Literary Aspects Research Articles

The role of literal meaning in figurative language comprehension: evidence from masked priming ERP.

The role of literal meaning during the construction of meaning that goes beyond pure literal composition was investigated by combining cross-modal masked priming and ERPs. This experimental design was chosen to compare two conflicting theoretical positions on this topic. The indirect access account claims that literal aspects are processed first, and additional meaning components are computed only if no satisfactory interpretation is reached. In contrast, the direct access approach argues that figurative aspects can be accessed immediately. We presented metaphors (These lawyers are hyenas, Experiment 1a and 1b) and producer-for-product metonymies (The boy read Böll, Experiment 2a and 2b) with and without a prime word that was semantically relevant to the literal meaning of the target word (furry and talented, respectively). In the presentation without priming, metaphors revealed a biphasic N400-Late Positivity pattern, while metonymies showed an N400 only. We interpret the findings within a two-phase language architecture where contextual expectations guide initial access (N400) and precede pragmatic adjustment resulting in reconceptualization (Late Positivity). With masked priming, the N400-difference was reduced for metaphors and vanished for metonymies. This speaks against the direct access view that predicts a facilitating effect for the literal condition only and hence would predict the N400-difference to increase. The results are more consistent with indirect access accounts that argue for facilitation effects for both conditions and consequently for consistent or even smaller N400-amplitude differences. This combined masked priming ERP paradigm therefore yields new insights into the role of literal meaning in the online composition of figurative language.

“Merkad-i Fâtih’i Ziyâret”in Gizi ve Üzerindeki Göz İzi

This is an interpretation and analysis work done upon the position and value in the new-literature and thought world of the poem “Merkad-i Fâtih’i Ziyâret” penned by Abdulhak Hamid about the visit to Fâtih Sultan Mehmed, whom is regarded as the first genius of After-Tanzimat Era Turkish Poetry. Since it has been written, this poem serves as a verbal tomb keeper close at hand of Fâtih Sultan Mehmet. This text which granted Hamid a privileged position in the literature history, is a ‘horizon-text’, supplying the reader with the ability to detect and register Fâtih’s vision and contemplation scope with respect to their literary aspects; hence, it is significant and meaningful. The poem’s including the correct and deep remark of Ottoman soul and life, takes it to the pinnacle of poetic understanding. “Merkad-i Fâtih’i Ziyâret” has the signs of other poets eyes, yet this only enhances Hamid’s uniqueness.

Sali Bytyçi, The Poet –Who Looks for The Symbol of Spirit’s Written in Verse

The human imagination of this author sends me far, very far, in the war of Troy, where a simple warrior, Thersites, while speaking about the real intentions of the chiefs, was hit behind his back by Odysseus in his scepter. This way, Thersites in the Iliad is called because he has been rancorous because he has the admiration of the human generations. The same thing happens here. The model of writer is created which is not only read, but it is devoured like none else. The literary aspect, ideologically and emotionally, conducts to me these changes, in times of changes and different expectations which are reflected in poetry, which despite being censored to a certain extent; it still exhibits ideas, emotions and artistic values. The author exploits an obvious number, rare words, with instruments of distinguishing stylistic colorations, of thoughts and feelings, because he uses language with an extraordinary accuracy, for example: in the poem entitled: “When they punish the poet”, we meet the expression of the strengthened role, rhythm and poetic form. Based on the way of the use of linguistic matter, rhythmic building of the verse, kinds of stanzas, I reinforce my opinion that: the poet is a creator of assigned theoretical knowledge for poetry. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n4p339

The Double

This article explores the psychological and literary aspects of the Der Doppelgänger, The Double. A Double is related to the concept of multiple personality. Such mental conditions are classified as instances of dissociation. However, a much earlier history of a Double exists in literature rather than in psychology. In the literary past, a “Double-Personality” embodied the creative imagination of writers. Aspects of this condition have been reported in all cultures. In some societies a “Double-Personality” is thought to manifest great power whereas in others it represents illness. After Freud, writers fostered psychoanalytic speculations about this condition. The dynamic issues of this condition are discussed together with literary examples by world famous authors. Persons manifesting this condition frequently employ symbols, allegory, and other creative devices. While reason, observation, and experiment are the modes of science, appreciating the symbolic behavior associated with this condition is also important. Clinicians and others should carefully attend to how symbolic behavior may be employed by patients to describe symptoms of their condition not easily conveyed with clarity by complete rationality. There is special value in recognizing how persons may utilize this condition to further their fictive goals. Without this understanding, treatment may be less effective and improvement may not occur.

On the Chaos in Chandos: Hofmannsthal on Modernity’s Threshold

On the Chaos in Chandos:Hofmannsthal on Modernity’s Threshold Patrick Greaney (bio) In 1902, Hugo von Hofmannsthal published “A Letter,” in which a certain Lord Chandos writes to Francis Bacon to “excuse himself” for his “complete abandonment of literary activity.”1 It’s difficult to think of another short literary work in German that has received as much attention as this “founding text of literary high modernism.”2 Often, “A Letter” is introduced by literary critics as a straightforward account of falling into a “profound state of speechlessness,” and many commentators repeat Chandos’s presentation of this state, as if this work of literature were nothing more than a description of a character’s breakdown.3 Recent scholarship has avoided the once popular reading of “A Letter” as a “document” of Hofmannsthal’s biographical travails, [End Page 563] but many critics still interpret Chandos’s statements as if they recorded a real crisis.4 They seem to imagine their task as a Chandos diagnosis. “This character, Lord Chandos, has been taken at his word, which has directed attention away from literary knowledge of the text,” Rudolf Helmstetter writes, and readers, he continues, have “remained on the level of the character and his narcissistic self-deceptions and repeated his misjudgments with more or less empathy and emphasis.”5 What would it mean to pay attention to the literary aspect of “A Letter”? What would literary knowledge look like here? To read “A Letter” as a literary work first requires taking Chandos at his word, retracing his presentation of his crisis, but this can only be a preface to another kind of reading, one that no longer respects the integrity of anyone’s word. Chandos writes that he has “completely lost the ability to think or speak coherently [zusammenhängend] about anything at all” (121, 465). He can still do these things, just not coherently; there’s no speechlessness here. His problems begin with an experience of “abstract words…disintegrat[ing] in my mouth like rotten mushrooms;” he feels an “inexplicable uneasiness even pronouncing the words ‘spirit,’ ‘soul,’ or ‘body’” (121, 465). Words are no longer vehicles, but impediments. They are too corporeal to pronounce with confidence even the word “body.” This crisis comes about as he works on a collection, to be titled Nosce te ipsum, of apophthegmata or aphorisms, which would have included quotations from Chandos’s contemporaries as well as from ancient sources, including the “description” (“Beschreibung”) of architectural works (119, 463).6 This plan is made possible, according to Chandos, by his “drunken” vision of “all of existence as one grand unity” (120, 463–64). He feels this when he drinks fresh milk and when he takes in “sweet and foamy nourishment” from books. He insists on his mastery in these situations: some “tousled rustic” brings the milk to Chandos’s hunting lodge, and the books belong to him and are read in his study (120, 464). In his [End Page 564] experience of unity, “I had the intuition that everything was a symbol and every creature a key to another, and I felt I was surely the one who could take hold of each in turn and open as many of the others as would open [eine nach der andern bei der Krone zu packen und mit ihr so viele der andern aufzusperren, als sie aufsperren könnte]” (120, 464). This is how he summarizes his intentions: I wanted to open up [aufschließen] the fables and mythic tales which the ancients have handed down to us and in which painters and sculptors never cease to find mindless pleasure and show how they are the hieroglyphics of a secret, inexhaustible wisdom. (119, 463) Chandos insists here on “opening up” things and himself and gaining access to insides and interiorities. But as he proceeds with his “encyclopedic” project, these putative hieroglyphs take on their own life and become “dizzying whirlpools which spin around and around and lead into the void,” which is also a kind of inside (122, 466). He presents this change as a catastrophe, but his post-crisis situation is not all that different from his original state.7 In this new relation to the...

From Populism to Symbolism: Silver Age Discourse on the Nature of Russian Symbolism

The goals of the Mir iskusstva were to bring about a renaissance of Russian literature and art, and to initiate a dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church. Some members of Mir iskusstva were interested only in the artistic and literary endeavors of the Symbolist movement, while other members wanted to focus on the literary, artistic and religious aspects of the proposed renaissance. Ultimately, this paper will show that the monolithic title of Mir iskusstva or even the term "Silver Age" blankets significant divisions between two major threads of discourse. Sometimes these divisions intermeshed, but they are still distinctive from one another and should be defined and discussed within the larger context of Silver Age culture. Mir iskusstva contributed to Silver Age culture throughout Russia and Western Europe long after the journal shut down publication in 1904. This paper will seek to explain the emergence of the Mir iskusstva as an important forum for the Symbolist artists and writers after the 1898 closure of the journal Severnyj vestnik forced them to establish their own, "truly Symbolist" journal. A comparison between the two distinct lines of artistic pursuit deserves exploration and discussion. Each laid the foundation for what is currently thought of as "Silver Age Culture." This technical term encompasses a very compelling time in Russian culture and history, and its components should be defined and examined in current scholarship.

(Pre)oblikovanje humora u Saut Parku kroz pominjanje književnosti

The paper examines the complex relationship between a lauded American animated sitcom South Park on the one side, and literature, especially satire, on the other side. Upon asserting the bond between literature and popular culture, numerous references presented in the show are pointed out, namely the stance the authors take on literature and the act of reading, the types and subtypes of humor exhibited, and topicality. Finally, using the writing of Mikhail Bakhtin, South Park itself is treated as literature as its type of humor is a continuation of an age-old literary tradition of laughter. The conclusion asserts this as it is revealed that South Park owes much of its popularity to the literary aspect of the humor exhibited in the show.

Literary Aspects in New Media Art Works

In her article "Literary Aspects in New Media Art Works" Narvika Bovcon discusses examples of new media literature in the works of new media artists Jaka Železnikar and Srečo Dragan. While Železnikar is primarily a net artist who authors new media poetry and online linguistic interventions, the literary segments in Dragan's work are based in conceptual art and video art and he uses them to initiate a happening. Bovcon argues that studies of new media literature — of those works which require a readerly perception — should take time and attempt to capture the general flavor of such works which can later offer a foundation for the theory of hybrid new media and literary works of art.

The Recess Does Not Exist: Absorption, Literality, and Feminine Subjectivity in Sophia Lee’s The Recess

The structure of feminine subjectivity in Sophia Lee’s The Recess; Or, A Tale of Other Times (1783) is frequently reduced to a discursive construction or a maternal substance. When critical attention is focused on Lee’s unique handling of visual and textual “absorption”—a concept I borrow from Michael Fried—it is clear that historicist and Gothic logics of subjectivity fall short of describing what the novel actually achieves. I link Lee’s textual innovations to Jacques Lacan’s theories of the gaze and of feminine desire. Just as Lacan emphasized the literal aspect of the signifier, Lee attempts to literalize the historical and subjective dramas with which she engages in the novel. Her literalizations exceed the standard alignment of the feminine with non-meaning or nature (an alignment that supports the assumption of masculine meaningfulness) as Lee’s literality pertains to the letter itself. To be absorbed by the literal: it is this unique scenario that necessitates a rethinking of the basic problematic of sentimental reading practices in the eighteenth century.

A Literary Aspect in Micro Teaching Subject in French Education Department Yogyakarta State University

Micro teaching subject is the training in the formation of teaching competence through actualizing teaching basic competencies. Micro teaching subject is an integral part of the course Practical Field Experience educational programs for students of UNY S1 which are performed on campus peer teaching model. Subject Teaching Materials for Micro Teaching have also been prepared from interesting sources shared that peer teaching job is not boring. Learning resources can be printed and electronic sources, as well as the physical, natural, social, and cultural. Thus, literary works in the form of poetry can be a potential source of learning to explore.

The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English

As Elaine Treharne notes in the Prologue, mediaeval literature covers ‘the longest single period in English … a thousand years of textual production’ (p. 1), so the organization of a Handbook to Medieval Literature in English is a considerable challenge; it is difficult for editors to provide wide coverage without feeling that they are retreading familiar ground. Handbooks and Companions have been a significant growth area in literary studies over recent decades. Oxford Handbooks are intended to contain ‘authoritative and up-to-date surveys of original research in a particular subject area’, giving ‘critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates’. How should comments on a thousand years of literature be divided? Should some chapters be devoted to major authors, the development of individual genres, and the socio-historical-linguistic context? Treharne explains early on that ‘sections are themed, but each of the essays is permeable, boundless in the literary aspects discussed by the contributors’ (p. 1). So, religious and secular drama appear in different sections, as do ‘Emergent Englishness’ and ‘Scottish Writing’, and ‘Reading Communities’ and ‘Performing Communities’, and ‘Reading Communities’ and ‘Literature and the Cultural Elites’. This does not have to matter; Treharne admits that ‘there is room for debate over the validity of the section titles at all, and particularly the unfortunate boundaries that such organization can imply’ (p. 1), and such debate can be very stimulating. But if readers ‘are encouraged to mull over these categories in their search for the full interpretive potential of the medieval texts discussed here’ (p. 1), they will need to have already considerable experience of mediaeval writing and to explore the wealth of information available here as if on a quest. This is not a handbook for beginners.

Approaches to reforming contemporary religious discourse

This article attempts to attenuate the exaggerated polarization in contemporary religious discourse in Egyptian society emanating from two flawed positions: a wrong conception of ‘applying Shari’a‘; and a wrong intention whereby deliberate cultural exclusion is practised to eradicate any religious orientation. The main subject of this article are manifestations of deviation of this discourse from the orientation of the original frame of reference of religion: (1) The call for Islam through scaring and intimidation; (2) the tendency to be tough on people, thus increasing obligatory duties and decreasing what is permissible; (3) inattention to the objectives of Shari’a and focusing on its literal aspect; (4) inattention to priorities; (5) belittling the role of the mind in Islamic conceptualization; (6) immersion in the past; and (7) Muslims’ relationship with others. Nevertheless, rationalizing ‘religious discourse’ and working out a kind of consensus seems to be of utmost importance.

From Tarporley to Dolon: The Reattribution of the Early South Italian “New York Goose Vase”

From Tarporley to Dolon: The Reattribution of the Early South Italian “New York Goose Vase”

Unity and Difference in Andean Songs

Unity and Difference in Andean Songs Charles Maurice Pigott (bio) In this essay I textually analyze a selection of Andean songs that I collected during doctoral fieldwork in the Peruvian Andes, between 2010 and 2011.1 Song is an important oral tradition in the Andes, where verse is normally accompanied by music and dance. Many song-genres (such as those presented here) are only performed during particular festivals, while others (for instance, the waynu) are part of daily life. The diversity of songs makes it difficult to classify “genres” according to Western lines of interpretation, which is why in this essay I have adopted an emic perspective and listed each song according to its place within the wider context of the festival. As John Miles Foley states (2002:36), “when dealing with the genres of oral poetry, expect a cornucopia. … Examine all defining features of each oral poem according to its idiosyncrasies rather than according to a prepackaged set of expectations,” for “care must be exercised to ‘read’ each oral genre on its own terms first.” Accordingly, this essay adopts an ethnopoetic model of analysis, reading “upwards” from the text rather than “downwards” from preconceived notions or categories. Indeed, “we need to make the effort to speak and hear the right language as fluently as we can manage, even if that effort entails a degree of culture shock” (20). Only by entering the “world” of the poetry—and, in the case of this essay, this means deep textual analysis in tandem with knowledge of the wider cultural context—can we reveal the underlying motivations of the texts in question.2 My research involved traveling among various villages in Bolognesi and Pomabamba provinces, Ancash department, Peru, in search of local song traditions. My focus was on the linguistic and literary aspects of the songs, and particularly how they can elucidate the concept of “identity.” The songs presented here are extracts from the verses sung during the Masha festival in the village of Mangas, Bolognesi. I examine their portrayal of two major aspects of identity-creation, namely “unity” and “difference.” Mangas is well-known across Bolognesi for its traditional festivals, which have earned this village the popular designation as el pueblo de brujos (“town of witches,” a designation not necessarily used in a derogatory manner). The principal language of the songs is Ancash Quechua, a member of the Quechua 1 branch of the Quechua language-family, according to Torero’s (1974, 2002) classification. Quechua 1 is spoken in the central Peruvian Andes, whereas the Quechua 2 branch extends from southern Colombia to northern Chile and Argentina, its original range roughly coterminous with the borders of the Incan Empire. Given the far greater diversity of Quechua 1, we know that it is much older than Quechua 2 (Parker 1976:27–28), despite the very common misbelief—even by Quechua 1 speakers—that the Quechua (a Quechua 2 variety) of the former Incan capital, Cuzco, represents an original standard. In common with many Amerindian language-families, Quechua is polysynthetic and agglutinating. A polysynthetic language is one that “allows the formation of extremely long words with many affixes” (Parker 1976:29, my translation). An agglutinating language is one where the affixes “undergo very little fusion or morphophonemic change” (29); in other words, adding new affixes does not change the form of those already there. All Quechua affixes are suffixes, and most of the suffixes can combine spontaneously with any word-root so that words are often formed ad hoc as meaning is fine-tuned by the addition of different suffixes. According to Mazzotti, Quechua can therefore “better express tonalities and affects without depending entirely on an extensive vocabulary” (2003:101). How such suffixes interact in the creation of meaning is thus a central issue for the current essay. An additional linguistic concern arises from the influence of Spanish now being omnipresent across the Andes, to the extent that it can be viewed as a second native language. As a result, the texts analyzed here incorporate aspects of Spanish to greater or lesser degrees.3 The Masha Festival The festival of Masha traditionally takes place every November in Mangas and lasts for two weeks. It centers...

Vi er ikke robotter, hvis man kan sige det på den måde. Digressiv køretur gennem Nikolaj Zeuthens flerstrengede fejlbarlighedskunst

Jakob Schweppenhäuser fører dette spørgsmål om stemme og lyd videre, når han i “Vi er ikke robotter, hvis man kan sige det på den måde” sætter fokus på sangteksten og dermed forholdet mellem lyrik og musik. Med udgangspunkt i Nikolaj Zeuthen og orkestret Skammens Vogn eksemplificerer Schweppenhäuser, hvordanman kan nærme sig dette felt, ligesom han mere specifikt diskuterer, hvordan spørgsmålet om fejlbarlighed er centralt i Zeuthens virke.Jakob Schweppenhäuser: “We Are Not Robots, so to Speak. Digressive Drive Through the Multipronged Fallible Art of Nikolaj Zeuthen”As a singer, songwriter, comic artist, lyricist, novelist and playwright, Nikolaj Zeuthen has developed a characteristic artistic expression, which formally as well as thematically evokes a fundamental impression of fallibility: He sings out of tune,his comics are slipshod and the human beings who populate his universe struggle with everything from unemployment and receiving disappointing presents to deep and existential doubts and fears. The interrelations in relationships, between family members and between people in general are saturated with awkward, embarrassing, shameful feelings. As the genre of lyrics – in a literary aspect – is strongly underexposed, the article is centered around Zeuthen’s work within the frame of his band, Skammens Vogn: the interplay between words, voice and tones.

Exploiting Short Stories in the EFL Classroom

The purpose of this article is to focus on the effectiveness of using short stories in language instruction. Some instructors may think that teaching EFL is just to focus on linguistic benefits only and eventually their learners will communicate in the target language. On the other hand, instructors who have tried to accumulate literature in the curricula have observed that literary texts add a new dimension to the teaching of EFL. Short stories, for example, come to a great help for learners to learn the four skills-reading, writing, speaking and listening. In addition, with short stories, instructors can motivate learners to learn some literary aspects, cultural awareness and can make them think critically. However, before introducing the short stories instructors should realize the benefits of using this material and design their lessons that can meet the needs of their learners. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sje.v4i0.13493 Stamford Journal of English Vol.4 2008 pp.124-141

Maintenance of Kaqchikel ritual speech in the confraternities of San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

Syncretism has been a profound influence on Guatemalan society of which it has been a part since early Spanish colonization in the 16th Century. Both the incorporation and application of Spanish borrowings, as well as notions of Catholic doctrine in ritual Kaqchikel speech can be seen as a permanent process of religious, cultural, economic and social contact. The spiritual concepts of Kaqchikel traditionalist believers and their representative confraternities in San Juan Sacatepequez have been transmitted and preserved during these five centuries through their prayers. The prayers are characterized by a high rhetorical style of formal language, a wide variety of invocations to the Christian God and Catholic saints and use of Spanish borrowings, none of which have apparently eclipsed this indigenous oral traditional genre. Certain literary figures typical of Mesoamerican ritual speech, such as parallelism, diphrasism and other types of repetitions, continue to appear in the prayers. In the present study, we analyze this ritual speech form from its literary and linguistic aspects, as well as the “inner view” of the confraternity members of San Juan Sacatepequez. We focus on syncretism in the prayers to better understand how the confraternities have conserved their indigenous spirituality despite pressure from the Catholic Church.

Origenes rediuiuus : la découverte des Homélies sur les Psaumes dans le Cod. Gr. 314 de Munich

After a short presentation of the circumstances of the discovery in April 2012 of Codex Monacensis Graecus 314 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich) by Marina Molin Pradel, this article examines the external and internal criteria supporting the attribution to Origen of the 29 anonymous homilies on the Psalms. External evidence is provided first of all by Jerome’s Letter 33, whose list largely corresponds to Cod. Gr. 314 (especially with regard to the long series of nine sermons on Psalm 77). Then we have the first four Latin homilies on Psalm 36 translated by Rufinus and also an important fragment taken from the second homily on Psalm 15 and preserved in his translation of the Apology of Origen by Pamphilus and Eusebius of Caesarea. Moreover we dispose of several excerpts in the catenae on the Psalms. Also inner criteria come to support the attribution to Origen: 1) the stylistic and literary aspects; 2) the historical and doctrinal background; 3) the personality of the preacher. These homilies offer precious light not only for the study of Origen’s preaching activity, but also for a better analysis of his important interpretation of the Psalms and the evolution of his thought.

Moi, j’attends de voir passer un pingouin by Geneviève Brisac

carry within themselves. Yet the novel’s protagonists lack depth, becoming onedimensional due to their fixations. Laura’s crisis does not elicit much sympathy, since the secondary characters are struggling with their own problems. The world of Besson’s novel is on edge, populated by humans who have become vessels of despair due to the emptiness of contemporary society: “tout le monde avait une histoire, et [...] ceux dont l’histoire était la plus intéressante étaient ceux à propos de qui on ne détectait rien à l’œil nu” (170). The strength of the novel is not Besson’s descriptions of his characters. It is his analysis of a society in which people have forgotten how to reach out beyond themselves. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Nathalie G. Cornelius BRISAC, GENEVIÈVE. Moi, j’attends de voir passer un pingouin. Paris: Alma, 2012. ISBN 978-2-36279-028-7. Pp. 133. 13,80 a. A glance at this novel’s cover suggests a bunch of cute nounours parading down the street. However, closer examination reveals very unhappy bears marching in a demonstration and holding up signs whose content is not revealed. A similar experience greets readers as they enter into the story. What initially appears to be an anodyne tale of mother and son with differing opinions about having animals in the house quickly slides into a prolonged meditation on cruelty, specifically human beings’ cruelty to animals and ultimately to one another. The narrator and her son, Nelson, are at odds over animals. While he wants a pet of any sort, his mother will only settle for a penguin, presumably because getting one is extremely unlikely, and in any case all she wants to do is watch it walk by. Since Nelson is the junior member in the discussion, he tries to make his case by showing up at home with the animal he wishes to keep. This usually tips the argument in his favor. All this is banal enough and vaguely amusing, but the story slowly darkens. A rabbit has a paw chopped off, a white laboratory rat is forced out the house, a blind cat is left in the Arène de Lutèce where inevitably it is crushed to death by boys playing soccer, and the narrator confides that when she was a little girl she forced a hamster to do what hamsters are not expected to do. The demise or abandonment of animals also has a literary aspect. References are made to the deaths (often peaceful) of Albert Camus’s dog, Taïut, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett’s canine, Flush, and Rosa Luxembourg’s feline, Mimi. Clearly the treatment of animals in this novel has a metaphoric dimension, but one only understood in relation to the way humans treat humans. Céleste is the concierge. Plain-spoken and equipped with common sense, one would think she is a reliable presence in the novel, but the fact that her last name is Schikelgruber , Hitler’s family name, lessens one’s confidence. References to Rosa Luxembourg ’s life invariably recalls her death, murdered by proto-Nazi thugs just after World War I. And the narrator’s memory of her two adolescent friends, one the child of a Le Monde editor, and the other, a scion of Gaston Gallimard, two jeunes filles bien rangées, seems quite rosy until she tells us they attempted to abandon her on an island. A dog saved her. What appears to join together the anecdotes about people and animals is the notion of vulnerability, “cette force [...] qui pousse vers la révolution, vers les gens et vers les bêtes” (74). The narrator suggests that vulnerability is at the basis of our tenderness and our violence, that human beings use these two powerful drives at once to give expression to and to Reviews 987 escape from the burden of self-consciousness, either through love or hate, and that we tend to act out these drives in our relations with animals. The narrator offers two suggestions concerning how to control these dual forces. For the artist, it is the discipline of distance and creation; Gauguin is the example of choice. For the less gifted, it...

Some Literary Aspects of the Kamose Inscriptions

This paper discusses some features of the Kamose military narrative which relate to earlier Second Intermediate Period Theban royal texts, and to the Middle Egyptian literary corpus. It is suggested that the Kamose inscriptions mobilise various established Königsnovelle topoi, but also incorporate literary themes in some ways which do not seem to have been generally followed in royal inscriptions of the following Eighteenth Dynasty.