scholarly journals The Cartography of Love in Doris Lessing’s “love, again”

2020 ◽  
pp. 130-140
Author(s):  
Lilia Miroshnychenko

In her late novel, love, again (1996), Doris Lessing represents a penetrative insight of love, providing the widest perspective of love than in any of her previous work. The abundance and variety of plausible les affaires d’amour, which transgress the boundaries of gender, age, geography, and social status, make love, again Lessing’s most “loveful” novel. The narrative responds to this multiplicity accordingly. The essay explores the theme of romantic love of the central female character, Sarah Durham, who is at the centre of the narrative and whose emotional landscape is meticulously mapped. It also aims to unveil the ways Doris Lessing exploits a longstanding tradition of interpreting love in Western philosophy and culture – from Plato to contemporary theorists, including Alain Badiou. Special attention is paid to the interweaving of love and friendship in the relationship of woman and man as well as friendship’s “healing” power for unrequited love encapsulated in the character of Stephen Ellington-Smith. Also, by tracing the transformative impulse of love, the essay tries to bring light on the constructive (in the case of Sarah) and problematic (Stephen) consequences of love.

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Maria M. Kuznetsova

The article examines the philosophy of Henri Bergson and William James as independent doctrines aimed at rational comprehension of spiritual reality. The doctrines imply the paramount importance of consciousness, the need for continuous spiritual development, the expansion of experience and perception. The study highlights the fundamental role of spiritual energy for individual and universal evolution, which likens these doctrines to the ancient Eastern teaching as well as to Platonism in Western philosophy. The term “spiritual energy” is used by Bergson and James all the way through their creative career, and therefore this concept should considered in the examination of their solution to the most important philosophical and scientific issues, such as the relationship of matter and spirit, consciousness and brain, cognition, free will, etc. The “radical empiricism” of William James and the “creative evolution” of Henry Bergson should be viewed as conceptions that based on peacemaking goals, because they are aimed at reconciling faith and facts, science and religion through the organic synthesis of sensory and spiritual levels of experience. Although there is a number of modern scientific discoveries that were foreseen by philosophical ideas of Bergson and James, both philosophers advocate for the artificial limitation of the sphere of experimental methods in science. They call not to limit ourselves to the usual intellectual schemes of reality comprehension, but attempt to touch the “living” reality, which presupposes an increase in the intensity of attention and will, but finally brings us closer to freedom.


1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Picard, ◽  
Caryl Sickul, ◽  
Shannon Natale,

This paper examines the relationship of suffering, the need for care, and the healing power of aesthetics in human science. The authors live in the world of art and healing as scholars, educators, performers, and healers. In examining suffering in a cooperative mode of inquiry, the authors reflected on aesthetic works of suffering and beauty, as well as science, nursing literature, and illness narratives. Implications for nursing practice, education, and research are discussed. Recommendations for the possibilities of healing art in hospitals will be addressed as a restorative process in postmodern healthcare. The hospitals have been described as concentrated centers of human suffering, very much in need of its healing sister, art.


2018 ◽  
pp. 27-29
Author(s):  
A. G. Burdina ◽  
I. V. Gerasimenko

The article explores the linguistic characteristics of various social groups in the work of the English novelist Ch. Dickens “Great Expectations”. The authors analyzed and systematized the data obtained in the course of comparing the speech of people with different social status. Defining the relationship of language and social status, the authors found that the concept of social status can be viewed in several ways: as a mutual expectation realized at the speech level; as an awareness of the personality of their position in society, as well as the manifestation of personal qualities in the implementation of social status. In the course of comparative analysis, the authors highlight the following relationships of speech with the speaker’s status, such indicators of the speaker’s social status appear to be character`s rich vocabulary, use of reduced vocabulary, ability to make up grammatically correct a sentence, ability to maintain the conversation and follow ethical norms in speech.


Author(s):  
J.M.M.H. Thijssen

The problem of the eternity of the world was much debated in Western philosophy from the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, but its history goes back as far as Philo of Alexandria and the Church Fathers. The principal topic of controversy was the possibility of a beginningless and yet created world. The arguments that fashioned the medieval discussion rested upon assumptions concerning the concepts of eternity and creation. In addition, the issue of eternity intertwined with discussions of the relationship of God to creation, with proofs of the existence of God, with the nature of the material universe and with the nature of infinity. Some of the most ingenious ideas in these debates were obtained from pagan Greek, Islamic and Jewish traditions.


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