Modern Writers Research Articles

Ecstatic Forms: Air and the Apsarā during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)

Abstract As a minor deity in Buddhist art, the apsarā (feitian/hiten) is a beloved figure in China and Japan today. Their images adorn bottles of high-end liquor, while their names are bestowed upon moon-bound spacecrafts. Ecstatically tumbling and twirling in the air, the impossible contortion of their acrobatic bodies creates a sense of weightlessness and boundlessness. This essay argues that the apsarā only emerged as an art-historical subject during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), when intellectuals, artists and performers, on both sides of the frontlines, became concerned with the intermingling of space and form through the medium of air. Tracing how modern writers and choreographers used the apsarā to adumbrate modernist aspirations of movement, speed, aviation and progress, I show how the apsarā was folded into new international discourses on mood, atmosphere and space in art and dance in the early twentieth century.

Disability as a Resource

Chinese modern writer Shi Tiesheng’s renowned piece of life writing “The Temple of Earth and I” embodies a conceptualization of disability that underscores the positive potential of disability as resource that may bring power, freedom, and diversity to people with disabilities as well as the entire society. The representation of disability in Shi’s writing forms an alternative disability discourse that can be highly valuable in shaping social and cultural mindsets on disability. Shi’s disability discourse takes a deep root in Chinese philosophical tradition that understands the world as a dynamic process of transformation between oppositional states. In accordance with this recognition, disability has the potential to be transformed from loss to power, from limitation to freedom, and from an often rejected and excluded element to an indispensable part of diversity in the world.

The Trauma of Emigration: Language Change (B. Stanišić, V. Čolić, A. Mahmutović, A. Božičević, N. Kulidžan)

The article is devoted to the problem of choosing a language among modern writers – immigrants from the countries of the former Yugoslavia and it presents four options for «life in another language». A number of authors continue to write in their native language, their works, however, are published, more often in translation into the language of the country of residence, the second category of authors are those who have completely changed their native language to the language of the country of residence, and still others begin their literary career in a non-native, acquired language – the language of the country residence, the last group, the smallest, are authors who began their literary career in a non-native language and, at the same time, not in the language of the country of residence. Loss of home, severance of ties with the homeland, isolation from «one’s own» culture and language are perhaps the most common motives in the texts of migrant authors. Creativity becomes for them a way to reflect on the events of the past (the trauma of war, loss of home) and the present (attempts to adapt to new conditions), which can be interpreted in terms of the therapeutic function of writing as an attempt to overcome trauma. The new space and time gap create a distance that allows one to turn to the inexpressible experience and try to narrativize it. Choosing a non-native language can also create (additional) distance, a mask.

ETHNOCULTURAL VOCABULARY AS A SOURCE OF ETHNICAL INFORMATION IN BRITISH LITERATURE

This article analyses S. Maugham’s and N. Hornby’s works, exploring how national values and ethno-culture are reflected in their writing. The study focuses on their works, one classic and the other modern, revealing the peculiarities of their styles, language. The article examines the role of phraseological units in creating character images in works of art, based on Hornby's modern English novel ‘About a boy’ and 'The Razor's Edge' by S. Maugham. Phraseology plays a crucial role in language as it helps to convey the author's true intentions. By updating the usual and occasional meanings in context, phraseological units allow readers to understand the depth and versatility of artistic images created by writers. The idiomatic and phraseological units employed by writers can be used to construct a cultural picture of nation and country. Therefore, studying the works of classic and modern writers is a significant objective in itself. The employed methods, namely comparative, cultural-historical and stylistic analysis of the collected data, contributed to the revelation of the principal approaches of the two writers in their representation of reality. The results of the study reflect the linguistic features of the prose of the two writers, including stylistic devices, fixed expressions and idioms. This enables a linguistic and literary analysis and interpretation of the British works, thus conferring practical significance upon the study. It is concluded that both writers use phrases related to their national mentality and historical periods.

Collocations in Short Stories

Collocation is a universal term found in any language, yet it has not got much attention. In comparison to other aspects of language, collocation is new to linguistics because of its nature; it is controversial and open to debate in linguistics. This study investigates the use of collocation in short stories and compares old and modern in terms of employing collocations. The paper attempts to answer these questions: What is collocation? What are the major characteristics of collocations? How do different writers present collocations? How are collocations utilized in old and modern literature and what effect do they have in this discourse? For the purpose of analyzing data, the researcher follows a qualitative method and adopts Haussmann’s (1989) model. Tables that cover percentages and frequencies are provided to support the qualitative analysis. Concerning data, four short stories are chosen. The study concludes that ancient and modern writers employ different structures of collocation. However, the Adjective-Noun pattern is used more frequently than others.

The Italian Army in the Second World War: A Historiographical Analysis

Classical English language analysis of Italy's role in the Second World War has done poorly in its attempt to accurately the Italian military's contribution to the Axis cause. Basing their analysis on flawed sources, historians in the intermediate post war era got much incorrect. Many of the staples of the World War Two genre still base much of their writing on these writers. This paper concludes by exploring the two most important modern writers who specialize in this area of military history.

OIKONIMICON OF LESYA UKRAINKA’S DRAMATURGY

The article analyzes the semantic features of the oikonyms of Lesya Ukrainka’s drama. The main focus is on connotations acquired by oikonyms in the artistic expression of Lesya Ukrainka. Oikonyms, i.e. proper names of settlements, are historical and cultural heritage, since they reflect historical events, life, culture of the people, as well as their customs and traditions. Semantic, derivational and stylistic features of oikonyms depend on the individual characteristics of the author of the work, genre specificity, time of creation, literary direction and method. The purpose of the article is to analyze the functional load and semantic content of oikonyms that occur in Lesya Ukrainka’s dramatic works. The object of the research is the toponymic vocabulary in Lesya Ukrainka’s drama, the subject is the semantic and functional features of oikonyms as a component of the artistic and figurative system of the work. During our research, a number of methods were used, among which the descriptive method (used to analyze factual material), the quantitative counting method (to indicate the number of oikonyms in the work of art), and elements of the component analysis method, have a leading role. Oikonymicon in the artistic space of Lesya Ukrainka’s dramas is an active artistic technique that illustrates the author’s voice, the author’s concept of the characters and of the work in general, an important factor in character formation and plot development. And even the absence of oikonyms in the context of drama or its muted function becomes the manifestation and shade of the most important thing that the dramatist lays into the artistic background of the work. This helps reveal other problems that the author considers too important and for the sake of which gives life to her poetic masterpieces in pain and exhaustion, which suffered such a difficult stage fate and which are only now being read to full extent by a Ukrainian reader. We define the semantic study of the oikonymy of modern writers as the further direction of our exploration.

Istoriya perevoda na russkij yazyk proizvedenij Mo Yanya

This article examines the history of the development of the translation into Russian of the works of Mo Yan - one of the most famous modern writers of China. In 2007, his works began to be translated in Russia, although a wide range of readers have known about Mo Yan in 2012, when he won the Nobel Prize in literature. Since that moment, an average of one work by the Chinese writer has been translated and published in Russia almost every year.

MULTI-THEORETICAL EXPLICATION OF EXPERIMENTAL TYPOGRAPHY: THE CONTEXT OF 21ST CENTURY LITERARY TEXTS

This study is a multi-theoretical explication of selected 21st-century literary texts with a focus on determining how literary pieces with experimental typography can be analyzed which places emphasis on a literary primer that can be produced from the textual analysis, interpretation, and explication of the texts analyzed. This research study examines the significance of experimental typography in selected literary texts, specifically focusing on Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me Novel, Austin Kleon’s Newspaper Blackout, and shape poetry. The findings revealed that authors employ various types of experimental typography to convey additional layers of meaning in their works. The analysis of Tahereh Mafi's novel "Shatter Me" identifies the use of strikethrough, the management of space, and the unconventional use of mechanics as experimental typography techniques. In blackout poetry, the interaction between visual and textual elements through the use of semiotics plays a vital role in conveying the intended message. Shape poetry, on the other hand, integrates language, design, and visual representation to create a cohesive composition, offering a unique and visually engaging reading experience. Based on the findings, it is concluded that writers utilize multiple modalities manifested in experimental typography, embedding symbolism in literature. Readers must recognize these modalities and analyze their impact on literary elements to develop accurate interpretations. The study recommends further exploration of 21st-century literary analysis, emphasizing works incorporating experimental typography and innovative forms of literary expression. It suggests making a primer on experimental typography available to literature students to enhance their understanding of typography's expressive potential. Additionally, the study proposes exploring other modalities employed by modern writers and testing the primer's usability in schools to optimize its impact on students' learning experiences and curriculum enhancement. This research contributes to the understanding and appreciation of experimental typography in contemporary literature.

Musical Poliphony of Modernist Writing: British / Ukrainian Women’s Perspective

Musical Poliphony of Modernist Writing: British / Ukrainian Women’s Perspective

Cultural codes in epic works of Belarusian literature at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries

The article is devoted to the consideration of cultural codes in Belarusian prose at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. Research objectives: to justify the use of the term cultural code as a literary concept; using the example of different types of codes to show the features of interpretation of a literary work. The subject of the research is spatial, character, action, animalistic, floristic, color codes in the epic works of Vladimar Gnilomedov, Kastus Tsvirka, Vikror Kazko, Ales Navarich, Andreji Fedorenko. It is noted that the cultural code as a semiotic unit, which is the bearer of deep historical and cultural meanings through which social, economic, geopolitical, cultural features, the specifics of the national worldview, behavior patterns of representatives of a certain nation or the population of the country as a whole are manifested, is considered in literary studies within the framework of semiotic approach. Methods (historical-literary, structural, semantic) and methodological basis of the study are the works of M. Epstein, Y. Kristeva, V. Khalipov, I. Shved and others. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the features of the use of cultural codes in the epic works of modern writers are analyzed. Conclusions are drawn that among the cultural codes found in Belarusian prose, emphasizing national markings, are “partisan forest”, “kuzhal”, “cornflower”, “Belarusian partisan”, “volkolak”, “tolokak”, etc. Practical area application of the results of the work is seen in the possibility of using this material for a deep understanding and study of such academic disciplines as “History of Literature of the CIS Countries”, “History of Belarusian Literature”, university historical and literary courses, during independent research work of students, when writing coursework and theses.

The Séance of Reading: Uncanny Designs in Modernist Writing, Thomas J. Cousineau

‟The Séance of Reading: Uncanny Designs in Modernist Writing” (2023), a book arising out of Thomas J. Cousineau’s long and fruitful teaching experience and his extensive engagements in Romanian academia as a Fulbright scholar, entices readers to appreciate key canonical works spanning American and European literature through the lens of the Romanian ballad ‟The Legend of Master Manole” and Mircea Eliade’s view of mythical creation by sacrifice. The aesthetic myth of master-builder Manole lends magnitude and resonance to nine modernist texts set in harmonious juxtaposition for the purpose of revealing and restoring the sacrificed textual elements within. Most valuably, the author makes the reader register the intricate relationship between the sacrificed protagonist and the architectural body of the literary monuments discussed throughout his book, which successfully brings together different literary genres, capitalizing on the scenario of death and ontological rebirth.

The Séance of Reading. Uncanny Designs in Modernist Writing by Professor Thomas Cousineau

Professor Cousineau demonstrates an impressive original scholarly kind of comprehension of modernist texts, submitting them under scrutiny with an archetypal critical lens and thus reveals “the uncanny return of the Manole Complex in nine masterpieces of literary modernism”. The intellectual spark that inspired Professor Cousineau was Mircea Eliade’s Commentaires sur la Légende de Maître Manole where Eliade’s claims that Manole’s wife does not actually die: “She is, rather, transformed; her soul leaves her body of flesh and bones and goes to live in the stone and plaster body of the monastery”. (Eliade, 1994, p.168) In each of the chapters of the volume under discussion, the author further elaborates on Eliade’s concept of architectural body, finding it under sundry metamorphoses in the iconic literary modernist works from Europe and USA.

The Call of the Bell: A Comparative Analysis of Existentialism and Mysticism in Line with Jungian Individuation in Virginia Woolf’s and Iris Murdoch’s Selected Works

Against the backdrop of transitions that was witnessed throughout the era, the twentieth century was marked by social unrest and existential concerns. In an era identified as a rupture from the linearity of history, modernist writers sought to communicate and compensate for the loss of meaning that was immanent, attempting to address the multifaceted and intricate nature of the human condition. There emerged the exploration of the individual standing for the community, the dynamic of which can be traced in most of Virginia Woolf’s novels in the first part of the twentieth century; it is in the following wave of literary works where this existentialist viewpoint the individual was grappling with branches out into the mystical, a recurrent theme in Iris Murdoch’s works. The comparative analysis of these writers’ selected works, thus, notably Woolf’s Between the Acts and Murdoch’s The Bell, explores the themes of the process of self-exploration and integration against the prevailing sense of angst and chaos. With an interdisciplinary comparative analysis combining psychology, philosophy and literature, the article seeks to shed light on Woolf and Murdoch’s explorations of the human existence and their projections in the modernist scheme. Murdoch’s philosophical framework, her insights into the mystical aspects of existence, Woolf’s narrative techniques, the tracing of certain imageries existent in the novels lay the groundwork for tracing the ‘night sea journey’ of the hero: a process of transformation of the individual from solipsistic standpoint to a broader, Platonic understanding of the world, the modern hero’s journey from existential fragmentation to mystical integration.

Sira Nabawiyya: Historiography of the Prophet Muhammad by Three Modern Writers

PurposeThis study aimed to compare the narratives of three modern historiographies of the Sirah Nabawiya. It explored differences and similarities of Raḫīq Al-Makhtūm, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, and Membaca Sirah Nabi Muhammad dalam Sorotan Al-Qur'an dan Hadis-Hadis Sahih.MethodThis research employed a qualitative approach, adopting the historical method. The primary data were the most recent published editions of Al-Raḥīq Al-Makhtūm (2019) by Safiyurrahman Al-Mubarakfuri, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (2006) by Martin Lings, and Membaca Sirah Nabi Muhammad dalam Sorotan Al-Qur’an dan Hadis-Hadis Sahih (2018) by M. Quraish Shihab.Results/FindingsThe research showed that each of these three books was written in a chronological style. Al-Raḥīq Al-Makhtūm and Membaca Sirah Nabi Muhammad dalam Sorotan Al-Qur'an dan Hadis-Hadis Sahih offered more detailed information compared to Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. In their historical analyses, each writer presented their respective perspectives and tendencies. Al-Mubarakfuri emphasized the comparison of historical data and explained the most valid source, while Lings presented the data in a friendly and approachable manner with no in-depth elaboration and personal analyses. Shihab's analysis, however, covered more complex issues beyond historiography, including verification, orientalist criticism, analysis of Quranic sources, and elaboration of moral values.ConclusionThese three works complied with the standard model of a chronological presentation of data and critical analysis, while maintaining a friendly and approachable tone through additional elaboration of perspectives. The authors maintained a balanced and objective approach according to their academic background.

Autopoiesis, czyli nowoczesna histeria

Contrary to the prevailing methodological consensus, this article defines autopoiesis as a synonym of autocreation, or, more precisely, discursive identity construction. The latter refers to a literary ‘existential project’ which assumes that the sense of the self, or sameness, is the product of multiple, mostly discursive, interactions. They are the tex-ture of complex cultural processes which result in the determination by an individual of what he/she would like to be or what he/she would like be perceived. This construction of the self is in a state of ongoing contextualization within two distinct identity dis-courses, the discourse of individual uniqueness (founded on the sense of one’s body) and the discourse of collective participation (as defined by politics). The article argues that the two-dimensional contextualization is essentially historical and defines a broadly understood modernity. By examining the work of Gustave Flaubert the article shows how the oscillation between these two poles shapes the image of the modern writer created by Flaubert himself.

“The Pelevin Phenomenon” in the context of advertising pragmatics (using the example of an e-mail campaign for the release of the novel “Journey to Eleusis”)

INTODUCTION. Victor Pelevin, a popular Russian writer, is of scientific interest not only as a literary phenomenon, but also as a marketing phenomenon that has not yet been studied by the scientific community. V. Pelevin’s marketing strategy, despite the minimalism, is effective, his image attracts attention, which determines relevance of our research. The purpose of the work is to analyze the inclusion of the writer’s image in advertising communications, as well as to identify the specifics of using modern mailing, including the introduction of game elements.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study was conducted based on the September e-mail campaign of one of the bookstore chains. A qualitative content analysis and a descriptive method were used. The subject of the study is the image of a modern writer in the refraction of advertising discourse.RESULT AND DISCUSSION. The analysis showed that the image of V. Pelevin, like the release of a new book, becomes an informational occasion, and not an end in itself of the campaign. Despite the fact that the new novel belongs to the “Transhumanism” series, the e-mail newsletter contains images of characters from other novels, which is determined by their popularity. The newsletter uses a recognizable image of the author and references to his work as a whole – to supertext – coupled with the corporate style of the book chain. The image of the author is mythologized and intertwined with literary heroes, which is reflected in this advertising campaign.CONCLUSION. The Pelevin’s new book has not become a key topic of advertising communication; the emphasis is on V. Pelevin’s work as a supertext, and not directly on the “Transhumanism” cycle.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MYTHICAL PATTERNS IN ULYSSES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ARCHETYPE THEORY

As one of the important creative themes of modern literature, mythology is constantly reiterated in the writings of modern writers. Through retelling, we can travel through the time tunnel and feel the poetic wisdom of our ancestors. The inherent characteristic of myth is symbolism, and at the same time, it has strong metaphor and inclusiveness, which has opened up an almost infinite space of meaning for modern writers. Mythology provides rich prototype resources for the plot structure framework of narrative works, and expresses the writer's unique creative perspective and aesthetic awareness. James Joyce was an outstanding modern novelist in the West in the 20th century, and he created unique mythological novels. Ulysses adopts the mythological prototype structure and uses the theme of the ancient hero Odysseus returning home, echoing the deep meaning of modern people's search for a spiritual home. This paper uses the theory of myth-prototype criticism and combines the theory of collective unconsciousness to explore the creation mode of Ulysses from the perspective of mythic archetype criticism, to explain how ancient myths and modern writers have a spiritual fit, and to further feel the uniqueness of Joyce's novels. Some artistic charm and the practical significance brought by Ulysses. Our era needs the spirit of exploration and courage left over from the early days of human society, and the connotation of archetypal criticism has positive ideological value to this day.

Fictional worlds of fantasy and "magical" prose as a space for generating supertext

In this paper, the author addresses the features of the supertexts based on the modern Russian novels, namely postmodern works, the genre of which can be defined as fantasy. One of the areas of research is the interpretation of the author's myth, as well as understanding the role of myth in literature. The subject of the study is an end-to-end code that unites the prosaic macrocycles of modern authors as a supertext unity. The object of the study is the macrotext as a format of a literary work in the literature of modern Russian writers. The authors consider in detail such aspects of the topic as the cross-cutting theme of an alien / adopted / unrecognized / illegitimate child and its connection with the genus and family, and the implementation of this theme in novels combined into trilogies or macrocycles. Both general scientific research methods and specialized philological ones were used in the article, namely: the method of qualitative content analysis and the narrative method, the methods of idealization and deduction are secondary methods of working with the material. The leading method was the interpretation of literary texts, which were the source of the parktic research material. The main function of the myth is to reflect a certain image of reality, being an add-on above it, containing specific semantic models and roles distributed among the characters, and also an expression of the author's position. The author's myth can be described as a playful, mosaic, inverse construct. The conclusions presented in the article can be used in further analysis of the work of modern writers, as well as when working with the concept of "author's myth" and studying the transformation of myth (both archaic and social, cultural, etc.) in modern postmodern literature. A special contribution of the authors to the research of the topic is the consideration of this motif in its diversified interpretation in various works and the connection of this motif with the onomastic code of works as one of the principles of the formation of a supertext.

Концептуальные стратегии пост(соц)реализма (роман А. Тургенева «Чтобы Бог тебя разорвал изнутри на куски!»)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the text of Andrei Turgenev’s fiction novel “So that God tears you to pieces from the inside!”, published as a separate book by the Moscow publishing house “Eksmo” in 2008. The research was undertaken in order to identify and comprehend the imitation strategies of the critic Vyacheslav Kuritsyn, who acted as a novelist under the pseudonym Andrey Turgenev. The authors of the work prove that the “precedent” pseudonym of the author, allusively associated with the name of the Russian classic Ivan Turgenev, gives rise to the idea of a literary game started by the critic-writer to create an imitation text, the so-called “secondary” text. However, the authors emphasize that the classical Turgenev traditions were ignored by the modern writer. On the one hand he tried to combine the visual techniques of Fellini cinema in the novel text, and on the other hand, to reproduce the techniques and practices of the Moscow conceptualists D. Prigov, L. Rubinstein, V. Sorokin, etc. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the various aspects of the Kuritsyn-Turgenev novel are analytically examined, the axiological angles of the author’s playing position are revealed, and the dialogical connections of the novel are explicated. As a result, it is proved that (along with stylistic blunders) the dignity of the Kuritsyn-Turgenev genre experiment consists of an appeal to fundamental issues of literature and creativity, a semantically significant wealth of intertextual references to modern Russian and world literature.