Transformations Of Characters Research Articles

MYTHOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION IN MODERN INDONESIAN NOVELS

In the factuality, there are many fictional works that raise myth elements and use as reference in writing. Literary works inevitably exist in communities that have cultures and this is well acknowledged by writers who eventually receive them actively-productively. The present study is aimed at identifying these matters in modern Indonesian literature including myth sources, author’s attitudes that are hypogrammed, and myth functions. The study is conducted on five novels produced in the 2000s. Various myth stories contain life values that can be used as inspirations and culturel references in the writing of modern Indonesian novels and, simultaneously, as allegories and metaphors of life in the present time. The novels are partly set as they are in the myth stories, while partly are transformed into the life background of the present time. Even though the novels are set in the time background of the myth stories, the personalities and life philosophy of the characters reflect the life situations of the present time. The writers’ attitudes towards myths are partly continuing and augmenting the myth conventions although through the transformations of plots and characters (myth of concern), and, on the contrary, partly freeing, deviating, and rebelling (myth of freedom). In the case of rebellion to the myth conventions (Roro Jonggrang), it seems that it is due to the influences of the feminist ideas that emphasize the importance of life equalities between men and women. Women need not be always defeated or dominated by men.

ПОСТМОДЕРНИСТСКАЯ ИГРА С ИСТОРИЕЙ В ПОВЕСТИ БОРИСА АКУНИНА "ЗВЕЗДУХА"

There is increased interest in history as a basis for searching the answers to many questions of our time recently. The historical project by B. Akunin clearly demonstrates improved author’s methods well knowns of his early works. The article analyzes B. Akunin’s controversial view of the Horde invasion of Old Russia a difficult period in its history. The writer deconstructs the chrestomatic representation of that era, depicting it from different angles: the publicist (“Part of Asia”) and the fiction (“Zvezdukha”). Such textual polyphony allows Akunin to involve readers in a kind of postmodern game with history. In such a way, B. Akunin not just shows and analyses events of the past but also creates the complex fictional text with filled a lot of description of the era and transformations of the main characters against the background of history.

Круглый стол «Эстетика советской кинокомедии». Эксцентрика, авторское начало, официозный контекст

In the modern period the aesthetics of comedy in cinema was on the periphery of the attention of the science of art. Not least, this was due to the fact that the analysis of the comic was relegated to the background by the study of the playful relativity characteristic of postmodern trends in the screen arts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Meanwhile, Soviet film comedy remains one of the pinnacles in the development of this genre in the cinema of the 20th century. And the decline of comedy in modern Russian cinema prompts a return to the experience of the masterpieces of the Soviet era. The relevance of the topic is connected with this: the contexts of the comic and laughter in Soviet comedies, their functions of a social, communicative, aesthetic nature were not studied in detail and comprehensively in their time. The novelty of approaches today is associated with the possibility of free from ideological pressure and the most detailed consideration, and in part are vision of the formal and substantive features of the film comedy of the Soviet period. This scientific process combines the methods of art history, cultural studies, folklore and anthropology. This text reviews the reports at the Round Table “Aesthetics of Soviet Film Comedy”, organized by the Mass Media Arts Department of the State Institute for Art Studies and which brought together scientists of different generations from VGIK, the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, the Russian State University for the Humanities, the Higher School of Economics, the Academy of the Media Industry, the Free University and other institutions. The purpose of the round table was to identify the main phases of the evolution of comedy in the Soviet cinema, and therefore the order of the reports took into account the historical chronology of the appearance of certain films and genre varieties of comedy. Since the formation of film comedy in the 1920s – 1940s, a change in philosophical paradigms, the transformation of an eccentric principle, the formation of new artistic images and motives have been recorded. The attention of researchers to the problems of the relationship between society and the state, concepts and theories of the comedy principle in the context of government orders was also obvious. Particular attention of researchers was directed to the polymorphic nature of comedy, capable of combining lyricism and farcicalness, serious and frivolous, openly conditional and life-like. A number of speakers addressed to the individual elements of the comedy film poetics, the relationship between visual and sound, transformations of characters’ images, inclusions of theatrical forms, grotesque, and absurdity. Aspects of the film language of Sergei Gerasimov, Ivan Pyryev, Stanislav Barei, Edmond Keosanyan, Georgy Danelia, Leonid Gaidai were analyzed.

Bodily Transformations as a Sign of Personal Identity Loss of Heroes of World Literature Works of Second Half of XX — early XXI Centuries

The question of the self-identity crisis of the heroes of literary works at the turn of the century is considered. Particular attention is paid to the bodily transformations of characters as a sign of the loss of personal identity. The relevance of the study is due to the need to fill the existing lacunes in modern literary criticism on the problem of bodily metamorphosis, considered in the designated context. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that previously unexplored works of art by individual writers are analyzed. The authors offer an analysis of the most representative novels of the second half of the 20th — early 21st centuries: “The Last Dream of Reason” by D. Lipskerov, “Second Body” by M. Pavich, “Box Man” and “Alien Face” by Kobo Abe. An analysis of works through the prism of V. Podoroga’s phenomenological theory of corporeality is presented in the paper; special attention is paid to the concepts of “body without skin” and “body outside the norm”. The idea of physicality and identity of J. Baudrillard is also reflected in the work. It is proved that in the novels there are several ways of bodily modifications: moving to another body or object, changes in the functions of internal organs, fusion with an object, which is interpreted by the authors as a sign of the loss and fruitless search for the personal identity of the heroes.

НОВЫЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ ТВОРЧЕСТВА А.-Ф. ПРЕВО

The review deals with a few recent studies on the writings by the Antoine François Prévost and pay special attention to his novels The History of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut (1731), The History of young Commander (1741), and The Dean of Killerine (1735-1740). The reviewed works clarify some features of the genre of memoir-novel, examine functions of the free indirect discourse, outline the evolution of the conception of The Dean of Killerine (1735-1740), analyze «prison» as a particular space, and follow transformations of characters’ images.

PPOPER NAMES AS ONE OF THE WAYS OF EXPRESSION OF THE AUTHOR'S POSITION IN THE SYSTEM OF MEANS OF TEXT-FORMATION IN “THE SIXTH HOUR” (CHAS SHESTYI) TRILOGY BY V.I. BELOV

The article deals with the study of proper names as means of nomination, images of reality, and functional units of the main textual categories. The analysis of transformations of characters' names in various narrative forms in the subject organization of the novel allows to reveal the role of a character's proper name in the semantic aspect of the text.

Church, State and an Operatic Outlaw: Jules Massenet'sHérodiade

AbstractWhen Jules Massenet began work onHérodiadein the late 1870s, he likely expected to see his work premiered at the Paris Opéra. But the coveted Parisian premiere was not to be. Based on a liberal reworking of the infamous tale of Herod, Salome and John the Baptist,Hérodiadeundoubtedly challenges traditional Catholic doctrine. Yet Massenet's opera was not as ‘secular’ as it may seem. I argue here that it draws instead on a Republican-friendly brand of Catholicism that encouraged individual religiosity as an anticlerical strategy. Herein, I argue, lay the reasons whyHérodiadewas outlawed. It was not so much the libretto's liberal transformations of biblical characters as what those transformations represented both to the Catholic Church and to the French state: in the end the representation of a simultaneously Republican and Catholic Christ presented a dangerous analogue to the country's strained political situation.

Przemiana bohatera jako przykład prezentowania duchowości w filmie. Analiza psychologiczna

The article attempts to show various ways of presenting spirituality in film. The paper contains a review of selected theories concerning the construct of spirituality in psychology. The main part of the article is comprised of the analysis of spirituality in three American films ( The Green Mile , The Straight Story and Into the Wild ), each offering a bit different understanding of this notion. The Green Mile refers to universal problems of existence and the spirituality is shown in the direct form of the interventions of supernatural power. The Straight Story speaks of spirituality by telling a “straight” story of an elderly man who fights with his flaws and past failures which allows him to redefine his own identity. Into the Wild , which is also based on a true story, presents a rebellion against the materialism and consumerism of the contemporary world, and a travel which takes place both in physical and spiritual dimensions. The article contains also the analysis of spiritual transformations of the particular film characters.

Gradual vs. abrupt reduction of carpels in syncarpous gynoecia: A case study from Polyscias subg. Arthrophyllum (Araliaceae: Apiales).

Revealing the relative roles of gradual and abrupt transformations of morphological characters is an important topic of evolutionary biology. Gynoecia apparently consisting of one carpel have evolved from pluricarpellate syncarpous gynoecia in several angiosperm clades. The process of reduction can involve intermediate stages, with one fertile and one or more sterile carpels (pseudomonomery). The possible origin of monomery directly via an abrupt change of gynoecium merism has been a matter of dispute. We explore the nature of gynoecium reduction in a clade of Araliaceae. The anatomy and development of unilocular gynoecia are investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy in two members of Polyscias subg. Arthrophyllum. Gynoecium diversity in the genus is discussed in a phylogenetic framework. Unilocular gynoecia with one fertile ovule have evolved at least four times in Polyscias, including one newly discovered case. The two unilocular taxa investigated are unicarpellate, without any traces of reduced sterile carpels. Carpel orientation is unstable, and the ovary roof and style contain numerous vascular bundles without clearly recognizable dorsals or ventrals. In contrast to pluricarpellate Araliaceae and Apiaceae, the cross zone is apparently oblique in the unicarpellate species. No support was found for gradual gynoecium reduction via pseudomonomery. The abrupt origin of monomery via direct change of gynoecium merism and the unstable carpel orientation observed are related to the general lability of the flower groundplan in Polyscias. The apparent occurrence of the unusual oblique cross zone in unicarpellate Araliaceae can be explained by developmental constraints.

Cell-type phylogenetics and the origin of endometrial stromal cells.

A challenge of genome annotation is the identification of genes performing specific biological functions. Here, we propose a phylogenetic approach that utilizes RNA-seq data to infer the historical relationships among cell types and to trace the pattern of gene-expression changes on the tree. The hypothesis is that gene-expression changes coincidental with the origin of a cell type will be important for the function of the derived cell type. We apply this approach to the endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), which are critical for the initiation and maintenance of pregnancy. Our approach identified well-known regulators of ESCs, PGR and FOXO1, as well as genes not yet implicated in female fertility, including GATA2 and TFAP2C. Knockdown analysis confirmed that they are essential for ESC differentiation. We conclude that phylogenetic analysis of cell transcriptomes is a powerful tool for discovery of genes performing cell-type-specific functions.

Beduini i mieszkańcy miast na przykładzie Siratu Zat al-Himma i Księgi tysiąca i jednej nocy

Thought-provoking are transformations of characters of folk heroes of early siras after its passing from Bedouin milieu into cities. My reflection is confirmed by striking conformity of late-stage siras dated from XV-XVII centuries to Thousand and One Nights . Ethos is utterly changed. Instead of generous Bedouin-Knight, brave chief of tribe, champion of Islam, the main hero is the prevalent feudal ruler or smart rogue. The main tasks of their adventures is entertain their auditorium instead of hardening their faith. Instead of piousness, bravado (audacity) and superhuman strength, the most admirer their marks is shrewdness and cleverness. Instead of fair play in the fight – every device leading to victory, even by breaking rules of Islam.

High frequency of character transformations is phylogenetically structured within the lichenized fungal family Graphidaceae (Ascomycota: Ostropales)

ABSTRACTGraphidaceae is a large family of over 2000 predominantly tropical, lichenized fungal species encompassing a remarkable range of morphological and chemical diversity. The majority of species belongs in subfamily Graphidoideae, which also exhibits the greatest amount of variation. Various phenotype characters have traditionally been used for classification at the genus and species levels, but their correlations with phylogenetic clades are poorly known. Using a multilocus approach, we reconstructed a phylogeny for 224 taxa, representing all main genera within subfamily Graphidoideae, and employed ancestral character reconstruction and character transformation analyses to understand the evolution of morphological, anatomical and chemical characters within this group. In addition, we examined the changes of habitat and photobiont types over the phylogeny. For this purpose, we focused on 10 characters, including thallus and ascoma features and chemistry. Since previous studies have shown that results may differ depending on the reconstruction method used, both Maximum-parsimony and Maximum-likelihood approaches were employed and multistate coding of characters was used. We reconstructed the ancestral states for 64 well-supported major clades in the family and found support for the ancestor of Graphidoideae being a tropical species with a trentepohlioid photobiont, apothecioid, solitary ascomata lacking both a columella and lateral paraphyses, and having non-amyloid ascospores. The frequency of transformations of morphological and chemical characters over the phylogeny of Graphidaceae was computed, resulting in a high frequency of reversible transformations for some characters, such as secondary chemistry, whereas other characters, such as photobiont, hymenial persistence or ascoma aggregation, exhibited low frequency of transformations. However, we found that even in the character with the highest number of transformations, secondary chemistry, the shifts were highly structured phylogenetically, suggesting that the evolution of the character, rather than the character state itself, can be used to predict phylogenetic relationships with certain accuracy.

The mock modular data of a family of superalgebras

The modular properties of characters of representations of a family of W-superalgebras extending ĝl (1|1) are considered. Modules fall into two classes, the generic type and the non-generic one. Characters of non-generic modules are expressed in terms of higher-level Appell-Lerch sums. We compute the modular transformations of characters and interpret the Mordell integral as an integral over characters of generic representations. The C-span of a finite number of non-generic characters together with an uncountable set of characters of the generic type combine into a representation of SL(2;Z). The modular transformations are then used to define a product on the space of characters. The fusion rules of the extended algebras are partially inherited from the known fusion rules for modules of ĝl (1|1). Moreover, the product obtained from the modular transformations coincides with the product of the Grothendieck ring of characters if and only if the fusion multiplicities are at most one.

Od liryki do ekstazy: Chopinowskie repryzy-apoteozy i ich analogie w twórczości Liszta / From the Lyrical to the Ecstatic: Chopin’s Reprise-Apotheoses and Their Analogies in the Works of Liszt

The subject of the present study is a specific type of thematic metamorphosis, in which the initially lyrical theme transforms into its ecstatic or heroic, sublime alter ego and which usually appears as the final culmination of the work. Three questions were asked regarding Chopin: how did the evolution of the technique of thematic metamorphoses develop and what was its formal-expressive and aesthetic context like?; which technical and composing techniques can be regarded as characteristic of the technique of thematic metamorphoses?; and how does the relationship between Chopin’s conception of “reprise-apotheosis” and Liszt’s final “syntheses-apotheoses” develop? The object of observation are works of the mature stage of Chopin’s creative activity, representing narrative-dramatic genres: Ballad in G minor op. 23 (1833), Ballad in A flat major op. 47 (1841), Ballad in F minor op. 52 (1842-1843), Barcarolle in F sharp major op. 60 (1845--1846) and Polonaise-fantasia in A flat major op. 61 (1846). The first example of thematic metamorphosis in Chopin can be found in the Ballad in G minor. The place of thematic metamorphoses compared with the formal level of the work shows their more transformative than recapitulative function. In the Ballad in A flat major the tendency to strengthen the dramatic effect of thematic metamorphoses leads to an ecstatic reprise – the final apotheosis, the “last word” of the whole sequence of musical occurrences: the initial lyrical phrase undergoes a metamorphosis and returns in an ecstatic form in a short reprise, which is the ultimate culmination of the composition. The Ballad in F minor restores the serious, dramatic tone of the Ballad in G minor, as well as the conception of the metamorphosis of the second, lyrical theme; at the same time Chopin does not give up the tendency – developed in the Ballad A flat major – to place the metamorphosis of the lyrical into the ecstatic in the fi nal, reprise stage of the composition. In the works composed in the final stage of transformation of Chopin’s style the strategy demonstrated in the Ballad in A flat major was combined with the tendencies governing thematic metamorphoses in the Ballads in G minor and F minor. And thus, in the Barcarolle in F sharp major and in the Polonaise-fantasia in A flat major the principle of transformation of the lyrical into the ecstatic was combined with the tendency to return in the reprise of themes, originally expressed in different keys, to the primary key of the work. This is how the ending was composed, which can be called “reprise-apotheosis”. Lyrical themes, which return as transformed into ecstatic apotheoses in the reprise parts, show many features in common: they have triple meter, most of them being in trochaic rhythms; they are in major keys and are built in a similar way (they contain a motif consisting of an ascending pure fourth, after which follows a descending second). It is significant that all cases of thematic metamorphoses are present in those works by Chopin which suggest narrative-literary associations and can be interpreted as the musical metaphor of one of the most signifi cant archetypes in Polish Romanticism: transformations of the main characters in Adam Mickiewicz’s Konrad Wallenrod and Dziady [Forefathers’ Eve] and in Juliusz Sowacki’s Kordian. Chopin’s concept of the fi nal “grand apotheosis” anticipated Liszt’s sublime reprisesynthesis, which crowns the symphonic poem Les Preludes. Does, however, the clear chronological anticipation indicate Chopin’s infl uence? Or rather, the two masters may have developed the same type of musical narrative independently of each other? The Chopin-Liszt model of reprise-apotheosis became attractive to many composers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its impact, which infl uenced masters of the late Romantic piano concerto (Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov), also going beyond the boundaries of the genre. Skriabin broadened the principle of final apotheosis to include piano sonatas (IV Piano Sonata in F sharp major) and The Poem of Ecstasy, while Claude Debussy based the musical dramatics of The Island of Joy on the fascinating metamorphosis of the lyrical theme with an almost Chopinesque tone. Metamorphoses of the lyrical into the ecstatic can be found in many symphonic works of the fin de siècle (II Symphony by Karol Szymanowski, Variations on the Theme of Mozart by Max Reger), while the captivating finals of Rachmaninov’s concertos became an attractive model for George Gershwin (Piano Concerto in F major) and many composers of fim music.

Tooth morphology of Echimyidae (Rodentia, Caviomorpha): homology assessments, fossils, and evolution

Echimyidae constitute the most important radiation of caviomorph rodents in the Neotropical region, represented by 20 extant genera and several extinct species. Both in extant and fossil forms, this diversity is reflected by a significant morphological variation found in crown structures of the cheek teeth. Different hypotheses of primary homology have been proposed for these structures, which, in turn, support diverse dental evolutionary hypotheses. In this contribution we inspect the main structures (cusps and lophids) of the lower deciduous teeth and molars in extinct and extant Echimyidae, and establish their topological correspondences. Comparisons with cusps and lophids of Erethizontidae are emphasized. We explore the testing of alternative primary hypotheses of lophid correspondences in a cladistic context. Following a ‘dynamic’ approach, we select the hypothesis of primary homology, which produced the more parsimonious results, and evaluate the evolutionary transformations of the dental characters analysed. In this context, the phylogenetic relationships of living Myocastor coypus (Molina, 1782) with the extinct Tramyocastor and Paramyocastor are tested. Our results indicate that pentalophodonty is the derived condition for the lower molars in Echimyidae, that trilophodonty evolved independently at least three times during the evolutionary history of these rodents, and that tetralophodonty represents the plesiomorphic condition. This study shows that dental evolution in echimyids can be better understood when occlusal structures are expressed as reliably comparable characters, and when fossils are taken into account.

Invertebrate neurophylogeny: suggested terms and definitions for a neuroanatomical glossary.

BackgroundInvertebrate nervous systems are highly disparate between different taxa. This is reflected in the terminology used to describe them, which is very rich and often confusing. Even very general terms such as 'brain', 'nerve', and 'eye' have been used in various ways in the different animal groups, but no consensus on the exact meaning exists. This impedes our understanding of the architecture of the invertebrate nervous system in general and of evolutionary transformations of nervous system characters between different taxa.ResultsWe provide a glossary of invertebrate neuroanatomical terms with a precise and consistent terminology, taxon-independent and free of homology assumptions. This terminology is intended to form a basis for new morphological descriptions. A total of 47 terms are defined. Each entry consists of a definition, discouraged terms, and a background/comment section.ConclusionsThe use of our revised neuroanatomical terminology in any new descriptions of the anatomy of invertebrate nervous systems will improve the comparability of this organ system and its substructures between the various taxa, and finally even lead to better and more robust homology hypotheses.

The tale of two turns: Khrustalev, My Car! and the cinematic memory of the Soviet past

ABSTRACTThe essay offers a reading of Aleksei Iu. German's film Khrustalev, My Car! (1998) as a memory event. Khrustalev, My Car is discussed together with two other films about the Soviet past, The Cold Summer of 1953 (Aleksandr Proshkin, 1987) and Island (Pavel Lungin, 2006). Showing deep but reversible transformations of the central characters, each of these films develops in two turns: first from citizen into victim, then from victim into citizen. Crucial to this reading of Khrustalev, My Car! is a narratological analysis that distinguishes between several levels of narrated reality: what the narrator claims has happened in his fictional world; what he suggests could have happened; and what he could not possibly know but dreams about. Starting with the narrator's wet dream, culminating in the imagined scene of the gang rape of the father and ending with the wishful dream of the father's (and others') return from the camp, the film develops as an articulated, analytically unfolding work of mourning.

Transformations in dreaming and characters in the psychoanalytic field

Having reviewed certain similarities and differences between the various psychoanalytic models (historical reconstruction/development of the container and of the mind's metabolic and transformational function; the significance to be attributed to dream‐type material; reality gradients of narrations; tolerability of truth/lies as polar opposites; and the form in which characters are understood in a psychoanalytic session), the author uses clinical material to demonstrate his conception of a session as a virtual reality in which the central operation is transformation in dreaming (de‐construction, de‐concretization, and re‐dreaming), accompanied in particular by the development of this attitude in both patient and analyst as an antidote to the operations of transformation in hallucinosis that bear witness to the failure of the functions of meaning generation. The theoretical roots of this model are traced in the concept of the field and its developments as a constantly expanding oneiric holographic field; in the developments of Bion's ideas (waking dream thought and its derivatives, and the patient as signaller of the movements of the field); and in the contributions of narratology (narrative transformations and the transformations of characters and screenplays). Stress is also laid on the transition from a psychoanalysis directed predominantly towards contents to a psychoanalysis that emphasizes the development of the instruments for dreaming, feeling, and thinking. An extensive case history and a session reported in its entirety are presented so as to convey a living impression of the ongoing process, in the consulting room, of the unsaturated co‐construction of an emotional reality in the throes of continuous transformation. The author also describes the technical implications of this model in terms of forms of interpretation, the countertransference, reveries, and, in particular, how the analyst listens to the patient's communications. The paper ends with an exploration of the concepts of grasping (in the sense of clinging to the known) and casting (in relation to what is as yet undefined but seeking representation and transformation) as a further oscillation of the minds of the analyst and the patient in addition to those familiar from classical psychoanalysis.

Evolutionary transformations of fetal membrane characters in Eutheria with special reference to Afrotheria

Analysis of molecular data sets has provided new insights into higher-level relationships of living Eutheria, including the recognition of Afrotheria as a novel taxon. This offers an opportunity to take a fresh look at the evolution of organ systems, including some that are little used in traditional systematics. In the present study, we attempted a reconstruction of the evolution of characters associated with placentation, the fetal membranes and the female reproductive tract. The evolutionary history of 21 characters has been traced, based on a current hypothesis of eutherian relationships, by applying the computer program MacClade. Accordingly, the analysis provides a first comprehensive interpretation of the stem species pattern of Eutheria. Of particular note, this pattern includes an endotheliochorial chorioallantoic placenta. The reconstructed pattern of Eutheria does not change in the basal nodes of the group. Thus, no character transformations occur on the stem lineages of Laurasiatheria or Euarchontoglires, and even Afrotheria has mostly plesiomorphic character conditions. However, two character transformations occur on the common stem lineage of Afrotheria and its sister taxon Xenarthra, i.e., amniogenesis by cavitation instead of folding and the precocial state of the newborn. In addition, we recognized one character transformation on the stem lineage of Afrotheria, i.e., the occurrence of a four-lobed allantoic sac. Thus, contrary to previous assertions, it is possible to identify morphological characters that could be synapomorphic for this novel taxon.

Nonsemisimple Fusion Algebras and the Verlinde Formula

We find a nonsemisimple fusion algebra associated with each (1, p) Virasoro model. We present a nonsemisimple generalization of the Verlinde formula which allows us to derive from modular transformations of characters.