Literary Tropes Research Articles

Ecclesiastical Content of Byzantine Theatre (Antiphon, Trop)

This article precedes a number of publications devoted to the study of cultural and historical interaction of such different, fundamentally not coinciding, not reducible to each other, but not separate from each other phenomena of social life as art and religion, in particular, the church and theatre. This paper uses the material of Byzantine theatre to examine the validity of the hypothesis of the origin of European drama and theatre from liturgical drama through the church antiphon and literary trope. The tendentious categoricity of the erroneous statement, accepted in science as a heuristic hypothesis, about the influence of residual-rudimentary forms of ancient theatre on the formation of the Christian church rite (antiphonal singing) is considered. It is shown that the Christian antiphon cannot be connected with the ancient theatre because of the centuries-old absence of the chorus in the dramatic action. It is argued that church ritual develops from an “inner form” proceeding from the immanent properties and qualities of the divine liturgy. Since this formulation of the question is carried out for the first time, it represents the relevance and scientific novelty of the present study.The version of the origin of Western European theatre from the literary trope, proceeding from the laws of drama as a literary genre, is established by philological tradition without taking into account the specifics of the dramatic event proper. The conclusion is made that the genesis of theatre does not come from the laws of literary processes, but is connected with them through internal interactions. Historically, Byzantine theatre, an integral and autonomous phenomenon of theatrical culture, ceased to exist in the middle of the 15th century, having failed to realize its dynamic potential of dramatic art. Nevertheless, the relevance of the prospective study confirms the facts of the Byzantine theatre’s indirect influence on the substantive aspects, as well as its direct impact on the formation of a new type of dramatic conflict — “internal”, in the development of Western European and, to a greater extent, Russian theatre.

The transmedial triangulation of Dracula: how cinema turned the Gothic bloodsucker into a Gothicized serial killer

G. M. Amza and Al. Bilciurescu’s Vampirul (The Vampire), the first vampire novel in Romania, was published in 1938, a decade after the release of the first translation of Dracula into Romanian. Instead of emulating Stoker’s bloodthirsty undead aristocrat, the two authors envision a priest who exploits the community’s magical thinking, masquerading as a vampire-serial killer and haunting the increasingly industrialized community in the hopes of discouraging capitalistic ventures. Although evoking East-Central European representations of heretic vampire priests, there is textual and circumstantial evidence suggesting that the villain in Vampirul was (in)directly inspired by movies which revolutionized the Gothic trope of the vampire via exposure to real-life crime cases such as that of the Vampire of Düsseldorf. Through a close reading analysis, the article revisits Franco Moretti’s theory of the (semi)peripheries importing “foreign plots” through “local characters” and expands Andrei Terian’s concept of “cultural triangulation” to include cinema, which offers fresh insights into the evolution of literary tropes. As for the influence of this medium on the vampire myth, the article shows that the first vampire narrative in Romanian literature is the product of transmedial triangulation, a process whereby the narratives of 1930s horror cinema influenced the literary reception of the “foreign plot” in Dracula, which was, in turn, reinterpreted through a serial killer vampire priest, a “local character” who embodies the period’s concerns about a lingering feudal order that threatens to hinder the development of the then fledgling Romanian society.

Gods and people in literature and philosophy. God by the picture of human or human by the picture of god? Homeric vision of reality versus Heraclitus’ vision of reality

The article deals with the theological issues of Homer and Heraclitus. The analysis of the works of Homer and the philosophical thought of Heraclitus serves to compare and contrast them extracting significant differences regarding the image of god and man. The author develops both literary and philosophical understanding of gods. She compares the man-god relationship in early Greek literature and philosophy. There is an interesting intrinsic tension in the literary tropes that can only be understood if the religious function of this literature is taken into account. The author tries to describe the vision of the world and the place of human beings in it in both sources: literature and philosophy. In philosophical writings, there can be seen a movement in the vision of the world structure: the gods become more inaccessible to humans, but humans gain the opportunity to become godlier if they follow a proper set of thoughts and actions proposed by philosophy. Religious poets were speaking of the past when the gods were approachable to people. Their fantasies were often mixed with old beliefs so that the divine-human world has as much wonder and eccentricity as dread. Philosophy conquers not only minds but also hearts, to convey them towards the ideal, bearing in mind the unattainable model of a virtuous man. While religion describes gods similar to humans, philosophy forges a new god-resemblant human figure.

Swift's Subversive Satire: Unveiling Society's Foibles in Gulliver's Travels

This study aimed to investigate the effects of a specific intervention on a particular outcome. Its primary objective is to examine a given intervention's impacts on a well-defined group. The analysis explores the employment of Satire by Jonathan Swift in his renowned literary masterpiece, Gulliver's Travels. Satire is an academic technique, authors employ to expose and criticize the illogical and immoral aspects of an individual or a society, employing comic elements, irony, exaggeration, or scorn. Gulliver's Travels effectively utilizes a range of literary tropes, such as Satire, skillfully conveyed through narration, setting, character development, and plot advancement. Jonathan Swift used many academic strategies in his satirical novel to create a backdrop combining utopia and dystopia elements. Additionally, he exploits certain character archetypes, such as a miser and tyrant figure, a moral touchstone, and a repulsive character, to effectively portray the desired character as typical. The deliberate employment of a first-person narrator is evident in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver's Travels is a notable piece of literature wherein Jonathan Swift skillfully uses the method of Satire to aptly criticize the prevailing concerns of corruption, vices, and societal follies. However, Swift's scholarly endeavors encompass analyzing diverse aspects of society to employ Satire to critique the political system and sociological framework. The author's work aims to clarify the adverse outcomes that arise from uncontrolled greed and despair, ultimately leading to the deterioration and demise of society.

Female (Mis)representation in Moroccan Male-Authored Postcolonial Literature: The Madwoman Trope in Mohamed Mrabet’s The Big Mirror

ABSTRACT Through a feminist postcolonial theoretical lens, this article puts forth a new reading of Mohamed Mrabet’s novella The Big Mirror. Written by a male Moroccan writer in 1977, a short while after Morocco’s emergence from colonial rule, The Big Mirror has yet to be read and scrutinized from a gender-critical perspective. Given that post-independence is a period so critical for the development of gender relations in Morocco, literary works featuring female characters as central figures to the plot and the themes present an opportunity to extract knowledge about female representation and agency in that particular context. This article argues that The Big Mirror, like many other narrative texts written in this period, fails to represent the female character in an unideological and gender-neutral way. Through the use of the Spivakian theory of the subaltern and the impossibility of her representation, this article argues that by claiming to speak for the female character, this narrative effectively silences her and effaces her agency. As a result, the female character becomes strongly inscribed in a masculinist discourse that capitalizes on the literary trope of the madwoman as a means to further occlude female agency rather than promoting it.

Jewish Environmentalism in the United States: Achievements, Characteristics, and Challenges

Abstract Concern for the environment is recognizably present in contemporary Judaism, especially in the United States. Along with practitioners of other world religions, Jews have responded to the eco-crisis by reinterpreting canonic texts, articulating eco-theologies, and reenvisioning traditional Jewish rituals. Today there are Jewish environmental organizations and Jewish thinkers who inspire Jews to appreciate the agricultural roots of Judaism, cultivate an environmentally concerned lifestyle, green the practices of Jewish institutions, and advocate the ethics of creation care. Together these activities constitute a Jewish environmental sensibility that allows us to generalize about “Jewish environmentalism,” although it falls short of constituting a cohesive “environmental movement.” Focusing exclusively on Jewish environmentalism in the U.S., this essay features the academic discourse on Judaism and ecology, the official resolutions of Jewish denominations about environmental matters, and the main activities of Jewish environmental organizations. Judaism is a highly variegated religious tradition that speaks in many voices. Nonetheless, there are shared canonic texts, foundational beliefs, ethical values, and literary tropes that characterize a distinctive Judaic perspective. From that vantage point, development of the physical world is religiously permissible, but it must cohere with the ethical values and legal principles of Judaism. It is not surprising, therefore, that socially progressive Jewish environmentalists have been vocal critics of the extraction industries, transnational capitalism, and wasteful consumerism that have greatly contributed to the eco-crisis. Highlighting the biblical commandment to pursue justice (tzedek), some Jewish environmentalists have applied social justice to ecological matters and promoted the ideal of tikkun olam (“repair of the world”). The essay surveys the achievements of Jewish environmentalism and notes persistent challenges.

Soldier Sojourners and Cityscapes: Anzac Impressions of the Port Cities of Durban, Cape Town, and Freetown During the First World War and the Significance of the Built Environment

Between 1916 and 1919, thousands of Anzac troops visited the port cities of Durban, Cape Town and, to a lesser extent, Freetown on their way to Europe during the First World War. Their impressions were recorded in diaries or letters back home, and published in local papers. Identity formation, race, and the colonial encounter have thus far taken centre stage for understanding Anzac experiences as ‘soldier tourists.’ This paper argues that ideas about ‘modernity,’ progress,’ and the built environment were equally part of the colonial encounter for these soldier sojourners as they visited these African ports cities. With details on urban sanitation, housing, architecture, infrastructure, transport and population, Anzac assessments of these urban spaces were informed not only by travel writing conventions and literary tropes of Africa, but by city guide books and hegemonic trans-empire discourses about the ‘ideal’ modern city.’ The latter however, was not independent of ideas of race, but rather interacted with, and was often shaped by, a sense of white, Anglophone, superiority.

Мовні засоби створення портрета в художньому мовленні Кетрін Беннер (на матеріалі роману «Дім на краю ночі»)

In the article, the linguistic means of creating a portrait in artistic discourse by Catherine Banner are revealed. The research material is based on the novel «The House at the Edge of Night». The article analyses contemporary scholarly investigations that outline key verbalization tools for character portrait descriptions. Emphasis is placed on the fact that various linguistic levels contribute to the creation of a character’s portrait. The functional potential of emotionally evaluative lexicon, phraseology, literary tropes (metaphors, epithets, comparisons), and expressive syntactic devices (sentence partitioning, interrogative constructions, nominative sentences) is highlighted. Our research material was selected using the method of continuous sampling. The disclosure of linguistic means for creating a portrait in Catherine Banner’s artistic discourse is carried out through a descriptive method. Furthermore, the article underscores the crucial role of describing a character’s appearance in forming a portrait. In particular, in Catherine Banner’s works, a clear correlation between the depiction of characters’ appearance and their inner worlds is evident. To reveal the interconnection between these portrait components, the author uses various expressive tools, including epithets, metaphors, comparisons, antitheses, hyperboles, and gradations. Using these means, the writer not only achieves a certain level of expressiveness in the literary text but also creates vivid and convincing character images. Prospects for further research include studying the linguistic means for portrait creation to uncover the writer’s idiolect.

“Proces cum figuris”: reflection of the philosophical and aesthetic concepts of D. Hodová’s works

The article discusses the main philosophical and aesthetic concepts of the Daniela Hodrová’s theoretical works (primarily the Román zasvěcení), as well as the specifics of their reflection in the author’s artistic work. In the first part of the work, based on the analysis of the final chapter of the “Dedication novel” – Proces cum figuris – the main aspects that D. Hodrová focuses on are outlined: style, system of characters (characters-archetypes), symbolic structure (symbols with archetypal semantics). In the second part of the work, these aspects are considered in the context of the author’s literary works, both from the 1990s. (the novel trilogy Trýznivé město), and later ones (Točité věty (2015), Vyvolávání (2010), Ta blízkost (2019)). Both the theoretical and literary texts of D. Hodrová are distinguished by a heterogeneous structure, a complex system of symbols and allusions, going back to the theory of the genesis of the novel and individual literary tropes. An analysis of the specifics of the presentation of material in both areas of the author’s work is important for understanding not only the originality of D. Hodrová’s work, but also the characteristic features of the postmodernist narrative in Czech literature.

Where Are the Horses?

Mario Ortiz Robles argues that non-human animals are reduced to tropes in literature, lacking a material referent (2016: 21) and thus facilitating their systematic exploitation (Adams 2010: 69). One type of literature in which the other-than-human has traditionally been present but marginalised is Arthurian romance. During the Arthurian revival (1980s-1990s), we find Anne McCaffrey’s Black Horses for the King (1998), a text that attempts to rewrite this myth and pay homage to the equines of the genre. My aim, therefore, is to discern whether McCaffrey’s focus on horses suffices to resist their exploitation as symbols within the anthropocentric and often dualistic Arthurian tradition. Additionally, I scrutinise whether the human/non-human dualism also reinforces, and is reinforced by, the Christian/Pagan difference.

Shark Tales: Hawaiian Epistemologies and Indigenous Resistance in Kiana Davenport’s Shark Dialogues and Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors

ABSTRACT The literary trope of the shark has been exploited as a symbol of monstrosity in classic Western literature, from the great sea novels by Herman Melville, Jules Verne, and Ernest Hemingway to Peter Benchley’s iconic Jaws. However, the demonisation of sharks in Western literature stands in sharp contrast to the cultural reverence and nuanced literary trope of the shark in Hawaiian narrative traditions such as moʻolelo (myths and legends) and ‘ōlelo no‘eau (proverbs and poetical sayings). This paper examines the reciprocal associations between sharks and humans in Hawaiian culture in two novels set in contemporary Hawai‘i, Kiana Davenport’s Shark Dialogues (1994) and Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors (2020). These novels resist Western cultural hegemony by portraying sharks according to indigenous Hawaiian epistemologies and narrative traditions as ʻaumākua (ancestral guardians) and symbols of deep, oceanic genealogies. The analysis of the shark trope in Washburn’s and Davenport’s novels draws on the ethnographic studies by Martha Beckwith, Mary Kawena Pukui and Noelani Puniwai; traditional folktales and legends; as well as Oceanic cultural critics Epeli Hau‘ofa and Albert Wendt. Considering the alarming 70% decline in sharks since the 1970s and the ensuing collapse of oceanic ecosystems, it is time to rethink the portrayal of sharks as monsters in Western literature and popular culture.

Border Tropes in Eugene McCabe's 'Fermanagh Trilogy'

This essay analyses Eugene McCabe’s short stories, ‘Cancer’, ‘Heritage’ and ‘Siege’ – known commonly as the ‘Fermanagh trilogy’ – focusing on them as border fictions. Written in the 1970s, the author argues that the stories share a material, cultural ‘borderliness’, a condition which is structured into McCabe’s writing about this part of Monahan-Fermanagh and the region along the border more widely. ‘Borderliness’ manifests itself as four thematic tropes that interconnect and complement each other. These tropes recur within and across the stories, expressing character and emotional states, defining dramatic conflicts, and shaping narrative structure. The origins of these literary tropes are indicated, selected examples are worked through and McCabe’s prose style is analysed. The essay situates the ‘Fermanagh trilogy’ within a lineage of cultural production from and about the border, and the interpretative frameworks that have arisen to understand the border’s socio-political significance.

Horse Language and Improvised Memorials: Gong Kai's Equine Paintings and Song Loyalism

The loyalist painter Gong Kai (1222–1307) utilized the historical literary trope of the ji 驥 horse, the fine steed capable of covering one thousand li in a day, as an essential part of his artistic rhetoric in response to the violent Song-Yuan dynastic turn. Drawing literary forebears of Gong's equine art into the field of investigation reveals the mechanics of his utilization of the equine trope and his stance within the broad spectrum of Song loyalism. Standing against passive sympathizers of the loyalist cause, Gong embraced the poetics of Daoxue (Learning of the Way) to uphold moral rigor and masculine heroics, couched metaphorically in the suffering ji horse, which was at once physiognomically ideal and metaphysically meaningful. The polysemy and ambiguity of Gong's art invited his colleagues to interiorize equine imagery, thus helping reconstitute an ideal moral image of themselves. Gong's equine art brought forth interactive responses from its viewers and thus served as an improvised memorial to Song loyalists, both living and deceased.

Demystifying Race and Class as Special Needs in Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child

The present research article examines the experiences of characters in God Help the Child (2015) within the framework of issues that require mainstreaming such as racism, ethnicity and class and how they amount to special needs. This special need gets its place in literature because the subject matter and themes of literature often derive their appeal from the twist that results when literary representations undermine, contradict, equal, or surpass the real, or at least our sense of it, the reason why mimesis is often achieved in literature through a figurative portrayal of reality. Literary tropes in other words, help to amplify literary themes within the framework of assumptions that appeal to our definition of reality. Thus, the concept of special needs like any other figurative connotations, serves to expatiate and interrogate issues of racial and class portrayal in the text. Elaborating the concept and idea of special needs/disability to include identity formation rather than the physical or mental characteristics, establishes a case for the “othering” of minority identities who suffer discrimination on the basis of their identities be it racial or class difference.

The Power of Chaos

The Power of Chaos

Analisis Kesulitan yang Dihadapi Siswa Kelas IV dalam Menyelesaikan Soal Cerita Operasi Hitung Bilangan Cacah di Sekolah Dasar

Every child should start learning math in elementary school so they can develop the skills necessary to analyze data, perform critical analysis, write creatively, and work together. A student must have these skills to use information. Here, we conduct research as an initial responder to the challenge problems of grade IV students. Utilize descriptive writing methodology. The purpose of this study was to identify hit-and-miss learning problems in public schools. This is a lot. There are several reasons why hitching operations need to be done short and light work, some of which are listed below: 1) Difficulties related to pendular observation Addition 2 Carefully in subtraction protocols using borrowing techniques, 3) Ability to understand literary tropes and ability to apply mathematics. mathematical equations.

From the Heart of the Country to the European Core: J. M. Coetzee and los polacos

AbstractThe aim of this article is to investigate Coetzee’s decades-long, multifaceted, and, essentially, transnational dialogue with Poland and its cultural production—from Coetzee’s encounter of Polish poetry in the early 1960s until his 2022 novel El polaco. It intends to argue that Coetzee’s preoccupation with Polish literature and culture is part of a larger strategy of seeking new alliances and partnerships across the north-south/east-west divide, of building an alternative “affective community,” and of, simultaneously, de- and reprovincializing oneself and one’s oeuvre. Most importantly, Coetzee’s dialogue with Poland will be interpreted as an attempt to seek one’s rightful ancestry: literary and cultural, as well as genetic. The article will argue that the figure of the Pole is not simply a literary trope or the subject of Coetzee’s scholarly/readerly interest, but an instrument of both: self-defacement and identification with his Polish heritage.

Double Structure Synergy and The Empowering of Poetic Experience in Chairil Anwar’s Poem ‘Senja Di Pelabuhan Kecil’

The paper studies Chairil Anwar’s poem Senja di Pelabuhan Kecil. It focuses on analyzing the strategies Chairil Anwar applies in manipulating text double structure (the linguistic and literary ones). The data analyzed derives from the poem and in order to illuminate some key terms in the poem, comparison with other poems by the same poet is taken. The analysis of the poem is conducted by elaborating both linguistic and literary approaches. That is conducted by analytically discuss the linguistic devices and their interaction with the structure of literary tropes. It is found that the poet relies much on intensifying the synergy between the two structures. The intensive correlate manifests in the harmonious collaboration between Serial Verb construction and the event seriality; the correlation of morpho-syntactically priming of agent’s role (voice system) and the foregrounding of agent initiation of event (deviation from ordinary use of language). Phonologically considered, the poem shows parallelism between the prosody of line (sound) and the synesthetic (Winter, 2019), the co-perception through vision and hearing sensing. Another essential correlation found constitutes syntactic-phonological pattern which facilitates the representation of encyclopedic experience, which is the rhythm of the speaker’s heartbeat.

La metaficción en Twitter: Los mil trinos y un trino de Héctor Abad

"The purpose of this article is to analyze the metafictional aspects of Colombian author Hector Abad’s project to write a novel on twitter: Los mil trinos y un trino (2010a). The study of the metafiction consisted on identifying and explaining the literary tropes that made it possible for the author to generate a self-referential type of fiction. The elements examined included intertextuality, author and narrator categories, metalepsis and the construction processes of a novel explained by the narrative project itself. The results of the analysis were that the use of metafiction was not only limited to the different diegetic planes, but in terms of co-references, it also alluded to the external world: the users who interact with their accounts, the digital platform and, in general, the virtual environment that became part of this mode of writing.Keywords: author; hypertext; metalepsis; narrator; novel; twitterature"

Decolonial Re-existence through Animist Realism: Water Spirits and Shamanic Mantras in Janice Pariat's Boats on Land

Colonialism's deleterious impact on Indigenous epistemologies has engendered an exigent concern in the project of decoloniality, calling for a re-existence of marginalized cosmovisions. To accomplish this, an epistemic delinking from the paradigm of Eurocentric discourses is imperative in the interest of a comprehensive appreciation and recognition of Indigenous knowledge systems. In this vein, the present study employs the literary trope of animist realism to analyze two short stories from the anthology Boats on Land by the Khasi author, Janice Pariat. Her creative writing explores the animist philosophy of the Khasi community who dwell in the humid tropical State of Meghalaya, India. Through an attentive reading of the animist belief in water spirits and shamanic mantra rituals, this paper critiques colonial narratives of Khasi animist worldviews as "satanic", "supernatural", or psycho-pathological aberrations. The paper presents Khasi animist wisdom as a sophisticated and equitable principle of mutual coexistence and respectful relationality between human and more-than-human realms, replete with spiritual, ecological, and cosmological overtones. Indigenous animist epistemologies are indispensable as sustainable alternatives to the knowledge structures of colonial modernity. The present study contributes to the envisioning of a coexistence of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems in the spirit of mutual recognition and constructive engagement within an evolving epistemological landscape in the ongoing decolonial enterprise.