Literary Revival Research Articles

Finding Shaw Among His Irish and Chinese Contemporaries (The Chinese May Fourth Generation and the Irish Literary Revival: Writers and Fighters)

Finding Shaw Among His Irish and Chinese Contemporaries (<i>The Chinese May Fourth Generation and the Irish Literary Revival: Writers and Fighters</i>)

Maize Landscapes in Indigenous Literatures: Toward Alternative Cartographic Imaginaries

Abstract The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed a literary revival in the Indigenous languages of the region known canonically as “Latin America.” Across this varied corpus, a major theme is the cultural significance of maize. This article compares the depiction of maize in four bilingual poems, each written in a different Indigenous language alongside Spanish: Nahuatl (Ethel Xochitiotzin Pérez), Yucatec Maya (María Dolores Dzul Barboza), Central Quechua (César Vargas Arce), and Southern Quechua (Emilio Corrales). Through close textual analysis and by recourse to theoretical perspectives such as “literary cartography,” the “textual continuum,” “deep mapping,” and “trans-indigeneity,” the article argues that each poem communicates culturally specific ways of understanding geography that, when set in dialogue, challenge hegemonic definitions of the Western Hemisphere such as North, South, or Latin “America.” Rather, the poems in combination weave an interconnected yet multiperspectival cartographic tapestry with maize as the common thread.

GEORGES BERNANOS’ WRITING AS MODERNIST CODE OF FRANCOPHONIC METAMODERNISTIC SENSIBILITY

The article analyzes the presence of an intertext between literary prose and political essay writing by a representative of the French Catholic literary revival of the first half of the 20th century. - Georges Bernanos - within the limits of modern intergenre French literature. The example is the collection of essays by the French-speaking writer Juan Asensio. However, the broader context of the reactualization of modernist writing in the contemprorary literary process is shown. The metamodernist sensibility of the 2000s is considered to be a result of the end of the dominance of the postmodernist discourse, its main theorists are investigated and the reasons for its appearance are shown. The dialogic character of metamodernism with the clue ideas of both modernism and postmodernism is noted, which is a middle way between modernist enthusiasm and postmodernist irony and skepticism, between hope and melancholy, between empathy and apathy, between truth and relativism, between totality and fragmentation, between experience and omniscience. Linguistic etymology and semantic plurality of the concept of “metamodernism” at the epistemological, ontological and historical levels are shown. The basic characteristics of the metamodernist worldview are named, such as: the return of metanarratives, belief in the truth, sincerity, empathy, the return ofhistory, the seriousness of religious experience, the search for the real, the importance of subjective experience. On the basis of these categories, the intertextual connection of the texts of Bernanos and Asensio is revealed according to four categories based on G. Genette’s narratology. It is about architextuality, thus citation at the genre level, narrative and poetic-stylistic closeness, explicit citation and allusions, and Bernanos’ meta-literary criticism provided in a comparative way. It is proved that the writing of Georges Bernanos became not only an intertext, but also a productive pretext of modern French literature, although the radical prophetism of the former was turned into a voice that just found the right to the truth and sincerity.

Some characteristics of patriotic lyric poetry by Safvet-beg Bašagić

One of the most significant figures of Bosniak cultural and literary revival during the period of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia was certainly Safvet-beg Bašagić. With an exceptionally wide range of occupations and diverse activities in the field of culture and social and political activity in general, he enormously contributed to the affirmation of the national and cultural identity of Bosniaks and their inclusion in the European socio-historical and cultural context. In the relatively rich literary opus of Safvet-beg Bašagić, one of the most important places certainly belongs to his patriotic lyric poetry. In the current paper, we will point out the sources of his lyric poetry, some of its poetic characteristics, and the most important traits of the two phases that appear in the development of this type of Bašagić's lyric poetry. Keywords: Austro-Hungarian period, revival literature, cultural revival, patriotic lyric poetry

Helena Molony’s ‘Radical Reconceptualization of History’: Commemorating Revolution on the Stage and in the Streets

In his survey of Irish media over the last two centuries, Christopher Morash explains that, during the Revival years, Irish literature, politics, and public life existed ‘in a frenzy of print’, with hundreds of different nationalist newspapers and periodicals produced during these years – a print culture that ‘was not simply the vehicle for the literary revival; it was a constituent part of it’. R. F. Foster has emphasized that ‘little newspapers and magazines of the nationalist fringe’, more than High Culture, ‘galvanized the imaginations and opinions of young radicals” who would go on to shape Ireland's literary and political future. This essay explores Irish literature and periodical culture of the nationalist fringe through a close examination of Bean na hÉireann (‘Woman of Ireland’, 1908-1911), Ireland's first nationalist periodical expressly written for and by women. Tracking the radical networks cultivated by this one-penny monthly, it focuses on editor Helena Molony (1884-1967), who provided a forum for marginalized thinkers, such as women, trade unionists, and militants nationalists, to ‘have a voice and influence in the matters… of their country’. In noting the tensions present in Molony's radical networks, this essay illuminates the local and national networks of Irish journalism, whether in terms of business practices, models for political separatism, pragmatic organizing principles, or abstract philosophy concerning the imagined communities that were a primary readership for this journal.

‘We are Scottish nationalist and Catholic’: Death’s Bright Shadow and Catholic literary nationalism

ABSTRACT This article contends that although the ‘golden age’ of the English Catholic novel has received (and continues to attract) ample critical attention, there is much still to be gleaned about contemporaneous Scottish Catholic literary works. In presenting George Scott-Moncrieff’s Death’s Bright Shadow (1948) as a case study, the article identifies a distinctively Scottish Catholic and nationalist imagination, which nonetheless owes much to the conventions of the French Catholic Literary Revival, as well as celebrated works by Greene and Waugh. Ultimately, the article suggests that political nationalism is a key feature of work produced by Scottish converts of the early to mid-twentieth century. It proposes that the geographical, cultural and political realities of place which inform the twentieth-century Catholic novel are a notable, if relatively under-explored, part of Scottish Catholic fiction.

Charlemagne as David revisited

It was common practice in literate and learned circles at the late 8th-century Carolingian court to give one another personal nicknames. Although this would suggest a world of intimacy and private confidences, these nicknames are also used in the literary and artistic productions of the time. Most notably, Charlemagne himself is called ‘David’, in remembrance of the Old Testament king. While this phenomenon is treated in broad terms in most studies on Carolingian history and culture, as an expression of idealised kingship, the nature of its application and significance in individual instances in literature addressed to Charlemagne has been less well defined. In this article, therefore, I revisit and nuance the idée reçue of Charlemagne as David, the ideal, divinely chosen ruler, the epitome of scholarly learning and wisdom – in short, the image of the king which was actively promoted on the political stage. I consider, as case studies, uses of the David name in the Latin poetry of Alcuin, Angilbert, Modoin, and Theodulf of Orléans. Through close reading of these texts and consideration of the rhetorical strategies of the poet, performance context and audience, as well as the intellectual milieu of the Carolingian court, it is shown that the selected authors make use of David in a consistent and recurrent pattern, which reflects a vision of the king that is unified and unique to the context of a court circle of poets and their literary pursuits.Contribution: This article aimed to contribute to the field of Latin literary studies through analysis of how the name David, when used for Charlemagne, is treated in poems written at and for the court. This image of the king, which is used in a closed context of the poets in question and their audience, has further implications for the status and goals of the poets at court, as well as the influence which Charlemagne had over the literary revival of the period.

Nurturing a Literary Revival: The ISTAID Center's Endeavors in Harnessing Islamic Thought and Information for Da'wah in Medan City, North Sumatra (1993-2022)

ISTAID Center is an institution active in the fields of da'wah, education, and thought. The ISTAID movement adheres to the principle of literacy based on the Islamic worldview and the ta'dib pattern as its main foundation. This research employs a historical research approach encompassing heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography. The findings of this study reveal that ISTAID focuses on promoting literacy in mosques. Mosques are chosen due to their significant role as centers for social and religious activities and their potential in da'wah and literacy efforts. ISTAID spreads newsletters using accessible language that is easily understood by the community. In conclusion, the current presence of ISTAID Center in fostering literacy among the people of Medan City has proven to be highly effective. Through the consistent efforts of the ISTAID movement, the dissemination of Islam can be improved. This research offers a deeper understanding of the development of Islamic literacy through ISTAID Center, with a specific emphasis on the advancement of literacy civilization within mosques.

A Study of Irish Cultural Identity in J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea

John Millington Synge (1871-1909) is one of the most outstanding Irish playwrights. He is known for his realistic vision and authentic contributions to Irish drama. He was one of the earliest realistic writers to represent Irish society brilliantly in his plays. One of his greatest contributions has been his association with the Irish Literacy Revival. The Irish Literary Revival also called the Irish Literary Renaissance or Celtic Twilight began around 1885 and ended during the early twentieth century. Though the primary aim of this movement was to gain home rule and independence from England, it also resulted in vigorous literary productions. Writers and scholars struggled to create works that were authentically and originally Irish. Here Synge played an active and key role in writing plays in stylized peasant dialect. He was a prominent figure in the Abbey Theatre of Ireland, founded in 1903 by William Butler Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, which opened its doors in 1904. Thus, he contributed immensely to the development of modern Irish drama and left an indelible impression on Irish literature. This paper aims to analyze Synge’s role in the Irish Literary Renaissance and the formation of Irish cultural identity vis-a-vis his play Riders to the Sea. Riders to the Sea (1904) is a one-act tragic play that contains both modern and classical elements of tragedy. This play deals with the sorrows and predicaments of human beings on Aran Island. The paper will further explore the representation of Irish peasant society which is based upon his keen observation of the sufferings, perils, and traditions of Irish people during his staying in Aran Island.

WAR EXPERIENCE AND ITS REFLECTION IN GEORGES BERNANOS’ POLITICAL WRITING AND NOVELS

The article analyzes the reflection of the 20th century’s war experiences both in fictional writing and political pamphlet of Georges Bernanos, a representative of the Catholic Literary Revival movement in French interwar literature. A chronological classification of the entire writer’s heritage connected with the subject of war is offered and divided into three periods. The most representative texts are proposed for each. Further research attention is devoted to the early period, namely the experience of the First World War, in which the author participated as combatant, and the problems of the first novel «Under the Sun of Satan» (1926). The novel, which does not directly talk about the war in its plot, is nevertheless classified as warlike. Metaphysical evil and the deterioration of the human soul are regarded as the main ideological constants through the images of the two protagonists of the novel. Emphasis is made on the animalistic image of evil rooted in the biblical tradition and the creation of the image of saint is, according to Bernanos, the only answer to the triumph of evil, which he saw with his own eyes during the war. The explicit manifestation of the Civil War in Spain 1936-1939, witnessed by the author, reinforced by the eschatology and prophetic nature of the narrative, as well as the use of biblical archetypes to denote the nature of violence, is analyzed on the base of the political pamphlet «The Great Cemeteries under the Moon» (1938). It is this war that becomes a turning point in the biography of Bernanos, who as a right-wing nationalist and Catholic discovers for himself the illogical impossibility of supporting the Franco regime, because of the terror. This very problem of mass violence and the propensity of human nature to evil were analyzed using the theory of mimetic violence by the French anthropologist R. Girard.

Hugh MacDiarmid’s Influence on the Scottish Literary Revival

The interwar period of national revival produced a great variety of literary, critical, social, political and philosophical writings that have commonly been referred to as “The Scottish Renaissance.” The term was first used in its new sense in the first issueof The Scottish Chapbook of August 1922, published by Christopher Murray Grieve,better known by his pen name, Hugh MacDiarmid. In comparison with earlier attempts to renew Scottish culture, the single most distinctive feature of this movement was the belief that “there could be no regeneration of the nation’s artistic culture which did not also involve the regeneration of the social, economic and political life of the nation”(McCulloch xiii).

Герман Фархат (1670–1732), маронитский архиепископ Халебский: жизнь и избранные труды

The article is devoted to a review of the life and literary heritage of Ğirmānūs Farḥāt (1670–1732), the Maronite archbishop of Aleppo, a significant figure in the history of Arabic literature. Living a century before the beginning of the Arab literary revival (the so-called Nahḍa), this scholar, writer and poet made a lot of efforts to make this revival possible. A large number of works on syntax, lexicology, morphology, stylistics, and rhetoric belong to the archbishop. Through his works, he sought to raise the educational background of the Christian population of the Middle East and destroy the idea that a Christian could not be fluent in the sacred language of the Koran. Ğirmānūs Farḥāt became famous for his zealous church service: he was the ideological encourager of the Lebanese monastic order and the archbishop of the one of the most important cities in Ottoman Syria. His dynamic educational and scientific activity resonated with many scientists and writers of that time. The interest in the figure of the archbishop appeared at the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century, and S. al-Šartūnī, J. Manash and I. Yu. Krachkovsky played an integral role in this process. In this paper, an attempt is made to give a comprehensive view of the figure of Ğirmānūs Farḥāt and to determine what caused the interest of scientists in his heritage.

The Business of Publishing in the Early Beirut Nahḍa: Khalīl al-Khūrī, Partnerships, and the Literary Committee

Abstract This article examines the business and economics of publishing in the early Beirut Nahḍa. First, the practice of patronage to bring original works to print shows how money facilitated cultural production in the 1850s. Next, a case study of Khalīl al-Khūrī’s (1836–1907) newspaper and press, Ḥadīqat al-Akhbār (“News Garden”, established 1858) and al-Maṭbaʿa al-Sūriyya (“the Syrian Press”, established 1857), reveals the operational challenges and financial difficulties of being a cultural entrepreneur and printing pioneer. Lastly, a comprehensive study of al-ʿUmda al-Adabiyya li-Ishhār al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya (“the Literary Committee for Publishing Arabic Books”, 1860–67), a partnership for which al-Khūrī was the project runner and printer, illustrates the role of crowdfunding and the importance of cooperation among the Beirut middle class. This article presents a realistic account of being “in the business” of publishing in the Arabic literary revival.

FRENCH CATHOLIC LITERARY REVIVAL: HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND

The article focuses on the background of French Catholic literary revival of the first half of the XXth century. Among the fundamentals of the analysed phenomenon are distinguished three major ones: historical background, theological preconditions and the influence of purely literary predecessors of the XIXth century. The first one is presented through the research of French peculiarities of republican secularisation, its educational reforms and the social-cultural impact of the Dreyfus affair. The ecclesiastical context is described through the challenge of theological modernism and popes’ encyclicals as an attempt to deal with them. Specific French Catholic identity’s division between Gallicanism and Ultramontanism with its influence on the cultural context is also mentioned. Finally, the return of Christian spirituality and the birth of specific apophatic poetics are observed from symbolism of romanticists Chateaubriand and Lamartine through Baudelaire’s aesthetic of sin to decadent poetization of embodied evil and divided human soul of d’Aurervilly and Huysmans. Special emphasis is made on the tradition of political engagement of Catholic writers from J. de Maistre through Ch. Maurras to L. Bloy. Hence, Catholic literary revival is regarded as complex cultural, historical, theological and literary French phenomenon.

Introduction

Introduction

History and Religious Imagination: Bernard Shaw and the Irish Literary Revival—an Overview

ABSTRACT An overview of Bernard Shaw’s involvement in early twentieth-century Irish history, both political and cultural. Pressure building since the death of Parnell in 1891 would lead to Ireland’s independence from Britain and the establishment of the Irish free State in 1922, with Shaw’s Irish friends Horace Plunkett, Augusta Gregory, George Russell (“Æ”), and especially W. B. Yeats all prime movers in major new national cultural institutions that sprang up around the turn of the century. Through these four as well as his Irish wife, Charlotte Shaw, Shaw became involved in both the affairs of the nation as well as in Irish drama, especially Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. Yeats and his work were particularly important for Shaw’s contributions to the Irish literary revival, in which, whether in satirical, comic, or tragic modes, his Irish plays comprehend Irish mythology, history, imagination, and religious salvation.

Marian Literary Culture: Lydgate, his Heirs, and the End of Tragedy

Marian Literary Culture: Lydgate, his Heirs, and the End of Tragedy

‘Ourselves Alone’? Encounters Between the Irish Literary Revival and Australian Settler-Modernisms, ca. 1913–1919

‘Ourselves Alone’? Encounters Between the Irish Literary Revival and Australian Settler-Modernisms, ca. 1913–1919

SCOTTISH LITERARY RENAISSANCE: FROM HUGH MACDIARMID TO TOM LEONARD, EDWIN MORGAN AND JAMES ROBERTSON

The paper deals with the Scottish literary revival that occurred in the 1920s and 1930s. The leading theoretical and artistic figure of this movement was Hugh MacDiarmid, a Scottish poet whose main preoccupation was the role of Scots and Gaelic in shaping modern Scottish identity. Also called the Lallans revival – the term Lallans (Lowlands) having been used by Robert Burns to refer solely to the notion of language, the movement’s main postulates included the strengthened cultural liaisons between Scots and Gaelic (and not Scots and English as was the case until then). In the preface to his influential anthology of Scottish poetry, The Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse (1941), MacDiarmid bluntly stated that the prime aim of Scottish Literary Renaissance was to recharge Scots as a stage in the breakaway from English so that Scottish Gaelic heritage could properly be recaptured and developed. Relying primarily on MacDiarmid’s theoretical insights, it is our purpose to track, explore and describe the Scottish Literary Renaissance’s contemporary echoes. The paper thus focuses on the comparative analysis of Hugh MacDiarmid’s poetry, on the one hand, and the poetry of its contemporary Scottish creative disciples (Tom Leonard, Edwin Morgan and James Robertson). By comparing and contrasting the selected poems of the aforementioned poets, the main goal of the paper is to emphasize the validity, relevance and actuality of MacDiarmid’s movement for the present moment in Scotland.

Circulation in Comparative and World Literature: How the Irish Literary Revival was Received by the Chinese May Fourth Generation

Abstract My article uncovers themes of circulation in comparative literature regarding how the early twentieth-century Chinese May Fourth generation read and translated the literature produced by the Irish Literary Revival, in a reciprocal process. I discern Postcolonial Modernism as the answer the Irish Revivalists discovered to the twin evils of Colonial Modernity and Capitalism Modernity and read this as an alternative modernizing model for the Chinese writers, one that does not automatically assume that the Irish, or the Chinese, are subaltern or “other.” I accessed archives in the databases of the Wan Qing qikan quanwen shujuku (1833–1911) 晚清期刊全文数据库 (Late Qing dynasty periodical full-text database 1833–1911), the Minguo shiqi qikan quanwen shujuku (1911–1949) 民 国时期期刊全文数据库 (Chinese Republican era periodical full-text database 1911–1949) alongside the Quanguo Baokan Suoyin 全国报刊索引 (National Newspaper Index). These Chinese-language journals formed a material link between the Irish Renaissance and the Chinese Enlightenment. I discovered many Irish Revivalist plays, once translated by Chinese intellectuals, took on new meanings, crossed class, gender, and racial boundaries and were performed by Chinese peasants throughout China, during the 1920s and 1930s.