These Newcomes: William Makepeace Thackeray and Novelistic Particularity

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-480
Author(s):  
Timothy Gao
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Marriage Market ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
William Makepeace Thackeray ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Distant Reading ◽  
Reading Experience ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

Through a sustained close reading of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1855 novel The Newcomes, this essay examines three analogous types of particularity in the novel: the particularity of loved ones in the social network, of fictional persons in the literary work, and of the individual text. Drawing on recent sociological and network readings of Victorian narrative, I argue that Thackeray's plot about relationships in the marriage market is reflected (on the level of form) by the structural relation between characters and text, and (on the level of the reading experience) by the affective engagement of the reader to the novel. As characters encounter problems in replacing old relations (former lovers, deceased spouses, estranged relatives) with new ones, the novel raises analogous questions about the replaceability of characters as textual constructs or fictional persons, and of the novel itself as one experience among multitudes on offer in the nineteenth-century market. A tension between the continual or particular experience of an individual novel and the felt historical pressure of novels en masse registers in the text itself as a formal and narrative problem, one that leads us suggestively toward recent methodological debates about intimate and distant reading.

scholarly journals Особенности образа современного русского интеллигента на примере романа Алексея Варламова Затонувший ковчег (1997)

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Królikiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Crisis Period ◽  
Literary Research ◽  
Moral Perfection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Russian Intelligentsia ◽  
Reason And Faith ◽  
The Individual

The article focuses on the image of the modern Russian intellectual, depicted in the artistic text of Aleksey Varlamov, the Sunken Ark. Understanding the phenomenon of the Russian intelligentsia in the analysed literary work is associated with the problem of the opposition of reason and faith in the process of the personality formation of the modern intellectual. The analysis carried out in the text allows not only to trace and better understand the social processes of the crisis period in Russia, but also to notice their enormous impact on the consciousness of the main hero-intellectual Ilya Petrovich. The use of the methodology of historical and literary research in the work is adequate to the problems posed. The novel under analysis, as a kind of warning, has a deep philosophical undertone that touches upon the problems of faith, unbelief, freedom of the individual and the pursuit of moral perfection. Varlamov’s intellectual, as a typical “hero of our time”, regardless of his weakness, defenselessness and internal rupture, seems to be most needed in life.

The role of individual-social-technology fit in online social network value development: an empirical study

Info ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 66-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
ChienHsing Wu ◽  
Shu-Chen Kao ◽  
Hsin-Yi Liao
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Online Social Network ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Social Technology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Features ◽  
Individual Features ◽  
The Individual

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to reveal the role of individual–social–technology fit in online social network (OSN) value development. The social software features (e.g. communication and interaction), social features (e.g. privacy and trust) and individual features (e.g. sense of belonging and self-disclosure) are considered fitting forms to describe the OSN value. Implications and suggestions are addressed. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review on social software, the social and individual characteristics and the research gap with respect to OSN value is presented. The research arguments are then hypothesized, and research model used to describe the proposed role is examined empirically. The research targeted mobile phone users as the subjects, and the extent of the activities of these users on OSN for both work and studies. A salient investigation explores the moderation effect of gender. The research results are obtained, and the findings are revealed on the basis of 468 social software users. Findings – The significant effect of individual–social–technology fit on OSN value development is presented through the satisfaction of both participation and sharing information, and knowledge about this fit is verified. The interplay of social software, social and individual features contributes significantly to individual–social–technology fit development, implying that OSN value development is not a single issue. OSN value development should be considered concurrently with technological, personal and social issues. Research limitations/implications – The empirical study confirms that fitness analysis produces a systematic outcome, in which all elements (e.g. social, technology and individual) are required to cooperate with one another to maximize the OSN value. An individual adopts online channels to communicate with others; thus, the benefits may be a multidimensional issue instead of only a single information service issue. They also consider building an equal social relationship to be important, as it enables diverse propositions, maintains acceptable privacy and behaves on faith to enhance the fit of technology features and individual features to value development. The subjects also likely accepted the fact that emotion generation is important for the advantage of fit of technology features and social features, thereby likely benefitting OSN value development. Originality/value – The OSN does not only add new values to the society but also brings new effects on social development, especially in terms of social cognition from virtual community formation, development and creation. Although existing studies in the literature present the important aspects and antecedents linked significantly to OSN value development, these studies also insufficiently discuss the effect of fit of these facets on OSN value development. This exploratory study mainly aims to propose and examine the individual–social–technology fit model through an empirical investigation. The main argument of the study is that when a positive and healthy virtual society is developed through social software, the individual and social characteristics, as well as the social software features, should be defined with a suitable fit to promote the social networking value.

scholarly journals Offspring social network structure predicts fitness in families

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1749) ◽  
pp. 4914-4922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick J. Royle ◽  
Thomas W. Pike ◽  
Philipp Heeb ◽  
Heinz Richner ◽  
Mathias Kölliker
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Social Network Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

Social structures such as families emerge as outcomes of behavioural interactions among individuals, and can evolve over time if families with particular types of social structures tend to leave more individuals in subsequent generations. The social behaviour of interacting individuals is typically analysed as a series of multiple dyadic (pair-wise) interactions, rather than a network of interactions among multiple individuals. However, in species where parents feed dependant young, interactions within families nearly always involve more than two individuals simultaneously. Such social networks of interactions at least partly reflect conflicts of interest over the provision of costly parental investment. Consequently, variation in family network structure reflects variation in how conflicts of interest are resolved among family members. Despite its importance in understanding the evolution of emergent properties of social organization such as family life and cooperation, nothing is currently known about how selection acts on the structure of social networks. Here, we show that the social network structure of broods of begging nestling great tits Parus major predicts fitness in families. Although selection at the level of the individual favours large nestlings, selection at the level of the kin-group primarily favours families that resolve conflicts most effectively.

scholarly journals Translating Tenor: With Reference to the English Versions of Hong Lou Meng

2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zequan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Social ◽  
Hong Lou Meng ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cultural Features

Abstract The objective of this paper is to see how the Chinese tenor as exhibited by the use of titles and honorifics in the classic novel Hong Lou Meng is translated in its five English versions. I shall compare the translations of several dialogues from the novel with special reference to the tenor-markers. By adopting House’s interpersonal equivalence as a criterion to measure the social distance and power between the dyads as shown by the tenor in both the SL conversations and their respective TL versions, I shall investigate the relationship between the interpersonal equivalence that is acquired in the TT and the strategies that are adopted to translate the dialogues. The argument put forward here is that in order to produce a translation that not only reads fluently but also retains the linguistic and cultural features of a foreign literary work, foreignising should be adopted as a mainstream rather than exclusive strategy, with assistance drawn from domesticating solutions.

scholarly journals Translating Semiotic “Polyphony” of Texts as a Culture-Formative Creation

Tertium ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-169
Author(s):  
Caterina Squillace
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
The Social ◽  
Roman Jakobson ◽  
The Master And Margarita

“The Master and Margarita” is generally considered Mikhail Bulgakov’s literary masterpiece. It is a “melting pot” of literary genres, motives, themes, imagery and intertextual references. All these elements cooperate in creating a “polyphonic” novel, in Bakhtin’s sense of the word, not only when it comes to the different nature and “voice” of single characters but also with reference to the “poly-structured” construction of the text itself. The paper will illustrate the peculiarity of Bulgakov’s novel and the semiotic and semiosic character of his creation. The adjective “semiosic” derives from “semiosis” as defined, among others, by C.S. Peirce, who stresses the meaning-making “power” of some semiotic processes. The paper aims also at answering the question why this novel has been translated several times into Polish and Italian since 1967 (when the first edition of the novel was published in Western Europe). Due to the very specific construction of the plot and of the formal aspects of the novel, translators had to deal with a significant number of problems of “untranslatability” that they could solve only by using their creative potential. It was Roman Jakobson who through his linguistic analysis reached the conclusion that for the untranslatable—poetry for example—“Only creative transposition is possible”. Using creativity translators were also able to discover further interpretations of Bulgakov’s literary work and to perform a culture-formative act as their efforts offer new points of view on reality and its perception, wider knowledge of the social life not only in Soviet times but in a more universal perspective as well as new models of text and literariness. That’s why a novel like Bulgakov’s masterpiece has been translated so many times and it is still translated in the two languages selected for the purposes of this research and all over the world. And this is also the reason why it can be considered a meaning-generative and culture-formative text even if its first edition appeared in 1940.  

scholarly journals Marital Failure As a Social Reality in Sidney Sheldon’s Novel The Other Side of Midnight

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidayati . ◽  
Zuindra . ◽  
Arifuddin . ◽  
Aflina . ◽  
Zainab MZ
Keyword(s):  
Field Research ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Strongly Agree ◽  
Strong Agreement

This research deals with literary works as a medium for conveying reality of social problems through Sydney Sheldon’s novel The Other Side of Midnight. One of the issues depicted in the novel is marital failure. The husband, as one of the characters in the novel, has a prestigious job, a pilot; and with an appealing appearance, he easily gets beautiful women around him. There are some various causal factors as the triggers of marital failure such as infidelity, career, selfishness, social welfare, age education, and financial problems; however in this research, the causal factors of marital failure discussed are triggered by infidelity, career, and selfishness. The method used is mixed, qualitative and quantitative. The combination of both designs provides a more detailed description, information and understanding of the object of study. Quantitative method is related to numerical variables which are further described through qualitative design. The number of respondents is 40 and selected randomly in Medan city. The social and cultural background is adapted to the object of research. The results show that there are three main factors causing marital failure in the novel: infidelity, career and selfishness. The findings of the research are in line with the field research. 97.5% of respondents agree that literary work is a medium for disclosing social problems; 2.5% express support. In the case of marital failure as a social problem, 97.5 respondents state a strong agreement and 2.5% express support. In things related to the trigger of marital failure: infidelity, career and selfishness, 100% of respondents strongly agree.

scholarly journals Standardized Methods of Assessment of Individual’s Social Network in Social Work and Psychological Practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
Psychological Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Function ◽  
Theoretical Overview

This article is a theoretical overview of the main standardized techniques for assessment of the social relations of the individual. The study of these techniques allows professionals to get the basic information about the microsocial environment of people. Theoretical analysis shows that the study of the social network of an individual involves the analysis of its structure, composition and function of its components. Described and analyzed the most common techniques for assessment of human social networks - "Name generator", "Drawing a social network", "Inventory of Social Network" (K. Bartholomew), "Social Networks Inventory " (Treadwell T. and co.), "Social Network Index "( L. Berkman, S. Syme), "Social Network List" (B. Hirsch, J. Stokes). Separately, the method of drawing up clients structured diary and method network card are shown.

scholarly journals Film jako instalacja. Przestrzeń, narracja i afekt w ekspozycji Mieke Bal „Madame B".

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-66
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Rejniak-Majewska
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Video Installation ◽  
Continuous Version ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
Time Flow ◽  
The Social ◽  
Specific Position ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article discusses the construction of space and the position of the viewer in the video installation Madame B. Explorations in Emotional Capitalism, presented at the turn of 2013 at the Museum of Art in Łódź. Directed and designed by Mieke Bal and Michelle Williams Gamaker, the installation was produced in parallel with a full feature film of the same title. Both the installation and the film constitute an intersemiotic translation of a literary work – Gustave Flaubert’sMadame Bovary. Part of the inspiration for this experiment was the proto-cinematic quality of Flaubert’s style (narrative simultaneity resembling parallel editing, the suppression of drama, dissolution of the time-flow). The museum installation, with its use of dark exhibition space and multiscreen projection, provided an innovative interpretation of the novel by bringing to the fore its acute audio-visuality: the non-verbal level of meaning found in the presentation of material surroundings, fashion, gesture, facial expressions, sound, tone, and tempo of action. In this respect, the exhibition had an advantage over the continuous version of the feature film, which tends to focus the viewer’s attention more directly on the plot. In the case of the museum installation, the narrative continuity was disregarded in favor of the affective resonance of selected scenes from Emma’s life. Walking through a series of episodes split across nineteen screens, the viewer had to choose his or her own way through a complex narrative (the whole comprised 450 min. of filmic material), so in a sense it was the viewer who “performed the piece”. The narrative of Madame B. partly diverged from Flaubert’s story to bring it closer to our times. The anachronistic intermingling of the 19th century and contemporary realities set it away from the conventions of costume movies and suggested the actuality of Emma’s story – its relevance for contemporary questions of “emotional capitalism”. These anachronisms and the spatialization of the narrative occasioned a specific position for the viewer, who, despite the immersive effect of the images, remained conscious of his or her participatory presence here and now. Thus, while attending to the scenes of Emma’s life, the viewer might also reflect on the emotional effects they raised in him/herself. This analytic outlook did not necessarily inhibit the viewer’s sympathetic engagement with the protagonists’ emotions and experiences, but gave it a more informed character. The spatial arrangement of images, as well as the situations performed in several episodes, also invited reflections on the social function of looking and being seen. In this sense, the installation may be counted as a part of Mieke Bal’s practice of visual culture analysis.

scholarly journals Critical Dystopia: Local Narrative in the Threshold in Ahmed Khaled Towfik’s Utopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-194
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
System Structure ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
Critical Orientation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Knowledge Memory ◽  
Critical Dystopia

This study is an exploration of critical dystopia within a postmodern context. Literary and historical viewpoints associate dystopia with the failed utopia of twentieth-century totalitarianism manifested in regimes of extreme coercion, inequality, and slavery. Raffaella Baccolini and Tom Moylan, of whose perspective this study makes use, theorize that critical dystopia provides a potential for change through rejecting the traditional dystopian ending marked by the subjugation of the individual. Problematizing critical dystopia further, the study proposes that the critical orientation of this sub-genre originates mainly from the “local narrative” of a subject whose agency generates from his position in the “threshold” between those in and under control, combined with the “counter-conducts” he uses to acquire knowledge, memory, and awakened consciousness. As a full agent, the subject resists the “utopian” “metanarrative” of an oppressive system/structure and offers possibilities of meaning in a process of “différance” which entails a potential for change. This proposition is clarified through the close reading of Ahmed Khaled Towfik’s Utopia (2011; first published in Arabic in 2008). The novel is discussed as a critical dystopian text in which Gaber, the subject in the “threshold,” opposes the totalitarian regime of Utopia in his “local narrative.”

scholarly journals BODY IDENTITY IN BOHUMIL HRABAL’S NOVEL “I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND”

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bokshan Halyna
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
Scientific Paper ◽  
The Body ◽  
Mirror Reflection ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
History Of The Body ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Aesthetic

The purpose of the paper is to examine the specificity of the modeling of the character-narrator’s body identity in B. Hrabal’s novel “I Served the King of England”. Firstly it stresses on the body-centered nature of the narration in this literary work, in which the evolution of personality is represented as “a history of the body”. The study focuses on the techniques of restructurizing “the body scheme” and the manifestation of psychophysiological transgression caused by the existing “archetypal canons”. It traces the correlation of the semantics of the body identity with the aesthetic categories of the beautiful and the ugly and with gender differentiation. The paper also considers gastronomy as one of the aspects of bodiliness in B. Hrabal’s novel. It details the poetics of grotesque which manifests itself in the descriptions of the body emphasizing its objectiveness. The study looks at the Rabelaisian traditions followed by the writer in the depiction of the scenes connected with eating both everyday food and exotic dishes. The research underlines that the body in B. Hrabal’s novel is displayed as a genetic data medium, visualized through physical characteristics, that highlights the social arrangement of the body identity problems. It pays attention to the social function of a human face in archaic societies originally interpreted in the novel. The research determines the peculiarities of the space marking of the body in the literary work and its correlation with the binary opposition “top–bottom”. It looks at the formation of the body identity by means of a mirror reflection and the image of the double. The conclusions of the research emphasize the specificity of the modeling of the body identity in the novel of the Czech writer. The results of this scientific paper can be used in further research on B. Hrabal literary prose and in comparative studie

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