little known heroes as well (in René d’Anjou’s Livre du Cuer). Unlike recent volumes on medieval insular romance which purport to either provide an introduction to the field (A Companion to Medieval Popular Romance, eds. Raluca L. Radulescu and Cory James Rushton [Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2009]) or provoke debate around a select group of romances (Pulp Fictions in Late Medieval England, ed. Nicola McDonald [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004], the present collection does not intend, in its editor’s words (Neil Cartlidge), to ‘impose or contrive any fixed or final definition of medieval anti-heroism (or indeed of romance)’ (2). Refreshingly honest, this statement might suggest a deliberate reluctance to engage with the intersections between chronicle writing, saints’ lives, and romance which are in fact explored in two essays contained in this volume: ‘Hengist,’ by Margaret Lamont, and ‘Harold Godwineson,’ by Laura Ashe, respectively. Due to the nature of their central topics, these two essays contribute—albeit not always explicitly—to modern critical debates over the interactions between romance and other genres, and, at least for the present reviewer, the new material and new approaches adopted here are most intriguing and path-breaking in their own right. Overall the selection of characters and types for this collection is varied and intriguing. The well-chosen bookends of the collection are, on the one hand, classical and legendary figures of Turnus (in Penny Eley’s essay) and Alexander the Great (in David Ashurst’s) and, on the other, ‘Ungallant Knights,’ by James Wade, and ‘Sons of Devils,’ by Neil Cartlidge. Thus the analyses of Turnus and Alexander, heroes whose development is explored in a range of Old French and Middle English texts, provide a foundation for the essays by Lamont and Ashe. The other bookend, the two chapters by Wade and Cartlidge, present fresh perspectives on topics usually treated differently: Wade’s is the only chapter to engage deeply with the manuscript contexts in which the selected Middle English romances survive, while Cartlidge’s provides a theologically- and chronologically-informed review of the development of devilish characters in medieval romance. To play devil’s advocate— pun intended—I could argue that there is more to Sir Gowther and Robert le diable than their devilish origins and behaviour, as there are more varied character types than Middle English romance ‘Crusaders’ (the essay by Robert Rouse) and ‘Saracens’ (by Siobhan Bly Calkin), since both latter types form the focus of much recent work on medieval romance. Yet this would be unfair, since all four essays in Part II are, as expected, fine contributions. [End Page 115] Among the other essays in the collection, some of the most accomplished are, unsurprisingly, authored by established scholars (Judith Weiss’ chapter on ‘Mordred’ from Part I stands out in its breadth of coverage in a most economical way), yet contributions from emerging voices are also welcome, in particular given the difficulty of the topics (due to extensive coverage elsewhere): ‘Merlin’ (by Gareth Griffith) and ‘Gawain’ (by Kate McClune). By nature controversial, the characters of Ralph the Collier and Gamelyn provide ‘food for analysis’ in the essays authored by Ad Putter and Nancy Mason Bradbury, respectively. Intriguing is also Stephanie Viereck Gibbs Kamath’s essay on ‘The Anti-Heroic Heart’ in René d’Anjou’s Livre du Cuer. Here the reader discovers a text rarely if ever discussed in traditional surveys of medieval romance, and thus another stimulus for debate. Both the typological approach...

A rebelde do sertão: Maria da Cruz e o motim de 1736

Figura lendária no sertão das Minas Gerais e imortalizada nas páginas de Diogo de Vasconcelos, Maria da Cruz teve seu nome ligado aos conflitos políticos que sacudiram o sertão das Minas no ano de 1736. Este artigo procura analisar a presença de Maria da Cruz na revolta.

EKSPRESI SEMIOTIK TOKOH LEGENDARIS DALAM HIKAYAT RAJE BEIKOR

As one of the products of culture, oral literature has inntimate connection with the life of the communities whereoral literature existed, related to the society in the past, present, and future. The relationship can be seen throughvarious signs and symbols that appear. It’s interesting to study or explore the inter-sign relationship. Therefore,this paper examines how problems of semiotic expression legendary figure which appear in The Tale of RajeBeikor? This study aims to describe the form of the appearance of a legendary figure in the saga Raje Beikor. Byusing a qualitative descriptive method, this research goal is expected to be achieved. Based on the result of dataresearch analysis found some behaviors that imply the expression of semiotic figures depicting the life cycle ofliving things beginning with the birth, childhood to adulthood, until became a king to death. There are manylegends in the Bangka Belitung Islands who need more in-depth assessment both in terms of the semiotic andother fields of study.

The White Male as Narrative Axis in Mayra Santos-Febres’s Nuestra señora de la noche

Mayra Santos-Febres’s 2006 novel, Nuestra señora de la noche, is based on the life of the Puerto Rican madam, Isabel la Negra, a legendary figure in Puerto Rican culture. Using both Mervin Alleyne’s theory of racial discrimination and Aída Hurtado’s theory of racially-based gender discrimination, which shows how the reactions of white and black females are governed by their relation of dependency on or rejection by the white male, this study illustrates how the character Isabel la Negra evolves as a postmodern, feminist character who opposes racism and gender subordination in Puerto Rico through her role as a prostitute. Conversely, the study also illustrates how madness, associated with both white (Cristina Rangel) and black (Montse) females in the novel, is a powerless rather than feminist strategy, into which women descend due to their mistreatment by patriarchal society. The study illustrates how Fernando Fornarís, the white male protagonist, serves as the narrative axis for the development of women’s polarized reactions to patriarchal domination in the novel.

Fakhri (Fahrettin) Paşa and the end of Ottoman rule in Medina (1916-1919)

The siege of Medina (1916-1919) is one of the more significant events in the Near Eastern theatre in World War I. Fakhri Paşa (Fahrettin Türkkan, 1868-1948), the legendary figure of the siege, resisted several demands of the Sharif of Mecca, Husayn ibn ʿAli, and the British to surrender and even ignored orders from Istanbul to hand over the city but was eventually forced to surrender. The events in Medina have not gone unnoticed by historiography, although a full appreciation has still to be given. Eye witness reports by officers of the Ottoman garrison in Medina have constituted the basis for the narrative of the siege of Medina. British documents have added to our knowledge. Other sources used are the partially unpublished papers of Fakhri Paşa and German material.

Sage King Yu 禹 and the Bin GongXU豳公盨

The recent discovery of an unusual ninth century B.C.E. bronze inscription dedicated to Yu as a founder deity has reopened discussions regarding the historicity of legendary figures. This article examines the occult role of this figure in Zhou society and suggests that the inscription be read as a song used in a harvest ceremony of thanksgiving to Yu. The author suggests that Yu once functioned along the same lines as Houji, as both ancestral founder and earth deity, but was eventually suppressed in favor of Houji.

Abstracts of English Language Theses on Morocco 2001–2012

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 38, 2, 2013 © The Maghreb Review 2013 This publication is printed on longlife paper ABSTRACTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE THESES ON MOROCCO 2001-2012 COMPILED AND EDITED BY MOHAMED BEN-MADANI EDITORIAL NOTE We decided to dedicate this issue to the list of abstracts rather than including any other articles, as we think this will be of more value as a reference tool as it stands. PhD, D.Phil and EdD theses abstracts published in this volume are for students and scholars who wish to discover what has been done in the Englishspeaking world in all fields of research on Morocco. The largest number of theses on Morocco were presented in United States universities (135), followed by the United Kingdom (51), Canada (4), and Ireland (1). These abstracts have not been included in any bibliographical work in the past and are arranged in Alphabetical order. We have included some theses which were not included in our Abstracts of English Language Theses on Morocco 1928-2000 that was published in Volume 26, 2-4, 2001. Some theses are comparatively short and were apparently supervised by professors with a minimal knowledge of the area of research. Finally, Volume 26, 2-4, 2001 Abstracts of English Language Theses on Morocco 1928-2000 is still available and can be ordered through our website: www.maghrebreview.com. 100 MOHAMED BEN-MADANI Aadnani, Rachid, Cultural resistance in contemporary Maghrebi fiction: Mohammed Khair-Eddine and Assia Djebar’s intersecting linguistic trajectories, PhD., State University of New York at Binghamton, 2005. This dissertation considers the role of Tamazight (Berber), the language of the original inhabitants of North Africa, especially how it figures into the literary landscape of the Maghreb, particularly Morocco and Algeria. These two countries are the focus since recognition of Tamazight has been a contentious issue in their post-colonial era in spite, or perhaps because, they have large Tamazight-speaking communities. This dissertation also looks at how translation is serving to re-acquaint minority populations with major figures of their culture who have not used Tamazight to write. The modern nation states of the Maghreb have, at best, demonstrated an extreme uneasiness in the manner in which they chose to deal with issues of linguistic and cultural diversity. The first chapter provides a brief historical background to the current linguistic situation in the Maghreb defining some of the terminology used throughout the dissertation. It will also address the “wound” of language and the challenges of writing and choosing a language for that practice. The second chapter focuses on Mohammed Khair-Eddine’s novel Légende et vie d Agoun’chich and the manner in which it centres Tamazight and turns it into an instrument of resistance. The third chapter considers how Assia Djebar’s novel Vaste est la prison reconstructs history and archeology to foreground the legendary figure of Tin Hinan and her secret alphabet within the historical narrative of the Maghreb. This discussion of the ancient alphabet known as Tifinagh leads to an analysis of the linguistic politics of a contemporary North Africa where Tamazight has recently begun to be recognized as a major cultural component. This is the starting point for the fourth chapter, which explores how Tin Hinan’s half legendary/half historical alphabet is being resurrected in the streets, schools and media of the Maghreb. In conclusion we will revisit the role that translation is expected to play, both in constructing the literary cannon of the region and in challenging the existing control over expression in the printed word. The conclusion will also return to the project of translating the Qur√n, relating it to the points underscored in my discussion of Khair-Eddine and Djebar. ENGLISH LANGUAGE THESES ON MOROCCO 2001-2012 101 Ait Si Mhamed, Ali, Cost sharing and access in Moroccan higher education: Perceptions and attitudes of opinion leaders, students and families, PhD., State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007. This research study focuses on the public university education in Morocco after the implementation of financial reform of the stipend grant in 1993 which has no longer guaranteed the stipend to all entrants to higher education as it was the policy prior the reform...

“this is, and is not, Cressid”: Comparing with Chaucer's Criseyde

Male characters’ condemnations of Cressida in Act IV of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida dramatize the problem of the relationship between Shakespeare’s heroine and Chaucer’s. The two women are artistic realization of the same legendary figure. But their personalities are so dissimilar that some scholars deny that Chaucer’s Criseyde had a significant influence on Shakespeare’s Cressida. Owing to the narrator’s adoration and sympathy toward Chaucer’s Criseyde, Criseyde unlike Shakespeare’s Cressida is characterized as a woman of almost mythological feminity. However, Criseyde’s basic qualities are undeniably reflected in Cressida in spite of the superficial differences between them. Shakespeare emphasizes two aspects of Cressida which distinguish her from Chaucer’s Criseyde: her lack of security and her high sexuality. The latter aspect has provided some critics with the ammunition to attack Cressida as a slut. However, considering her situation in a man’s world which may be even more precarious than Criseyde’s, Shakespeare’s Cressida is no more a wanton or a strumpet than Chaucer’s Criseyde. Rather than a two-dimensional figure of anti-feminist tradition, she is the complex product who reacts to the demands and expectations of the society at war which she belongs to. Together with Shakespeare’s emphasis on her precarious situation, his descriptions of Troilus enable a reader to interpret Cressida’s high sexuality not as definite proof of sluttishness but as a way of self-defense. Shakespeare’s Troilus is, not sexually innocent, not reverential toward Cressida, cares little about her honor. Furthermore, in her overall condition of tremendous vulnerability and helplessness in a Greek camp, Cressida’s opportunism can hardly be very surprising or disillusioning. Rather her futile reactions to mans desire and helplessness deserves more pity and sympathy than blame.

The Narrative Models of the Modern Kazakh Historical Novel

This article considers the various narrative models of the modern Kazakh historical novel and discusses the narrative functions of historical and cultural discourse—the representation of important historical events, the presentation of separate events, the reactualization of the intangible cultural heritage of the Kazakh people. The separate aspects of the nomadic history, culture and philosophy reflected in modern Kazakh historical prose are considered. The inclusion of historical and ethnocultural discourse as the main narrative resource and its aiming at disclosure, an artistic interpretation of events, and the reconstruction of the true history of the Kazakh people—these are among the significant trends of the development of modern Kazakh historical prose. The questions of the artistic coding/decoding of ethnocultural codes and concepts, their deep world outlook, and ontological meanings are investigated. The subjectforming images of legendary historic figures of the nation—Tomiris, Kabanbay Batyr, Abylay Khan, Bukhar Zhyrau, and Tole Biy—as well as those of other nations—Cyrus, Krez, Dariy, and Galden Tseren—are discussed. In aggregate, these images and the related events paint a panoramic historical and cultural portrait of an era in an author’s interpretation. The ethnocultural concepts of tamga and tulpar are investigated, and possible ways of modeling the narrative of Kazakh historical prose are discussed.For the Kazakh novelists, historical events are important both as a truthful reflection of important cultural and historical events and persons, but also, more importantly, as a possibility to reveal spectral problems of universal meaning, philosophical problems of the lives of people, without a strict dependence on the real historical time of action of the novel.Today, the large-scale artistic reconstruction of the national history and culture, the process of the judgment and reconsideration of known historical plots, myths, and legends, are in the mainstream of Kazakh prose. The historical and cultural discourse in the novel assumes a great share of the historical reliability and, at the same time, its exclusive artistic value. The narrative strategies of the Kazakh historical novel assume the wide use of previous mythological and folk traditions, generalizations of the world outlook, and the artistic interpretation of both known and unknown historical events and persons.

There is no »Perun in the Caucasus«... But Maybe an Ancient Iranian Thunder Demon&lt;br&gt;Na Kavkaze »Peruna net« ... est' tam, vozmožno, staryj iranskij demon&lt;/br&gt;

Thirty years ago, the Russian historian L. S. Klejn proposed that the legendary Chechen and Ingush character Pira or Pirow was borrowed during the Middle Ages by the local population from the Russian mythology, through a contingent of Eastern Slavs deported there by the caliph Mervan II. Thus, Pira or Pirow would be the old Slavic god Perun. I will propose here an alternative source to this legendary figure, an Iranian source. A hero named Piran indeed appears in the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi’s epic dating from the tenth century. That hero, like Pira or Pirow, is able, through an intermediary, to make rain and lightning. In fact, the name Piran seems to have an etymology close to that of the god Perun.

Computer Ethics as a Field of Applied Ethics

We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live.-Socrates (in Plato's Republic, Book 1:352d)Ethics is serious, and very difficult.... [It] is about human beings ... in the human pursuit of ... a standard of right conduct or virtue.-Lisa H. Newton (1989, pp. 254-55)When Dean Evangelos Hadjimichael and Professor David Schmidt invited me to speak at a national conference at Fairfield University celebrating the distinguished career of Lisa Newton, I felt both honored and intimidated. I was honored to be included among the presenters at a conference devoted to Professor Newton-an esteemed scholar whose groundbreaking work in applied ethics, which is widely recognized and respected both within and outside of the academic community, has inspired and informed my research in two areas: and public health ethics. However, I must admit that I also felt intimidated when I learned that the list of invited conference speakers included some legendary figures in the field of applied ethics. I also worried that because my talk would focus on a topic in ethics-a field that is less mature, less established, and thus possibly less understood than other fields in applied ethics-it was quite possible that key elements in my presentation might be unfamiliar to many in an audience whose interests in applied spanned a wide range of academic disciplines. Despite my concerns, however, I humbly accepted the invitation to speak; the present essay is a revised version of my conference presentation.1. Introduction and OverviewBecause the theme of the conference honoring Professor Newton was on in the disciplines (of applied ethics) today, I tried to tailor my presentation accordingly-by describing the current state of the field of (CE) and also hinting at some likely directions for its future. However, if Shakespeare's point that the past is prologue to the future (Tempest, Act II, Scene 1) is accurate, I thought that at least some mention of important developments in the history of CE would seem warranted. So, I begin my essay (as I did my presentation) with a brief overview of some milestones in the development of CE as a field of applied ethics. This discussion is followed by a brief description of the ongoing debate about the proper scope of CE, as a subfield both in applied and science. Next, I describe, in fairly broadbrush strokes, the debate about whether CE qualifies as a legitimate field in applied ethics, as well as the corollary question of whether any CE issues are unique ethical issues.Before briefly considering some specific examples of recent CE and CErelated controversies, I identify a cluster of issues that CE scholars and practitioners have generally considered to be the standard or mainstream issues comprising the field. I then examine and reject the claim that CE will eventually disappear as a separate field of applied ethics. Finally, I project some likely directions for CE in the near future, and I conclude with a list of theoretical and practical questions that I believe will need to be addressed by CE researchers and practitioners.12. The Development of CE as a Field of Applied EthicsA reasonable case can be made for the claim that CE, as a distinct field in applied ethics, emerged gradually during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some, however, trace the origin of the field to the work of Norbert Wiener, whose insights in his writings in the late 1940s and early 1950s anticipated some contemporary concerns regarding the social and ethical implications of cybernetic related technologies.2 Others, who suggest that Joseph Weizenbaum may have been the first author to be instrumental in shaping the field, point to questions Weizenbaum raised about the potential misuses of technology in his influential book, Computer Power and Human Reason (1976).3 Bynum (2008) notes that Walter Maner claims to have coined the phrase computer ethics in 1978. …

The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature: The Development and Dissemination of the Arthurian Legend in Medieval Latin (review)

SIÂN ECHARD, ed., The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature: The Development and Dissemination of the Arthurian Legend in Medieval Latin. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages 6. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011. Pp. xi, 199. ISBN 978-0-7083-2201-7. $70.00. This volume is the latest in a series under the general editorship of Ad Putter, earlier volumes having dealt with the Arthurs of the Welsh, English, Germans, French, and the North. The proposed multiplicity is a laconic editorial statement that is also realized in the present collection of essays. Volume editor Siân Echard, after a Preface by Putter and her own Introduction, has organized the eight contributions in four sections: 'The Seeds of History and Legend,' 'Geoffrey of Monmouth,' 'Chronicles and Romances,' and 'After the Middle Ages.' Both Putter and Echard contribute essays of their own. In the Introduction Echard stresses that 'Latin is the language of textuality in Geoffrey's [Geoffrey of Monmouth] day' and carried with it a 'self-conscious awareness of matters of style at the level of word, argument and form' (1). The studies of Section One reveal that visions of the king tend to be 'subordinated to the larger ideological schemes of the texts in question' (7). In the opening essay, 'The Chroniclers of Early Britain,' Nick Higham provides a survey of such histories, revealing a progressive engagement with the Arthurian topic, from annals to chronicles and on to polemic. Key texts and authors are the Historia Brittonum, Gildas, Bede, and Annales Cambriae. In them, legendary figures are developed via biblical imagery to a particular rhetorical effect in which the historicity of the figure of Arthur is less fundamental than its adaptability to ideological purpose. Of the texts, 'theirs [the authors'] were Arthurs developed retrospectively for specific and very immediate purposes, with no universal claim on reality centuries earlier' (21). In 'Arthur in Early Saints' Lives,' Andrew Breeze catalogues a large number of passing references and offers capsule summaries of the widely varying stances early modern and modern scholarship has taken to this still largely unexplored material. Breeze contends that the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, to be seen as promoting the political advancement of Gwynedd and Dyfed, 'offer a template against which the Arthurian passages in Latin hagiography can be gauged' (39). With regard to Section Two and Geoffrey of Monmouth, editor Echard recalls the greater trajectory of Geoffrey's work and his 'persistent interest in both human rulers and the larger forces which shape and perhaps circumscribe their rule' (43). Her own full-length essay that follows, 'Geoffrey of Monmouth,' becomes central to the collection as a whole, by virtue of both Geoffrey's disputed eminence and influence, and its own scholarly quality. In a corrective to the modern perspective, she emphasizes that Geoffrey is writing about a long sequence of kings who came before and after the Incarnation. Yet despite the sweep of recreated history, 'Geoffrey is...rather like Merlin. He can see what is going to happen; he can, for a time, make history stand still-but he too is, finally, a spectator, one who can show but not change, what he knows' (59). …

Koxinga’s Conquest of Taiwan in Global History: Reflections on the Occasion of the 350 th Anniversary

Koxinga’s Conquest of Taiwan in Global History: Reflections on the Occasion of the 350th Anniversary Tonio Andrade (bio) Three hundred and fifty years ago, the Chinese warlord Koxinga conquered the Dutch colony of Formosa, bringing Taiwan under Chinese rule for the first time. The anniversary is being celebrated widely throughout East Asia, but the event itself—Koxinga’s difficult conquest—is still misunderstood. Koxinga is a legendary figure, the subject of movies, cartoons, plays, and novels. He is worshipped as a god in Taiwan, so it is inevitable that the public understanding of the event should be mythologized.1 But even some professional historians perpetuate misconceptions, particularly in mainland China, where the Sino-Dutch war is often portrayed as a clash between rapacious imperialists (the Dutch) and heroic nationalists (Koxinga). Historians are beginning to relax the dichotomies that have pervaded twentieth-century historiography—colonizer versus colonized, capitalist versus indigenous, east versus west—but errors persist because an alternate narrative has been slow to emerge. This article suggests one alternative reading, inspired by the exciting historiography of the world history movement, which sees the seventeenth century as an age of unprecedented intercultural communication, when Europeans held no overwhelming advantage over most other Old World peoples. This new historiography does not deny the violence of the period, or the conflicts, fought with powerful new weapons like advanced cannons and handguns, that took so many lives. But it shows how the violence took place within a deep context of intercultural communication. The Europeans who sailed to Asia relied closely on Asians. Scholars have been noting this for decades, talking about an Age of Partnership rather than an Age of Expansion, but what is less well understood [End Page 122] is the extent to which non-Europeans—such as Koxinga and his allies—relied on cooperation with Europeans, even when holding back European incursions.2 In what follows I address some of the most important misconceptions about Koxinga’s conquest that still pervade the historiography of the Sino-Dutch War, particularly the historiography of mainland China. I am less interested in spelling out the metanarrative that informs these misconceptions (it is quite a simple one:Taiwan belonged to China and the Chinese were always itching to overthrow the Dutch and rejoin the motherland) than in using the rich documentation of the war (there are wonderful sources not just in Chinese and Dutch but also in German and Spanish) to correct errors and suggest a new and more accurate narrative: that Koxinga was an embodiment of the fascinating globalizing world of the seventeenth century and that he won the war partly because he was better at listening to people from the other side than were the Dutch. In a way, his style was more global—more modern—than the Dutch. The Conquest Koxinga’s invasion force reached Taiwan at the end of April, 1661: four hundred vessels carrying twenty-five thousand men, the largest Chinese overseas expedition since the Zheng He voyages two centuries before. The Dutch watched “in shock and wonder” as this “thick forest of masts” materialized out of the fog.3 Taiwan was one of their preeminent colonies. It had been established in 1624, originally intended to serve as a base similar to Portuguese Macau, a place to partake of the lucrative business of trading Chinese silk for Japanese silver. But whereas Macau was a tiny island, Taiwan was vast. Whereas the Portuguese were virtually under Chinese jurisdiction (when they misbehaved, Chinese officials could simply shut the gate and cut off food supplies), the Dutch had a relatively free hand. China had no claim to Taiwan in those days. It was “off the map.”4 [End Page 123] One of the chief misconceptions of Koxinga’s conquest stems from the idea that Taiwan was already viewed as part of China during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and that Koxinga was thus righting a historical wrong by “reclaiming” it. In their published work, mainland historians sometimes conflate Taiwan and Penghu, using the term “Tai-Peng” (see glossary for Chinese characters) when discussing the early and mid-seventeenth-century period.5 At that time, although Penghu was certainly viewed by Ming authorities...

Poetic Pasts

The paper sets out to explore the ways in which genealogies, and other literary devices, are used to constitute the identity of Harsavardhana in the Harsacarita authored by Banabhatta. I argue that it is important not only to focus on the avowed subject of the text, but also to examine the ways in which the author represents himself—given that both poet and patron may not have had strong claims to the positions they occupied, this intertwining is possibly significant. Finally, I turn to the ways in which other men (and women) are represented in order to contextualize the depiction of the poet and his patron. I suggest that while viewing the text solely as an instrument of legitimation may seem somewhat reductionist, the ways in which the author deploys a range of aesthetic and other resources (including explicit and implicit parallels and connections with deities and legendary figures) indicate that such texts were integral to complex political and cultural processes.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde—and John Hunter

John Hunter is a legendary figure in the history of medicine. This 18th-century Scotsman who lived and worked in London was an innovative surgeon, a pioneering human and comparative anatomist who, late in life, anticipated Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and a groundbreaking medical educator. (Darwin was a regular visitor to Hunter's museum following his return from the voyage of H. M. S. Beagle.) Hunter challenged Galenic precepts and was an early proponent of direct observation and evidence-based medicine.

New WGO Leadership

New WGO Leadership