scholarly journals Ičvič's Travels: Representations of Identity in Petar Milošević's Novel London, Pomaz

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mladena Prelić
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Love Story ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Ethnic War ◽  
And Control

The paper offers a reading of the novel London, Pomaz by Petar Milošević (b. 1952 in Kalaz, Hungary) in the key of individual and collective identity positionings, from the aspect of sociocultural anthropology. The novel, published in 1993, is framed as a love story spanning the East and West, until recently divided by the Cold War, and the protagonists are Serbs from the area around Budapest, a community to which both the author and his main character Ičvič belong. The character's surname, which is actually non-existent, has been formed from the suffixes -ić and -vić characteristic of patronymic Serbian surnames, in the Hungarianized version of -ič and -vič. Through a series of sequences, the novel describes the protagonist's life cycle from Pomaz, a small town between Budapest and Szentendre, where Ičvič was born, and Budapest, to Slovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Venice and London, and finally back to Pomaz, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Ičvič encounters different people and situations, others' stereotypes and prejudices as well as his own, unfulfilled expectations and the illusion of freedom in a world that has supposedly risen above ideological divisions, while next door, his (former) country is riven by ethnic war, the small community to which he belongs by birth is gradually disappearing, and in the supposed democratization processes following the fall of the Berlin wall, power and control merely take new forms. The situations in which the protagonist finds himself provide the possibility of reading/reading into them the relationship we:others or I:others, in other words, of different identity formations and positionings, not only of Ičvič himself but also of other characters and the collectivities to which they actually or supposedly belong. The assumption is that, despite the significant differences between a literary text and ethnography, a literary work can be used, with due methodological caution, as a source in anthropological research.

scholarly journals Nicholas Urfe’s Masculine Trap or the Construction of Manhood, its Ambivalences and Limitations in John Fowles’s The Magus

2017 ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
Irina Strout
Keyword(s):  
Western Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
John Fowles ◽  
Lone Wolf ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Male Power ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
And Control

Western society and its fiction faces the overwhelming problem of masculinity and its modeling. The era of war, capitalism, the challenges of feminism affect the ideology within which men are constructed both as individuals and as a social group. John Fowles’s fi ction tackles the crucial issue of male power and control as masculinity is put to test and trial in his 1965 novel The Magus. The defi nition of manhood, male virility and social respectability of the period shape the 20th century male characters in Fowles’s fi ction. This paper aims to explore how John Fowles investigates the role of masculinity and power myths on the personal level of relationship and a wider scale of war and capitalism in The Magus. Notions of masculinity off er the protagonist, Nicholas Urfe, a sense of a superiority and power over women in the course of the novel. Among the goals of the project is to examine the mythical journey of Nicholas, which becomes a testing ground of his masculinity and maturity, as well his trial and ‘disintoxication,’ which is intended to help him to reevaluate his life and his relationships with women. One of the issues posed is whether Nicholas Urfe is reborn as a new man at the end of his search for redemption or if he remains the same egotistic, ‘lone wolf’ as he appears in the beginning of the novel.

scholarly journals V.Nabokovʼs King, Queen, Knave: Love Story from the Life of Mannequins or a Novel about the Mysteries of Writing?

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-41
Author(s):  
Alla Zlochevskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Content Structure ◽  
Magic Wand ◽  
Love Story ◽  
Real People ◽  
The Face ◽  
Deadly Disease ◽  
Original Narrative ◽  
And Control

This article is devoted to the analysis of the formal content structure V. Nabokov / Sirin’s second novel “King, Queen, Knave” (1928). The “realistic” narration about adultery is here сlosely connected with metaphysical themes and the features of game poetics. The theme of mannequins, dolls and maps is interpreted here in a quite new way. It is shown that, contrary to popular belief, not the figures of mannequins and dolls highlight the images of the characters, their soulless and mechanistic, but, conversely, the novel “King, Queen, Knave” shows how the blanks of literary heroes types, with a wave of the Author’s magic wand, turn into real people. From the stereotypical figures of the triangle husband – wife – lover and the banal plot about adultery, V. Sirin created a fresh and unusual story with non-standard and accurately drawn characters, with a non-trivial structure of the plot and original narrative models. From the sketchy narrative of adultery, the true dominant theme of the novel emerges – the revival of the inanimate, the creation of the “living life” of a literary text. In every episode, in every moment of the narrative, in every plot course, the Author emphasizes his dominant, organizing and creating role. The law of the Author’s willfulness dominates over the eventual field of the novel and forms game poetics of the novel. The elements of the game and the chance reign here and control the logic of the plot development, the atmosphere is created by the card name, the crazy old man-illusionist, various models of sports games (tennis, mountain skiing, sports equipment store, etc.) and children’s (dolls), dressing up and carnival masks, etc. The Author, in the face of chance / or fate, throws trick-mirages (a pistol that turned out to be a lighter, etc.) to the heroes, and then brutally exposes them; organizes driving rain or sends deadly disease. From the game in the play quite naturally emerge two Russians – the “representatives” of the Author in the text.

Uves Telkampa romāns „Tornis” – stāsts par kādu nogrimušu valsti

2021 ◽  
pp. 267-273
Author(s):  
Ilze Kangro
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
German Literature ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Associative Connection

Uwe Tellkamp’s novel is “a tale from a lost country” (Tellkamp), which depicts a myriad of problems in different strata of the society (intellectuals, army, artists, teachers, and scientists) in Germany a short while before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Applying the terms introduced by Mikhail Bakhtin, “chronotope” and “micro-chronotope”, the author has tried to describe the complex time-space of Tellkamp’s novel “The Tower”, which reveals some of the last years before the total collapse of the German Democratic Republic. The novel presents a broad gallery of characters – there are more than a hundred characters who help to mirror different layers of the society, the feelings in them, the relations among people, and “the survival strategies”. Tellkamp’s novel allows apprehending diverse associative connection with the German literature of different time periods. The novel is a multi-layered, intertextual, and instigating literary work that abounds in many associations, allusions, and symbols; a part of them is examined in this article.

scholarly journals William Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Study of Evil in Man

The Batuk ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-58
Author(s):  
Pradeep Kumar Giri
Keyword(s):  
Human Heart ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Complete Regression ◽  
Human Being ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Lord Of The Flies ◽  
Popular Novel ◽  
And Control

William Golding's first and the most popular novel Lord of the Flies (1954) presents a depressing truth about man and his nature: here, he portrays inherent evil in man. In this novel there is almost a complete absence of grown-ups, and evil is portrayed through children. It has an instinctual hold upon the human heart. Generally the growth of the inherent evil in human being is kept under control by civilized restraint, but removal of such restriction results in a complete regression into savagery and brutality. This is what happens in the novel too. Therefore, inherent evil in man which brings out the dystopian vision of the post-modern world will be discussed with reference to plot, images, symbols and character in this article. Lust for power and control over other are the evils of society from which even the children are not immune.

New walls to keep the bad out: populism and the totalitarian psyche

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-130
Author(s):  
Coline Covington
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Group Solidarity ◽  
Freedom Of Movement ◽  
Psychological Understanding ◽  
Psychic Development ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cold War

The Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989 and marked the end of the Cold War. As old antagonisms thawed a new landscape emerged of unification and tolerance. Censorship was no longer the principal means of ensuring group solidarity. The crumbling bricks brought not only freedom of movement but freedom of thought. Now, nearly thirty years later, globalisation has created a new balance of power, disrupting borders and economies across the world. The groups that thought they were in power no longer have much of a say and are anxious about their future. As protest grows, we are beginning to see that the old antagonisms have not disappeared but are, in fact, resurfacing. This article will start by looking at the dissembling of a marriage in which the wall that had peacefully maintained coexistence disintegrates and leads to a psychic development that uncannily mirrors that of populism today. The individual vignette leads to a broader psychological understanding of the totalitarian dynamic that underlies populism and threatens once again to imprison us within its walls.

Global Development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Lorenzini
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

In the Cold War, “development” was a catchphrase that came to signify progress, modernity, and economic growth. Development aid was closely aligned with the security concerns of the great powers, for whom infrastructure and development projects were ideological tools for conquering hearts and minds around the globe, from Europe and Africa to Asia and Latin America. This book provides a global history of development, drawing on a wealth of archival evidence to offer a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of a Cold War phenomenon that transformed the modern world. Taking readers from the aftermath of the Second World War to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the book shows how development projects altered local realities, transnational interactions, and even ideas about development itself. The book shines new light on the international organizations behind these projects—examining their strategies and priorities and assessing the actual results on the ground—and it also gives voice to the recipients of development aid. It shows how the Cold War shaped the global ambitions of development on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and how international organizations promoted an unrealistically harmonious vision of development that did not reflect local and international differences. The book presents a global perspective on Cold War development, demonstrating how its impacts are still being felt today.

TICAD: The Context of Japan’s Development Aids to Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Development ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Usual Practice ◽  
Self Help ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
And Control

Most of the discourse on development aid in Africa has been limited to assistance from Western countries and those provided by competing capitalist and socialist blocs during the Cold war era. Japan, a nation with great economic and military capabilities; its development assistance for Africa is encapsulated in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) initiative. The TICAD started in 1993 and Japan has so far held 5 TICAD meetings between 1993 and 2013 during which Africa’s development challenges and Japan’s development assistance to the continent were discussed. The emphasis on “ownership”, “self-help” and “partnership” are major peculiar characteristics of Japan’s development aid that puts the design, implementation and control of development projects under the control of recipient countries. This is a major departure from the usual practice in international development assistance where recipient countries are bound by clauses that somewhat puts the control of development aid in the hands of the granting countries. Such binding clauses have often been described as inimical to the successful administration of the aids and development in recipient countries. Though Japan’s development aid to Africa started only in 1993, by the 2000s, Japan was the topmost donor to Africa. This paper examines the context of Japan’s development aid to Africa by analyzing secondary data sourced from literature and secondary statistics.

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