Death In Subjects Research Articles

Kome treba metodički kurs o smrti u poeziji za decu i mlade - motivacija studenata za odabir kursa, njihovi koncepti i iskustva u vezi sa smrću

Psychological studies have shown that children begin to think about death at an early age and have encouraged a rethinking of the concept of possible education about death. For this reason, the course entitled "Methodological Approach to the Theme of Death in Poetry for Children and Youth" was launched at the Teacher Education Faculty in Belgrade. A short description of the course is given in the first part of this paper. The paper then elaborates on the research conducted within the course, the goal of which was to describe: 1) students' motivation for this course and 2) students' expectations regarding the course content. In addition, given that the target audience is important for the manner in which the content will be presented, we also examined the course participants': 3) conceptualization of death; 4) their experience related to death; 5) opinions regarding discussions about death with children; 6) knowledge of literary texts that deal with death. The method of verbal and visual associations and a questionnaire were used for data collection. Data analysis has shown that: 1) the course title is what motivates students the most to choose this course; 2) students are interested in children's attitudes about death, the way death is thematized in children's literature, as well as understanding the phenomenon of death in general; 3) the elements of metaphysical concept of death are prevalent among students; 4) the largest number of students has experienced the death of a family member, a friend, or a pet; 5) students think that children's age, experience related to death, interests, and cognitive maturity have to be taken into consideration when talking with children about death; 6) students are more familiar with the prose texts than poetry for children thematizing death.

Лингвосемиотические особенности знаков смерти в хантыйских народных сказках и преданиях

The paper analyzes the phenomenon of death through Khanty folk tales, legends, and bailichkas. The necessity of characterizing the death phenomenon – the structure of death signs, their sources, their occurrence in texts – is substantiated, and a brief analysis of the scholarly literature on the subject in question is provided. Death is commonly addressed in folklore, except in children’s fairy tales, where death is portrayed more discreetly. The death signs are described within the classification of the American pecialist in semiotics, C. S. Pierce, also considering the experience of D. A. Pisarenko, who systematized the death signs in the Russian folk tales. Folklore texts feature the death theme when the protagonist encounters hostile spirits, fights enemies, or meets dead people. This theme has its specific place in various folklore genres, with its signs classified by certain plot types. Found in the texts are indirect signs of death not referring directly to death, but only hinting at it. The analysis of four bailichkas reveals the deeds of aggressive deceased persons representing the death signs together with the coffin, bones, a deserted camp, and cut hair. Four types of mixed death signs have been found: (1) “index + icon” signs associated with personal knowledge about biological death and reflecting the external death signs; (2) “index + symbol” signs associated with death through funeral rites; (3) “symbol + index” signs represented by one sign – “lower world” – reflecting the religious views of a person, (4) “symbol + index + icon” signs, most ancient and semantically ambiguous signs.

Questioning Nature: A Study of Death and Isolation in Selected Nature Poems by Robert Frost

This study aims to discuss the themes of death and isolation in selected nature poems by Robert Frost, the reasons behind this odd employment of nature, the relationship between death and isolation, and how one begets the other. The assumptions and principles of psychoanalytical and biographical approaches provide the theoretical framework for this dissertation, namely, through examining the life of Frost, as well as psychic exhaustion and traumas which reveal the unconscious motives behind his use of the themes of death and isolation in his nature poems. To answer the study’s questions, it focuses on studying those poems by going over the symbols and figures of speech that present the challenging, gloomy picture of nature, which single out Frost from other American and English poets’ images of nature.

The image of Life in the epic “Mastorava” by A. M. Sharonov

Introduction. Folklore often expresses images of Life and Death in a specific historical context as well as in the context of “big time”. The heroic epic depicts Life and Death over the course of the life of a nation which is part of the “big” Life that incorporates past, present and future. The national epic, however, with its collective consciousness is able to organize the themes of Life and Death and give them philosophical and social meaning. The academic novelty of this article is its analysis of the image of Life in the epic “Mastorava” by A. M. Sharonov. The object of study is the epic “Mastorava”. The subject of the research is the image of Life in the epic “Mastorava”. The purpose of the study is to consider the uniqueness of the image of Life presented in “Mastorava” as an endless creative process: life as creativity. This article uses scholarly literature and the epic “Mastorava” to show the poetic, figurative and expressive means which are used to create the image of Life. Materials and Methods. The material of study is the epic “Mastorava” by A. M. Sharonov. The goals and objectives of the study are to explain the choice of research methods: historical-literary, descriptive, and genetic, which are used to analyze the image of Life in the epic “Mastorava”. In the methodology, special attention is paid to the detailed analysis of “Mastorava”, along with observations and conclusions. Close attention is paid to the text as “illustrative” material and to analyzing it on different levels in accordance with the stated research model. Results and Discussion. The category of Life in “Mastorava” is cosmological, philosophical, and sociological in addition to being biological. It is associated with Light which comprises the realms of the earth, sky, and man where Life is embedded in the idea of divine creation. However, the main character of Life is a human collective for whom the entire earth is created. In the epic the human collective is personified by Heroes (Damai, Kudaday, Tekshon, Tyushtyan, Arsai, Kanyava, etc.) who represent ordinary people in the epic and in history. These people think, perform heroic deeds, organize their families and social lives, and introduce order, harmony and beauty. Conclusion. The image of Life in “Mastorava” includes everyday and eternal life, the ordinary and existential, and the beautiful and tragic. The image of Life also shows the fundamental forms of relations between man and the world, between people and nations, and how each of them has a unique character, mentality, and psychology. The image of Life is presented as a universal phenomenon. In “Mastorava’ the Erzyans and Mokshans call their land the “Land of the Living” in which Life almost always defeats Death. A man realizing himself as one of the people is proud of belonging and gains his strength from their strength. And a woman just because she is born a woman possesses heroic and creative qualities and can choose her own destiny.

Convivial Gardens: Genesis 2–3 in Agrarian and Space-Critical Perspective

Genesis 2–3 is among the most beloved yet misunderstood texts in the Hebrew Bible. Many biblical and post-biblical interpretations focus on themes of sin, death, and God’s banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. These have fostered misapprehensions regarding the value of God’s creation and the dangerous image of an “Old Testament God of wrath.” This essay uses space-critical analysis to focus on the spaces of Eden—from ground to bodies to gardens—to show that Ivan Illich’s notion of “conviviality” best captures Eden’s true ethic of cooperation, environmental caretaking, and the positive portrait a gentle God who makes humans by hand.

Edward Albee: A Dramatist in Protest

This study is an attempt to explore the major social and moral concerns of Edward Albee (1928- ) in two of his famous plays: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? and The Death of Bessie Smith . In these plays Albee reveals his protest against corrupt cultural values and the false concept of manhood and womanhood .He also exposes the perverted husband-wife relationships which lead to frustrations and nightmares . Themes of social inequality , racial distinction , loss and death are never absent of Albee‟s mind. In his representations of the American social life , Albee focuses on the artificial nature of many human relationships in his society .Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? is a realistic portrayal of thedominance ofthe illusive dreams of the American elite . The play is set in an American college.It presents the events of one night spent by two couples who stay up drinking after a party given by the President of the college. The four characters of the play reveal the history of their marriages.George is a middle-aged professor of History.Martha, his wife , is the daughter of the President of the college.Nick is a young professor of Biology. Honey, his wife, is a rich heiress of her father.Albee criticizes their mercenary marriages.Edward Albee believes that despite the material richness of the American society , the American civilization is essentially empty . This idea is reflected through the sterility of the characters in the play.The two families in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? are childless.George and Martha create an illusive dream by pretending that they have a handsome child. The episode of the imaginary child is used to expose the loneliness of those people. The child does not exist at all ; it is a shared illusive dream of George and his wife to add some solace to their barren life

The poetic world of Arshak Chopanyan

The poetics of the great figure of Armenian culture, cultural critic, literary critic, publisher, editor, national public figure, poet, writer, playwright, translator, propagandist of Armenian culture in the West A. Chopanyan undoubtedly bears the stamp of ideology and poetics of symbolism, in particular, French and Russian symbolism, but the subtle and deep structure of his unique imaginative thinking is based on the tradition of national poetry, also due to his temperament. In the process of researching the poetic world of Arshak Chopanyan, taking into account the available valuable meta-text, structural-semiotic, psychological, comparative-historical methods, principles of historical and cultural research, interdisciplinary approaches were combined. The main themes, motifs and symbols of Chopanyan's poetic world were highlighted and emphasized, among which the national-patriotic theme, the theme of life and death, the motif of silence, the aesthetics of white, olfactory motifs, the relationship of the moment and eternity, fairy tales and boredom of life, dreams and reality, symbols butterfly, star, shooting star, lily, sea, parallels sea-life, sea-woman, woman-life and woman-death. These symbols form a unique sign system. By studying the semantic nuances and interactions of these symbols, analyzing the historical and cultural context, comparative historical research, and some interdisciplinary observations, the overall picture of Chopanyan's poetic world was revealed. A number of Chopanyan's poems about love, about the cosmic thought, in particular, a poem with the refrain "Hate, but don't forget me", revealing one of the layers of the psychology of love, can be presented to the court of world poetry. Short and long poems, poems in prose, white, blue or,, gloomy,, sonnets, rondos, geghons and taghs with personal, national and universal significance are ultimately aimed at revealing the mystery of existence.

Thanatological Discourse in Ivan Bunin’s Works

The article analyses the memoir notes of Ivan Bunin and his contemporaries, who knew him closely, which express his attitude to death. Bunin’s notes, drafts and diaries are full of his reflections on the subject of finiteness of human life. In conversations with relatives and friends he confessed that he “is obsessed with the death” and that he “is afraid of it.” The theme of death is the key issue in many of Ivan Bunin’s prosaic and poetic works. In the book “The Life of Arsenyev,” which can be considered the writer’s autobiography, he mentions the fact that the acceptance of death has made him think about the existence of God and the existential dilemma for the first time. Bunin’s fear of death was a kind of a phobia reflected in all his works. The idea of the finiteness of existence is based not only on the perception and feelings of some of Bunin’s characters, but also on the fate of entire social classes. This is why Bunin’s imagery is characterized by a nostalgic, elegiac tone, the “matte silver” colour (according to M. Gorky). The writer rebels against the inevitability of death the way children do (“I will not give in”) and the way writers do by using their works as a line of defense in the struggle over time (“Now you are a thought. You are eternal”). A specific thanatological perception of the world sharpened his attention to Buddhism and to the doctrine of reincarnation. The “law of beauty” for Bunin is based on an eschatological view. That is why he doesn’t write about the future and interprets everything related to the ideal, nature and eternity in a Christian way

The Bold News of Birdcalls by Edward Morin

Reviewed by: The Bold News of Birdcalls by Edward Morin Meg Kearney (bio) the bold news of birdcalls Edward Morin Kelsay Books https://kelsaybooks.com/products/the-bold-news-of-birdcalls 102 pages; Print, $18.50 "It might almost be said that the birds are all birds of the poets and of no one else, because it is only the poetical temperament that fully responds to them," said John Burroughs in the opening line of his Birds and Poets (1877). As proof, the world abounds with poems about and inspired by birds. Although Edward Morin's new book often strays from that feathered subject, The Bold News of Birdcalls is filled with a variety of songs as well as the "news" of stories. The collection is divided into four sections of fairly equal size, each with a varied tone suggested by its title: "Noise of Blue Jays," "Melody of Wrens," "Endurance of Robins," and "Passage of Swans." With boisterous, troublesome jays ("sinister as Dutch elm disease") as its [End Page 136] backdrop, part 1 explores themes of life and death through its free-verse elegies for fellow poet-teacher friends, a poem titled "Icicles" ("Stilettos of ice, / as many as stabbed Caesar"), as well as a gripping narrative detailing the speaker as victim of an armed robbery that nearly saw him killed. A tribute to those "black-winged acrobats," "Bank Swallows" almost reads like a love poem as the speaker recalls finding the swallows' nest: "Remember, love, our barefooted climb / in dry roots thin as hair, up the sliding, / steep sand hill?" But it ends on an ominous note as the birds "flutter and scold above us / … throwing shadows the size of hawks." In "Depression," a jack-o'-lantern sits "ravaged" in the post-Halloween season just as we humans are ravaged by the passing of years; its "limp mouth / twists crookedly as during a stroke." And the last poem in the section, "Yes," tells the story of Joe Sartori, a neighbor of the speaker's parents whom the speaker visits when home from college. Sartori, wheelchair-bound and nearly completely paralyzed, is capable of saying only one word: "Yes." This sort of one-note song proves to be an inspiration to the speaker, when he is old enough to appreciate the affirmation embodied in the word. Part 2 kicks off with a sort of ode in tercets to the "plain-brown-wrappered wren" who appears in April seeking summer "housing." While the goldfinches "emulate forsythias' hue," the plain wren is a "friend of gardeners" with a surprisingly strong song: Voice vibrations pulsate from chin through tall throatand halfway down the chest. Such breath control!What long, loud peals for such a little bell. This is a section of nostalgia, with the speaker recalling memories of a childhood spent in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We take a ride on the "Milk Train"; we meet Brad, a high school classmate who died young; we hear the clang of metal on glass as carpenter's nails are poured into a jar; we join in the rallying cry to rid the Midwest's wetlands of the invader-phragmites choking out the cattails and pushing out the wildlife; we listen to a fish story of "The Big One" that got away; and wince when a man falls from a ladder as well as when the baseball coach calls a twelve-year-old second baseman an "idiot," only to remember—much to his embarrassment and horror—that the boy is "slow witted." The speaker is haunted by his mistake, recalling being labeled a [End Page 137] "moron" by schoolmates as a youth; and "Now that I'd acted really dumb, the mantra / 'You idiot!' choked deep in my throat." Morin's is a warm and empathetic voice, buoyed and inspired by birds. His very soul is lifted by seeing them and hearing their calls—"as when indigo buntings fly through sunlight, / magically changing from black to bright blue" and when from the canopy of deep woods ringsone distant thrush's haunting descant …This recluse trills its two voice boxeslike Pan's double flute. The poems in part 2 are often written in...

Poetic Thanatology of the Novel by E.M. Remarque "Life on Loan or Heaven Knows no Favorites"

The presented work examines the thanatological motifs in the work of the German writer E.M. Remarque. The influence of historical events is assumed not only on the plot and ideological levels of the novel, but also on the figurative. The hypothesis about the tendency in the work of E.M. Remarque to the widespread use of images traditionally associated with death is put forward and proved. The aim of the work is to prove the author's special understanding of the theme of death and its realization in the novel by E.M. Remarque "Life on loan or Heaven knows no favorites". The object of the study is a special Remark's representation of the category of death and its place in the literature of the "lost generation". The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the authors present a new interpretation of the title of the novel in connection with the original belonging of the characters to the afterlife. The main content of the study is the analysis of the poetical levels of the novel; motives, mythologems and images of death are analyzed at the ideological-thematic, plot, character, space-time and genre levels; citation examples are given for various connotations of death for each character of the novel by E.M. Remarque "Life on loan or Heaven knows no favorites". Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of semantic substitution of the real definition of the concept of life for an antonymic one. In conclusion, the role of death at the compositional level of the work is revealed.

A biopsychosocial approach to death, dying, and bereavement: a course on end-of-life education for medical students.

Background: Despite the inevitable nature of death and dying, the conversations surrounding this subject are still uncomfortable for many physicians and medical students. Methods: A six-week humanities-based course, "A Biopsychosocial Approach to Death, Dying, & Bereavement," at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, United States, which covers definitions of death and dying, the process of dying, ethical dilemmas, and new concepts of the grieving process. Through development of a curriculum using various academic and medical literature and resources, we sought to bring attention to the necessity of having a medical education curriculum on death and dying to prepare medical students for the difficult conversations and patient experiences that lie ahead of them. Qualitative data in the form of surveys and reflection papers submitted by students and quantitative data (Likert scores on course satisfaction) were collected and analyzed both pre- and post-course. Results: 90.7% (49/54) of the respondents answered that they agree or strongly agree with the statement that this selective course was useful in the student's medical education experience. The top three qualitative themes brought up the most in reflection papers (n=54) were:the utility and instruction of the course (21 times), the importance of hospice and palliative care (20 times), avoidance around topics of death (15 times). Conclusions : Medical students are often not prepared to cope with the realities of patient loss and of caring for the patient and their families throughout the dying process. We created this course to familiarize medical students with an aspect of the medical experience that is frequently neglected in traditional medical curricula. We learned that integrating such a course can help educate medical students facilitate important conversations, teach them to act with kindness and dignity in a physician-patient setting, and enhance their personal understanding of death and dying.

Тема смерти в творчестве Густава Малера

Данная статья представляет собой опыт осмысления топоса смерти в симфоническом творчестве Густава Малера на биографическом, а также идейно‑концепционном уровнях. В статье анализируются жизненные обстоятельства и философские идеи, повлиявшие на танатологические воззрения Малера. В ней выявляются причины личностно-индивидуального характера, частично определившие повышенную восприимчивость Малера к феномену смерти, рассматриваются традиционные и новаторские черты мортальной топики в симфониях Малера в их эволюции. This article represents an experience of comprehending the topos of death in the symphonic work of Gustav Mahler at the biographical, ideological and conceptual levels. The article analyzes life circumstances, as well as philosophical ideas that influenced Mahler's thanatological views. It identifies the reasons for a personal and individual character that partially determined Mahler's increased susceptibility to the phenomenon of death, examines the traditional and innovative features of mortal topics in Mahler's symphonies in their evolution.

THE ANALYSIS OF “LYUDMILA”, THE BALLAD OF V.A. JUKOVSKI

İnsan, var olduğundan beri varlığın ve varoluşun mana derinliğini anlama gayreti içerisine girmiştir. Kişi, bu gayretini felsefeden mitolojiye, anatomiden psikolojiye kadar muhtelif disiplinler dâhilinde, özgün bakış açısıyla anlamlandırmaya çalışır. Edebiyat ise; insanın, varoluşunu anlama gayretinin disipline edilmiş en açık şekli olarak kabul görür. Yaşama asıl anlamını kazandıran ölüm algısı, din dışı ya da din merkezli birey ve Tanrı ilişkisi, teolojik ve sosyolojik temelde şekillenen günah-sevap, suç-ceza gibi kavramlar, boyun eğme ya da başkaldırı şeklinde bir tepki ile karşılık bulan kader idraki farklı toplumların yazın dünyasında çeşitli değerlendirmelerde temel unsur olarak kullanılmıştır. Özellikle edebiyatta, romantizm akımının getirdiği farklı bakış açıları neticesinde ve balat türünün Rus edebiyatına girmesi ile bu türde ölüm ve kadere başkaldırı temalarının işlendiği birçok örnekler verilmeye başlanmıştır. Bahsi geçen izleklerin yer aldığı ilk Rus milli balat örneklerinden biri, Vasiliy Andreyeviç Jukovski’nin “Lyudmila” (Людмила-1808) adlı eseridir. Başkahramanın kaderine boyun eğmediği ve Tanrı’ya lanet ettiği için cezalandırıldığı ilk balat türü olan bu eserin yayımlanmasının ardından, Rus edebiyatında çok sayıda benzer çalışmalar ortaya konulmaya başlanmıştır. Alman şair G. A. Bürger’in “Lenora” (1773) isimli balatından esinlenerek Rusça’ya çevrilen Lyudmila adlı eserde; genç bir kızın uzak bir ülkede savaşa gidip uzun süre dönmeyen sevgilisini beklemesi ve sevgilisinin dönmemesi üzerine Tanrı’ya ve kadere başkaldırı ve sonunda cezalandırılma hikayesi anlatılır. Bu çalışmada, Lyudmila’nın aşkı için Tanrı’ya olan inancının azalması ve cezalandırılması, kader olgusunun ele alınış biçimi ve şairin bu konulara bakış açısı anlatılmaya çalışılacaktır.

RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF DEATH IN “HARRY POTTER”: MOTIFS OF RESURRECTION AND SACRIFICE

The article explores recurring motifs of dying, resurrection and sacrifice in the Harry Potter series that one way or another are related to the theme of death in its religious interpretation. The author of this article analyzes the exact ways in which J.K. Rowling builds semantic fields of the theme of death, «marrying» tradition with modernity and referring to intertextuality, especially in her use of elements from Christianity and its tradition.

Humor and poignancy: Exploring narrative pathways to face death and bereavement

Themes of death and grief emerge in media entertainment in ways that are both poignant and humorous. In this experimental study, we extend research on eudaimonic narratives about death to consider those that are hedonic. Participants read a story about a woman giving a eulogy for her friend that was manipulated to be either poignant-focused or humor-focused, and answered questions about their responses to the story, feelings of connectedness with others, and death acceptance. The narrative conditions elicited similar levels of narrative engagement and appreciation, but the humor-focused narrative elicited more enjoyment than the poignant-focused narrative. Connectedness did not differ between conditions. However, the humor-focused narrative elicited more death acceptance when controlling for participants' personal loss acceptance and grief severity, and individual differences in the dark tetrad personality traits, trait depression, and religious upbringing. We tested these effects in an integrated path model and found that the model fit the data well and the narrative pathways explained variance in both death acceptance and connectedness. Our findings have implications for how death and grief are depicted in media entertainment: namely, that death is an inherently poignant topic and the addition of humorous elements in bereavement narratives may be especially effective in increasing death acceptance.

Драматургия Е. Г. Водолазкина в историческом и аксиологическом контексте его романистики

The aim of the study is to identify the form- and content-related features of E. G. Vodolazkin’s dramatic works in the context of the historical and axiological dominants of his epic writings. It is necessary to determine how the lyrical and dramatic works from the collection “Sister of the Four” continue to develop and reinterpret the ideas characteristic of the author’s epic works about the relationship between a person and history, the themes of time and death. The study is original in that it is the first to analyse the collection “Sister of the Four” in the context of the author’s novels. As a result, the researcher concludes that E. G. Vodolazkin continues to develop the main themes of his novels in his plays, in particular, the central theme, i.e. the theme of history, which is explored through the themes of death and time.

Creativity and its Psychological Traits in Emily Dickinson’s and Anne Sexton’s Selected Poems

This paper aims to analyze and explain two significant poems written by two female poets: Emily Dickinson and Ann Sexton, to disclose the relationship between creativity and unstable psychological state of mind. This study will examine Dickinson’s poem “I felt a funeral in My Brain’’ and Sexton’s poem “Wanting to Die” to reveal their themes of death, madness, and suicide to detect the mental depression and bipolar disorder they suffered from. Moreover, it is proven that there is a direct connection between creativity and mental disorder, according to some modern studies by psychologists like Kay Redfield Jamison and psychiatrist Nancy Andreason. The study will answer the following two questions: do the female poets: Emily Dickinson and Anne Sexton suffer from a mental disorder in their lives? And what is the impact of their poetic creativity on their fate?

Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories by Ali Kinsella

Reviewed by: Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories by Ali Kinsella Irene Zabytko Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories Ed. Ali Kinsella, Zenia Tompkins & Ross Ufberg Trans. Various. Dallas. Deep Vellum. 2022. 328 pages. WELL BEFORE THE current Russian invasion provided a global spotlight on Ukraine, contemporary Ukrainian writers were forging their own literary territories that autonomously identify them and their country. Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories handsomely showcases many of the best Ukrainian writers (in English translations) with stories that are not about the current war but nevertheless exhibit Ukrainians confronting universal themes of life and death, love and betrayal, war and peace. This is a fiction anthology, but the sixteen writers in the collection are also well-known poets, essayists, filmmakers, activists, and now soldiers. Among them is filmmaker and writer Oleg Sentsov, who was originally imprisoned by the Russians for speaking out against Crimea’s annexation in 2014 and is currently in the Ukrainian army. His story, “Grandma,” is a deft character analysis of a poor, burdensome husk of an older woman whom nobody likes, least of all her family—a sad narrative that is often true of the babysi (grandmothers). Stanislav Aseyev was kidnapped and imprisoned in Donetsk in 2014. His moving war story “The Bell” is about a returning soldier haunted by the sound of a bell that he needs to confront. Olena Stiazhkina’s novel excerpt features a man rescuing the unclaimed body of his lover’s husband during the earlier Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine. Certainly, love is another major theme. Oksana Zabuzhko and Natalka Sniadanko both write about girlhood crushes and ultimate betrayals. Whimsy underscores love in fables by Kateryna Kalytko and Sophia Andrukhovych, while Artem Chapeye’s “The Ukraine” (published recently in the New Yorker) is a poignant reminiscence of a couple’s last travels together. Ukrainians in other countries find themselves in Vasyl Makhno’s “Brooklyn, Forty-Second Street,” about a fake green-card marriage, and Tanja Maljartschuk’s “Frogs in the Sea,” in which an undocumented Ukrainian befriends a dementia-stricken woman in Germany. Humor is a welcome counterbalance in stories like Sashko Ushkalov’s “Panda,” about the narrator’s reincarnation as a panda; Yuri Andrukhovych’s treatise on a sixteenth-century scoundrel; and Serhiy Zhadan’s send-up of inept businessmen establishing the first gay bar in Ukraine. Stories by Kateryna Babkina, Oksana Lutsyshyna, and Taras Prokhasko round out this outstanding and significant collection of Ukrainian fiction. Proceeds from the sale of this collection will be donated to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Irene Zabytko Orlando, Florida Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today

P11.35: Using Emotional Text Mining to Explore the Cultural Representation of Organ Donation in the Spanish and Italian Culture

Introduction: Spain is considered the world leader in the field of organ donation, reaching the highest percentage of donors. This is the effect of an organization based on strong network relationships, specific training for health professionals and a focus on the promotion of organ donation among the population. Other countries, such as Italy, have adopted the Spanish model in their healthcare model for this issue, but still failing to reach the Spanish primacy. Cultural representation of organ donation can variate among countries, explaining the differences in the number of final donors. In literature there are no research on this facet of organ donation. With this work we aimed to investigate the cultural elements influencing the choice to donate in Italy and Spain. Method: To achieve this goal, we collected from two of the major newspapers of Italy (Il Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica) and Spain (El Pais and El Mundo) all the published articles between 2001 and 2021, containing the respective translation of “Organ Donation”. The two large final corpus, made up of 846 articles for the Italian and 571 for the Spanish one, were analyzed through the Emotional Text Mining (ETM; Greco & Polli, 2020), a non-supervised text mining methodology that allows the detection of cultural representations that sets people interactions, behaviors, attitudes, and communication. Results: The analysis produced 4 cultural representations for the Italian corpus and 5 cultural representations for the Spanish one. The principal representation for Spain is the organ donation as a national project, while in Italy prevails the facet of donation as a saving-life product, more oriented to an individual point of view. In Italian newspapers emerges the theme of death, an element felt as necessary as unacceptable. In Spain the principal step for donation is the family where citizens, as potential donor, can discuss about donation. Moreover, donation has a point of view on the circle of life, where death is a step to a final vision of lifesaving. Another big difference between the two nations is related to developmental process: the Italian model seems to be rooted in established promotional models, while in Spain emerges the desire for continuous growth and innovation, founding the promotion of organ donation on a strict relation between the citizen and the State. Finally, in Spain organ donation is connected to other fields (e.g. blood, gamete and tissue donation), while in Italy the issue is lived as totally isolated from other context. Conclusion: In conclusion, exploring the cultural representations of organ donation in these two countries allowed us to understand deep cultural differences. Results would be used for countries to work on the sensible areas, such as with focused promotional campaigns to the citizens. This work could help to improve the substantial differences in donation rates, increasing in this case the number of Italian donors.

A biopsychosocial approach to death, dying, and bereavement: a course on end-of-life education for medical students

Background: Despite the inevitable nature of death and dying, the conversations surrounding this subject are still uncomfortable for many physicians and medical students. Methods: A six-week humanities-based course, “A Biopsychosocial Approach to Death, Dying, & Bereavement,” at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, United States, which covers definitions of death and dying, the process of dying, ethical dilemmas, and new concepts of the grieving process. Through development of a curriculum using various academic and medical literature and resources, we sought to bring attention to the necessity of having a medical education curriculum on death and dying to prepare medical students for the difficult conversations and patient experiences that lie ahead of them. Qualitative data in the form of surveys and reflection papers submitted by students and quantitative data (Likert scores on course satisfaction) were collected and analyzed both pre- and post-course. Results: 90.7% (49/54) of the respondents answered that they agree or strongly agree with the statement that this selective course was useful in the student’s medical education experience. The top three qualitative themes brought up the most in reflection papers (n=54) were: the utility and instruction of the course (21 times), the importance of hospice and palliative care (20 times), avoidance around topics of death (15 times). Conclusions: Medical students are often not prepared to cope with the realities of patient loss and of caring for the patient and their families throughout the dying process. We created this course to familiarize medical students with an aspect of the medical experience that is frequently neglected in traditional medical curricula. We learned that integrating such a course can help educate medical students facilitate important conversations, teach them to act with kindness and dignity in a physician-patient setting, and enhance their personal understanding of death and dying.