scholarly journals “Being Human”: Edward Bond’s Theories of Drama

Text Matters ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 307-329
Author(s):  
David Allen ◽  
Agata Handley
Keyword(s):  
Psychological State ◽  
Human Soul ◽  
World War Two ◽  
World War ◽  
Ground Zero ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
The Impact

The playwright Edward Bond has recalled the impact of seeing photographs of Nazi atrocities at the end of World War Two: “It was the ground zero of the human soul.” He argues we need a different kind of drama, based in “a new interpretation of what it means to be human.” He has developed an extensive body of theoretical writings to set alongside his plays. Arguably, his own reflections on “what it means to be human” are based in his reaction to the Holocaust, and his attempt to confront “the totality of evil.”Bond argues we are born “radically innocent.” There is a “pre-psychological” state of being. The neonate does not “read” ideology; it has to use its own imagination to make sense of the world. To enter society, however, the child must be corrupted; its imagination is “ideologized.” Bond claims that “radical innocence” can never wholly be lost. Through drama, we can escape “ideology” and recover our “autonomy.” It leads us to confront extreme situations, and to define for ourselves “what it means to be human.” The terms of Bond’s theory are Manichean (innocent-corrupt, autonomous-ideologized etc.). His arguments are based in the assumption that there is a fundamental “humanity” that exists prior to socialization. In fact, the process of socialization begins at birth. As an account of child development, “radical innocence” does not stand up to close scrutiny. Arguably, however, Bond’s work escapes the confines of his own theory. It can be read, not in terms of the “ideologized” vs. the “autonomous” mind, but rather, in terms of “conscious” and “unconscious.” In Coffee (2000), Bond takes character of Nold on a journey into the Dantean hell of his own unconscious. He does not recover his “innocence,” but, rather, he has to face the darkness of both history and the psyche.

scholarly journals The power of memory and the heritage of the World War Two in When You Return by Anna Mitgutsch

2021 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Aneta Jurzysta
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Sudden Death ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Jewish American ◽  
World War Two ◽  
World War ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to the image of World War Two in When You Return (Wenn du wiederkommst) (2010) by Anna Mitgutsch, a moving story of love, trust and betrayal, devoted to the protagonist’s response to the sudden death of her Jewish-American ex-husband Jerome. The article discusses the attitude to Jewish roots and the problem of remembering past events, especially memories of World War Two. In her novel the author combines family history with the history of the country, refers to the issue of cultural and collective memory, and especially to the specific Austrian memory of the events of the Holocaust and the long-standing tendency to diminish the guilt and to negate the participation of Austrians in war crimes.

scholarly journals A Quick Glimpse into Communism and Anti-Nationalism in Kedah Before the World War Two

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Kasri bin Saidon ◽  
Zolkefli bin Bahador ◽  
Khaliza binti Saidin
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
World War Two ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
World War ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
The World

This paper is a brief review on social situation in Tanah Melayu (Malaysia), specifically in the state of Kedah, prior to World War Two. Generally, the situation and social understanding in Kedah was influenced by the influx of immigrants especially the Chinese who came for economic reasons.  These immigrants brought with them the culture and the way of life in the Mainland China. This, in a way, affected people’s lives in Kedah. With the strong support from the Chinese, communism began to make its mark among other ethnic groups in the society. The Triads culture became strong and it lead to other anti-national activities. This, in turn, affected the economic, political, and social influence. All these aspects seemed to have become the foundation of a bigger influence after the surrender of Japan. They have also become the foundation for social equality and differences during   the Emergency period from 1948-1960.

‘Bais Yaakov, Let Us Walk in the Light of the Lord’

2019 ◽  
pp. 205-224
Author(s):  
Naomi Seidman
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
North America ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Rapid Rate ◽  
World War ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come ◽  
Second World

This chapter details the phenomenology of the Bais Yaakov movement during the Holocaust and after. The experiment that was Bais Yaakov was still expanding at a rapid rate and had hardly had a chance to come into its own when it fell victim to the destruction of European Jewry. Despite the disbanding of Bais Yaakov schools with the outbreak of the Second World War, numerous memoirs and histories of the movement attest to its continued clandestine activity during the war years. The networks forged in the interwar movement aided in the rapid re-emergence of Bais Yaakov schools and Bnos groups in the immediate aftermath of the war. Bais Yaakov established itself more permanently after the Holocaust in the centres of Orthodox life throughout the world, particularly in North America and Israel. Bais Yaakov schools had already been founded in both countries during the interwar period, and the Beth Jacob High School established in 1938 by Sarah Schenirer's student Vichna Kaplan operated under the authority of the Central Office in Europe.

Overview: Toward a Better World for Our Grandchildren

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hamburg ◽  
Beatrix A. Hamburg
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
First Century ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
The Internet ◽  
World War ◽  
Small Arms ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Killing Fields ◽  
The World ◽  
Prime Problem

The growing destructive capacities of humanity make this the prime problem of the twenty-first century. How we cope with this problem will have a profound bearing on the world of our grandchildren. The twentieth century was the bloodiest ever. World War II caused at least 50 million deaths. Six million died in the Holocaust. At Hiroshima, one bomb caused 100,000 deaths. Now thousands of such bombs (smaller and more conveniently transportable tactical bombs) are housed in Russia. Many are poorly guarded, susceptible to theft and bribery. Others may be made elsewhere. Danger increases with the number of such weapons existing in the world.Why? There is a greater chance of error, theft, and bribery—and ultimately their use in war or terrorism. Therefore, we should diminish the numbers as much as we can and secure responsible stewardship for those that remain. Moreover, there are still thousands of nuclear weapons that are far more powerful than the smaller tactical weapons. Biological and chemical weapons are easier to make than nuclear warheads and therefore have special appeal to terrorists. Small arms and light weapons now cover the world wall-to-wall. They include highly lethal machine guns, mortars, automatic rifles, and rocket launchers. Altogether, the destructive capacity of humanity is almost beyond imagination. Moreover, there is an exciting effect of today’s vast weapons on political demagogues, religious fanatics, and ethnic haters—and plenty of them exist in the world. Incitement to hatred and violence can occur with radio, TV, the Internet, and many other media. Thus, we can more powerfully incite violence, utilize more lethal weapons, and do much more damage than ever imaginable before. No group is so small or so far away as to prevent it from doing immense damage anywhere. The time has come to move beyond complacency, fatalism, denial, and avoidance. We must urgently seek to understand and strengthen an array of institutions and organizations that have the capacity to use tools and strategies to prevent deadly conflict. The first author (D.A.H.) considered many such possibilities in his recent book, No More Killing Fields: Preventing Deadly Conflict. Overall, this gives humanity a greater range of possibilities than ever before for building a system for preventing war and genocide. It will not be easy.

scholarly journals The Syrkus couple and the global cause of modernism

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-508
Author(s):  
Martin Kohlrausch
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Nation State ◽  
World War ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
New Nation ◽  
The Impact

This article discusses the role of modernist architects in Poland during the first half of the twentieth century. The article argues that against the background of economic catching-up processes and the establishment of a new nation state and capital, modernist architects could enter into a close relationship with the modernising state. This relationship could partially survive World War II, albeit under different auspices. By employing the example of Poland’s foremost modernist architect Szymon Syrkus and his wife Helena, and their extensive correspondence with other Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne architects, the article discusses, moreover, the impact of the deep breaks coming with the rise of authoritarian regimes in the 1930s, the coming World War and the Holocaust, and finally the establishment of communist regimes on modernist architects.

John Lehmann’s War Effort: The Penguin New Writing (1940–1950)

2020 ◽  
pp. 250-272
Author(s):  
Tessa Thorniley
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Elizabeth Bowen ◽  
World War Two ◽  
World War ◽  
Graham Greene ◽  
Literary Periodicals ◽  
The World ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Rosamond Lehmann

John Lehmann’s The Penguin New Writing (1940-1950) is considered one of the finest literary periodicals of World War Two. The journal was committed to publishing writing about all aspects of wartime life, from the front lines to daily civilian struggles, by writers from around the world. It had an engaged readership and a high circulation. This chapter specifically considers Lehmann’s contribution to the wartime heyday for the short story form, through the example of The Penguin New Writing. By examining Lehmann’s editorial approach this chapter reveals the ways he actively engaged with his contributors, teasing and coaxing short stories out of them and contrasts this with the editorial style of Cyril Connolly at rival Horizon magazine. Stories by, and Lehmann’s interactions with, established writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Henry Green and Rosamond Lehmann, the emerging writer William Sansom and working-class writers B.L Coombs and Jim Phelan, are the main focus of this chapter. The international outlook of the journal, which promoted satire from China alongside short, mocking works by Graham Greene, is also evaluated as an often overlooked aspect of Lehmann’s venture. Through the short stories and Lehmann’s editorials, this chapter traces how Lehmann sought to shape literature and to elevate the short story form. The chapter concludes by considering how the decline of the short story form in Britain from the 1950s onwards was closely linked to the demise of the magazines which had most actively supported it.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and US Foreign Relations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Cross
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
American People ◽  
World War ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

Franklin D. Roosevelt was US president in extraordinarily challenging times. The impact of both the Great Depression and World War II make discussion of his approach to foreign relations by historians highly contested and controversial. He was one of the most experienced people to hold office, having served in the Wilson administration as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, completed two terms as Governor of New York, and held a raft of political offices. At heart, he was an internationalist who believed in an engaged and active role for the United States in world. During his first two terms as president, Roosevelt had to temper his international engagement in response to public opinion and politicians wanting to focus on domestic problems and wary of the risks of involvement in conflict. As the world crisis deepened in the 1930s, his engagement revived. He adopted a gradualist approach to educating the American people in the dangers facing their country and led them to eventual participation in war and a greater role in world affairs. There were clearly mistakes in his diplomacy along the way and his leadership often appeared flawed, with an ambiguous legacy founded on political expediency, expanded executive power, vague idealism, and a chronic lack of clarity to prepare Americans for postwar challenges. Nevertheless, his policies to prepare the United States for the coming war saw his country emerge from years of depression to become an economic superpower. Likewise, his mobilization of his country’s enormous resources, support of key allies, and the holding together of a “Grand Alliance” in World War II not only brought victory but saw the United States become a dominant force in the world. Ultimately, Roosevelt’s idealistic vision, tempered with a sound appreciation of national power, would transform the global position of the United States and inaugurate what Henry Luce described as “the American Century.”

scholarly journals Obrazy wojny i holocaustu w muzyce i sztuce. Szkic do edukacji interdyscyplinarnej / The Images of War and the Holocaust in Music and Art. A Sketch for Interdisciplinary Education

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Gozdecka
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Interdisciplinary Education ◽  
World War ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Steve Reich ◽  
Primary Object ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe main premise of the presented study is to show the impact of World War Two events on the creative achievements of selected artists who treated these dramatic events as the direct source of inspiration. The primary object of interest are selected musical pieces composed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, analyzed at the same time from the perspective of their correspondence with other domains of art: painting, sculpture, poetry, and partly with film. The article discussed Arthur Honegger’s Second and Third Symphony, compositions: Diffrent Trains by Steve Reich, and Diaries of Hope by Zbigniew Preisner, and in the field of fine art: inter alia the painting works by Izaak Celnikier, Xawery Dunikowski, Bronisław Wojciech Linke, and Andrzej Wróblewski, selected monument sculptures (e.g. in the Majdanek Concentration Camp in Lublin), and with special emphasis on works devoted to the tragedy of the Holocaust.An important aim of the paper is to show the possibility of utilizing the presented content in interdisciplinary teaching provided for in the Ministry of National Education’s core curriculum for general education in art subjects and the subject Knowledge of Culture.

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