scholarly journals ‘A Gentle Creature’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Author As an Observer, an Interpreter and a Fantasist

2021 ◽  
pp. 106-114
Author(s):  
Oleg Kovalev
Keyword(s):  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Previous Issue ◽  
Actual Case ◽  
Fyodor Dostoevsky ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Writing Strategy ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Narrative Model ◽  
Original Interpretation

Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story “A Gentle Creatureˮ, first published by the writer in 1876 as the November issue of his “Diary of a Writerˮ, is usually viewed in the context of the author's discourse on suicide contained in the previous issue of The “Diary of a Writerˮ, where the writer’s lot is described as an in-depth interpretation of life. At the same time, the theme of suicide is also brought up in connection with the overwhelming task of interpreting the event. However, the writer ultimately changed his writing strategy to produce “A Gentle Creatureˮ. Basing the story on an actual case of a suicide committed by a young woman amplified with autobiographical details, Dostoevsky develops a narrative model with complexity exceeding that of the original interpretation of the fact while in its essence being equivalent to the complexity of reality itself. The images of a straight line and a dot, employed by the author to interpret the event and the text of the short story, demonstrate that the author sees as a problem converting true-life information into a compressed narrative. Thus, in his short story “A Gentle Creatureˮ Dostoevsky offers the reader a model as complex as the life itself.

Prozatorul Radu Stanca

Transilvania ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 70-73
Author(s):  
Mirela Nagâț
Keyword(s):  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Love Story

The present study discusses the only attempt Radu Stanca made to become a prose writer: „The Black Deck”, posthumous short story published in 1975 in Manuscriptum. The origins of this text, revealed by his correspondence with I. Negoițescu, consist in a double crisis: a personal one (a failed love story with german young woman) and a social one, deriving from the communist regime installed in the late 40’s, which brought him an existential seizure.

scholarly journals RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS IN “THE DREAM OF A RIDICULOUS MAN” BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Klyukina
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Saint Augustine ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
Fyodor Dostoevsky ◽  
Universal Salvation ◽  
Hermeneutic Approach

Staying in the framework of the hermeneutic approach, this article reveals and analyses the religious and philosophical ideas of Saint Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions in the text of Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”. This study demonstrates that Dostoevsky, while staying within the boundaries of contemporary culture, independently comprehended such universal ideas and problems as the origin of evil, free will, theodicy and salvation, which were first formulated in the European philosophical tradition by Saint Augustine. The author concludes that the idea of unbounded free will and universal salvation, offered by Dostoevsky who demonstrated that rejecting individual freedom is justified only for the sake of said salvation, profoundly influenced Russian religious philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov.

scholarly journals Wanjiru’s Search for self in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s “Minutes of Glory”

Afrika Focus ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
Owen G. Mordaunt
Keyword(s):  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Identity Problem ◽  
Female Self ◽  
Forced Landing ◽  
Search For Self

This paper deals with Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s portrayal of the protagonist in his short story “Minutes of Glory”. Wanjiru finds herself trapped in an urban setting and is a victim of her situation and low self-esteem. The story is a poignant and touching study of this young woman who is battling with an identity problem and is seeking acceptance in a post-independence setting where women are exploited by men of the New Africa elite. She is regarded as “a wounded bird in flight: a forced landing now and then but nevertheless wobbling from place to place …” The story affirms female self-realization rather than perpetual self-alienation, and that validates the persistence in attaining her desired goal.

scholarly journals Wanjiru's Research for Self in Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "Minutes of Glory"

Afrika Focus ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen G. Mordaunt
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Identity Problem ◽  
Female Self ◽  
Forced Landing

This paper deals with Ngugi wa Thiong'o's portrayal of the protagonist in his short story "Minutes of Glory". Wanjiru finds herself trapped in an urban setting and is a victim of her situation and low self-esteem. The story is a poignant and touching study of this young woman who is battling with an identity problem and is seeking acceptance in a post-independence setting where women are exploited by men of the New Africa elite. She is regarded as "a wounded bird in flight: a forced landing now and then but nevertheless wobbling from place to place ..." The story affirms female self-realization rather than perpetual self-alienation, and that validates the persistence in attaining her desired goal. KEY WORDS: Kenya, literature, psychology, short story 

scholarly journals "Ett löfte om lycka"

2022 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sjöberg
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Honore De Balzac ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Aesthetic Theory ◽  
Beautiful Woman ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Strong Statement ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Traditional Understanding ◽  
Complex Subject

In this essay, I explore an innovative theme in the interfaces between theology, gender studies, aesthetic theory, and literary studies. More specifically, my aim is to shed light on fundamental theological conflicts underlying the immensely complex subject of the elevated status of "the beautiful woman" as image and idea in Western society. This will be implemented through a close reading of the influential short story of French nineteenth-century novelist Honoré de Balzac, Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu (The Unknown Masterpiece), from 1831. By virtue of this theologically informed reading, important facets of modern Western society's fantasy of the beautiful woman come to the fore. The essay discloses how this fantasy has far-reaching tentacles and ramifications, by which the beautiful female becomes identified with beauty per se, with art, nature, the divine, and even with life itself. Balzac's short story presents the reader with a strong statement of the scopophilic tendency of Western visual arts, but in its final peripeteia it also provides us with the tools to bring forth a contrary reading, and a direct confrontation with the traditional understanding of the task of the painter.

Evening Primrose

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robynn J. Stilwell
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
York City ◽  
Department Store ◽  
Text Setting ◽  
Evening Primrose ◽  
Modern Condition

Stephen Sondheim’s 1966 television musicalEvening Primroseis an intriguing snapshot that captures a number of intersecting impulses: Sondheim’s own predilection toward mystery, fantasy, and the macabre; the shifting ground of mid-century popular culture, both in style and medium; and a yearning for the urban pastoral, an escape from the urbanization, mechanization, and alienation of the modern condition, particularly in New York City. Charles is a poet who escapes into a department store; there, he discovers an aging, alternative society that lives in fear of “the Dark Men,” and a young woman, Ella, who was lost in the store as a child and is now entrapped as a servant. Sondheim’s score both reflects the prose of John Collier’s fantastical epistolary short story and foreshadows Sondheim’s own distinctive text-setting and musical-thematic relationships.

The subconscious in James Joyce's `Eveline': a corpus stylistic analysis that chews on the `Fish hook'

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran O'Halloran
Keyword(s):  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Stylistic Analysis ◽  
Stanley Fish ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Fish Hook ◽  
Do So

In James Joyce's short story, `Eveline', a young woman is thinking about a new life away from an unhappy existence which involves caring for a violent father. In the story, Eveline is to elope with Frank to Buenos Aires, but Eveline fails to join him on the night boat. This story has attracted much critical attention. In particular, commentators have picked up on the faint clues throughout that Eveline is not going to leave her home. It is as though Eveline's subconscious is communicating this while she is consciously reflecting on whether to elope with Frank. But how can such clues be identified in a systematic way whilst responding to the familiar charges made by Stanley Fish that stylistic analysis and interpretation is arbitrary and circular? In this article, I perform a corpus-informed stylistic analysis of `Eveline' in order to reveal some of these subconscious intimations whilst reducing as much as possible arbitrariness and circularity in analysis and interpretation. To do so, I build on formal insights into `Eveline' provided in Michael Stubbs's corpus-informed analysis by proceeding to a more functional exploration of the story.

scholarly journals NARRATIVE SPECIFICITY OF THE SHORT STORY "HEY YOU, LITTLE BARRELL..." BY V. VYNNYCHENKO

2021 ◽  
pp. 6-17
Author(s):  
A. Horban
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Narrative Technique ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
Narrative Perspective ◽  
Detailed Classification ◽  
Narrative Distance ◽  
Narrative Model

The paper discusses the methodological potential of narratology that extends beyond the boundaries of traditional poetics taking the text of Volodymyr Vynnychenko’s short story "Hey you, little barrell..." as a case study. G. Genette’s definitions of the basic categories of narratology, such as story, discourse, anachronies, narrator’s types and functions, narrative distance and focalization are discussed. First and foremost, categories and paradigms introduced by G. Genette increase the possibilities of literary analysis. For example, there is no concept of a subject of vision (a focalizer) in traditional poetics. The paradigm of narrative perspective (focalization) developed by G. Genette is very important for studies of the narratives, besides, the narrative technique of modernism without this category is incomprehensible at all. Traditional poetics does not pay enough attention to anachrony, considering it together with other "off-plot elements", although analepsis and prolepsis are neither discursive nor descriptive. G. Genette presents detailed classification of analepsises and prolepsises, that determines the functionality of the analysis in context. Secondly, the paper clarifies, that the method of G. Genette’s narratology is not limited to tracing narrative categories as elements – it is also about their constant interrelation, i.e. the narrative model of the stories. Vynnychenko’s short story is analyzed in terms of correlations between telling, showing and talking, as well as displays of character’s discourse and attributive discourse. The artistic viability of anachronies (analepses and prolepses) is examined in the compositional and semantic aspects. The paper focuses on some specific features of Vynnychenko’s narrative style, such as dominance of mimesis over diegesis, as well as narrative distance and the author’s self-elimination by means of focalization (both the internal and external one) that are typical for modernist writing.

scholarly journals Analisis Skema Aktansial dan Model Fungsional Greimas pada Cerita Pendek Tsuru no Ongaeshi

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-231
Author(s):  
Budi Santoso ◽  
Diah Soelistyowati
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Single Event ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Transformation Stage ◽  
Narrative Model

AbstractA short story is one of the literary works that is not very long and generally focuses on a single event with one or two characters. This paper tries to describe the narrative structure in the story ツルの恩返し. Source of data uses short story ツルの恩返し, taken from  https://www.wasabi-jpn.com. The research approach uses structuralism especially Greimas’s actantial scheme  and the functional narrative model. The results show that the short story ツルの恩返し  formed by one functional narrative model and 6  actual schemes. The functional narrative model consists of initial situation, transformation stage (qualifying test, main test, glorifying test), and the final situation. From 6 actan schemes, there are 4 complete actantial schemes and 2 incomplete actantial schemes (actantial schemes without opponent). There are 6 acting roles that make up the short story ツルの恩返し;sender, receiver, subjects, objects,  helpers,  and opponent .

Different Dimensions Of Women In The Short Stories Of O’henry’s The Skylight Room And The Last Leaf

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 472-476
Author(s):  
M JENCY GLORY
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Young Woman ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Single Leaf ◽  
Good Will ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Basic Characteristics ◽  
Story Writer

American writers began by unique ways of expressing their experience.  American literature demonstrated the basic characteristics of all kinds of literature such as characters, plots, settings, images and themes.  In this way William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O’Henry, was an American short story writer.  His stories were known for their surprise endings. The short story The Skylight Room was about a young woman, Miss Leeson and she stayedat one of Mrs. Parker’s parlour. During her outstayed, Miss Leeson happened to swim in hard stormy times and was later rescued by a star.  Henry’s another short story The Last Leaf contained the theme of commitment, sacrifice, friendship, compassion, hope and dedication. In this story there were three painters mentioned Sue, Johnsy and Behrman who were committed to something.  Very early in this story Johnsy suffered by Pneumonia and she abandonedany hope of living.  She stared the vine leaves through the window and she herself concluded that her last breath is decided only by the last leaf of the vine.  Sue, her friend made plans to makeJohnsy come out of fear.  With the help of Behrman she rebuilt hope in Johnsy.  Behrman has paid his own life in order to save the life of Johnsy.  The single leaf that he had painted on the wall became his masterpiece.  The last leaf had given her hope of living and perished her pessimistic heart and made her to fight against the problem.  Through these stories O’Henry sketched the different dimensions of women such as fear, judgement, selfish, kind-heart, virtue, perseverance, mystery, gay-heart, optimistic heart, confidence, good will and contentment.

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