The Posthumanist Dimension of the Novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-228
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Kowalcze

This commentary aims to place the novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk within the framework of posthumanism, focusing on selected aspects of the theory. Particular attention shall be given to Tokarczuk’s criticism of human attitude towards nature, notably animals, as well as her unique perception of material objects which in the novel are endowed with uncanny agency. Not only does the novel’s protagonist exist in a close interconnectedness with all sentient beings, but she also displays a profound sensitivity to matter’s vitality. Tokarczuk stresses the importance of human corporeality which unites us intimately with all of existence and provides us with a deeper understanding of the world.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Setio

Anthropocentrism has received many challenges since the publication of the famous article by Lynn White, Jr. in 1967. Yet, since then there has been no significant changes with regard to human attitude towards nature. Human beings still perceive nature as their tool whose existence is to serve their own interests. When the COVID-19 pandemic hits the world, the anthropocentrism is once again challenged. It should be a good opportunity to change the anthropocentrism. The novel corona virus has made people look powerless. It is just a tiny thing, but it has caused a great impact on human life. Despite the fact that the virus often outsmarts human beings, there is no sign that human beings want to admit their weakness. Through reading some biblical stories: the creation of human beings, the naming of animals, Job and the lamb in the Book of Revelation this article wants to deconstruct the view that sees human beings as superior to others in nature. This reading will use posthumanism as theory. It will allow us to see in the stories that human can be subjugated to animals. AbstrakPandangan antroposentrisme telah digugat sejak kemunculan artikel Lynn White, Jr. di tahun 1967. Tetapi sejak itu belum ada perubahan yang signifikan. Manusia masih menempatkan alam sebagai sarana untuk meraih kepentingan dirinya. Ketika pandemi COVID-19 melanda dunia, pandangan antroposentrisme kembali ditantang. Seharusnya ini menjadi kesempatan yang baik bagi manusia untuk mengubah pandangannya itu. Virus corona baru telah membuat manusia kalang kabut. Kehebatan manusia menjadi tidak berarti ketika menghadapi virus yang kecil dan tidak kelihatan itu. Tetapi bukannya menyadari akan kelemahan dirinya dan bersedia membuka diri terhadap kekuatan alam, manusia malah berupaya sedemikian rupa untuk meng-atas-i virus itu. Melalui pembacaan terhadap kisah-kisah Alkitab: penciptaan manusia, Ayub dan Wahyu, tulisan ini akan mendekonstruksi pola pikir yang mengistimewakan manusia di hadapan makhluk lainnya. Teori yang digunakan untuk menafsirkan Alkitab itu adalah poshumanisme. Poshumanisme melihat kedudukan manusia tidak lebih besar daripada makhluk-makhluk lainnya. Kebesaran binatang di hadapan manusia akan terlihat ketika kisah-kisah Alkitab itu dibaca dengan memakai teori poshumanisme.


Author(s):  
Jesse Schotter

Hieroglyphs have persisted for so long in the Western imagination because of the malleability of their metaphorical meanings. Emblems of readability and unreadability, universality and difference, writing and film, writing and digital media, hieroglyphs serve to encompass many of the central tensions in understandings of race, nation, language and media in the twentieth century. For Pound and Lindsay, they served as inspirations for a more direct and universal form of writing; for Woolf, as a way of treating the new medium of film and our perceptions of the world as a kind of language. For Conrad and Welles, they embodied the hybridity of writing or the images of film; for al-Hakim and Mahfouz, the persistence of links between ancient Pharaonic civilisation and a newly independent Egypt. For Joyce, hieroglyphs symbolised the origin point for the world’s cultures and nations; for Pynchon, the connection between digital code and the novel. In their modernist interpretations and applications, hieroglyphs bring together writing and new media technologies, language and the material world, and all the nations and languages of the globe....


2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
Lars Rømer

This article investigates how experiences of ghosts can be seen as a series of broken narratives. By using cases from contemporary as well 19th century Denmark I will argue that ghosts enter the world of the living as sensations that question both common sense understanding and problematize the unfinished death. Although ghosts have been in opposition to both science and religion in Denmark at least since the reformation I will exemplify how people deal with the broken narrative of ghosts in ways that incorporate and mimic techniques of both the scientist and the priest. Ghosts, thus, initiate a dialogue between the dead and the living concerning the art of dying that will enable both to move on.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-356
Author(s):  
Anca Sîrbu

AbstractWith the rapid onset of an unprecedented lifestyle due to the new coronavirus COVID-19 the world academic scene was forced to reform and adapt to the novel circumstances. Although online education cannot be regarded as a groundbreaking endeavour anymore in the21st century, its current character of exclusivity calls for deeper understanding of, and a sharper focus on the “end-consumer” thereof as well as more cautious procedures to be exercised while teaching. While millennials are no longer thought of as being born with a silver spoon in their mouth but with an iPad or any sort of device in their hand (irrespective of their social status), adults are more hesitant when coerced to alter course unexpectedly and turn to new methods of attaining their learning goals. This is why proper communicative approaches need to be thoroughly considered by online instructors. This article aims at presenting teachers with a set of strategies to employ when the beneficiaries of online academic education are adult learners.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Rana Sağıroğlu

Margaret Atwood, one of the most spectacular authors of postmodern movement, achieved to unite debatable and in demand critical points of 21st century such as science fiction, postmodernism and ecocriticism in the novel The Year of The Flood written in 2009. The novel could be regarded as an ecocritical manifesto and a dystopic mirror against today’s degenerated world, tending to a superficial base to keep the already order in use, by moving away from the fundamental solution of all humanity: nature. Although Atwood does not want her works to be called science fiction, it is obvious that science fiction plays an introductory role and gives the novel a ground explaining all ‘why’ questions of the novel. However, Atwood is not unjust while claiming that her works are not science fiction because of the inevitable rapid change of 21st century world becoming addicted to technology, especially Internet. It is easily observed by the reader that what she fictionalises throughout the novel is quite close to possibility, and the world may witness in the near future what she creates in the novel as science fiction. Additionally, postmodernism serves to the novel as the answerer of ‘how’ questions: How the world embraces pluralities, how heterogeneous social order is needed, and how impossible to run the world by dichotomies of patriarchal social order anymore. And lastly, ecocriticism gives the answers of ‘why’ questions of the novel: Why humanity is in chaos, why humanity has organized the world according to its own needs as if there were no living creatures apart from humanity. Therefore, The Year of The Flood meets the reader as a compact embodiment of science fiction, postmodernism and ecocriticism not only with its theme, but also with its narrative techniques.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micael Davi Lima de Oliveira ◽  
Kelson Mota Teixeira de Oliveira

According to the World Health Organisation, until 16 June, 2020, the number of confirmed and notified cases of COVID-19 has already exceeded 7.9 million with approximately 434 thousand deaths worldwide. This research aimed to find repurposing antagonists, that may inhibit the activity of the main protease (Mpro) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as partially modulate the ACE2 receptors largely found in lung cells, and reduce viral replication by inhibiting Nsp12 RNA polymerase. Docking molecular simulations were performed among a total of 60 structures, most of all, published in the literature against the novel coronavirus. The theoretical results indicated that, in comparative terms, paritaprevir, ivermectin, ledipasvir, and simeprevir, are among the most theoretical promising drugs in remission of symptoms from the disease. Furthermore, also corroborate indinavir to the high modulation in viral receptors. The second group of promising drugs includes remdesivir and azithromycin. The repurposing drugs HCQ and chloroquine were not effective in comparative terms to other drugs, as monotherapies, against SARS-CoV-2 infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1198-1201
Author(s):  
Syed Yasir Afaque

In December 2019, a unique coronavirus infection, SARS-CoV-2, was first identified in the province of Wuhan in China. Since then, it spread rapidly all over the world and has been responsible for a large number of morbidity and mortality among humans. According to a latest study, Diabetes mellitus, heart diseases, Hypertension etc. are being considered important risk factors for the development of this infection and is also associated with unfavorable outcomes in these patients. There is little evidence concerning the trail back of these patients possibly because of a small number of participants and people who experienced primary composite outcomes (such as admission in the ICU, usage of machine-driven ventilation or even fatality of these patients). Until now, there are no academic findings that have proven independent prognostic value of diabetes on death in the novel Coronavirus patients. However, there are several conjectures linking Diabetes with the impact as well as progression of COVID-19 in these patients. The aim of this review is to acknowledge about the association amongst Diabetes and the novel Coronavirus and the result of the infection in such patients.


2013 ◽  
pp. 174-183
Author(s):  
Piotr Sadkowski

Throughout the centuries French and Francophone writers were relatively rarely inspired by the figure of Moses and the story of Exodus. However, since the second half of 20th c. the interest of the writers in this Old Testament story has been on the rise: by rewriting it they examine the question of identity dilemmas of contemporary men. One of the examples of this trend is Moïse Fiction, the 2001 novel by the French writer of Jewish origin, Gilles Rozier, analysed in the present article. The hypertextual techniques, which result in the proximisation of the figure of Moses to the reality of the contemporary reader, constitute literary profanation, but at the same time help place Rozier’s text in the Jewish tradition, in the spirit of talmudism understood as an exchange of views, commentaries, versions and additions related to the Torah. It is how the novel, a new “midrash”, avoids the simple antinomy of the concepts of the sacred and the profane. Rozier’s Moses, conscious of his complex identity, is simultaneously a Jew and an Egyptian, and faces, like many contemporary Jewish writers, language dilemmas, which constitute one of the major motifs analysed in the present article. Another key question is the ethics of the prophetism of the novelistic Moses, who seems to speak for contemporary people, doomed to in the world perceived as chaos unsupervised by an absolute being. Rozier’s agnostic Moses is a prophet not of God (who does not appear in the novel), but of humanism understood as the confrontation of a human being with the absurdity of his or her own finiteness, which produces compassion for the other, with whom the fate of a mortal is shared.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Ibelala Gea

This article aims to describe the results of research on how to preach the gospel to all beings, based on Mark 16:15-16. Preaching the gospel is a great commission from the Lord Jesus to His followers after His resurrection from the dead. The world is the address of the gospel preaching, not only to man but to all beings.The Gospel writer of  Mark wants to explain that the world is synonymous with evil, therefore the gospel serves to salt the evil world, so when Iniil is preached to the wicked, it is expected to change the mindset and human behavior.Greedy and greedy human behavior that only views nature as a commodity. Human evil is seen when only the task of exploiting natural resources and forget the responsibility of caring for, nurturing nature and the environment. Gospel preaching aims to awaken peoples not only to view nature as power (dominio) but as a fellow of creatures, and friends (communio). Preach the gospel to all beings and receiving each other with referring to reduce, reuse, recycle and replace as a responsibility to God who has given the mandate for us. AbstrakArtikel ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan hasil penelitian tentang bagaimana memberitakan Injil kepada  seluruh makhluk, bertolak dari Markus 16:15-16. Memberitakan Injil adalah amanat agung dari Tuhan Yesus kepada para pengikut-Nya setelah kebangkitan-Nya dari antara orang mati.Dunia adalah sebagai alamat pemberitaan Injil, bukan hanya kepada manusia melainkan kepada segala makhluk. Penulis Injil Markus hendak menjelaskan bahwa dunia identik dengan kejahatan, sebab itu Injil berfungsi menggarami dunia yang penuh kejahatan itu, karena itu ketika Iniil diberitakan kepada orang-orang jahat, diharapkan akan mengubah mindset dan perilaku manusia. Perilaku manusia yang serakah dan tamak yang hanya memandang alam sebagai komoditi. Kejahatan manusia terlihat ketika hanya bertugas mengeksploitasi sumber-sumber daya alam dan lupa pada tanggung jawab merawat, memelihara alam dan lingkungan hidupnya.  Pemberitaan Injil menyadarkan manusia agar tidak hanya memandang alam sebagai kekuasaan (dominio) tetapi sebagai sesama ciptaan, sahabat yang bersifat communio. Memberitakan Injil kepada seluruh makhluk dan menghargai segala makhluk dengan saling memberi dan menerima dengan mengacu pada pola-pola reduce, reuse, recycle dan replace sebagai tanggung jawab kepada Tuhan yang telah memberi amanat.


Author(s):  
Н. Алтыкеева ◽  
Б. Ниясалиева

Аннотация. Макалада романдын мазмунунан орун алган пейзаждык сүрөттөөлөр талкууланат. Пейзаждык сүрөттөөлөр чыгарманын көркөмдүүлүгүн, эстетикалык баалуулугун арттыруу менен катар эле каармандардын образын тереңден ачып берүүдө, окуялардын өнүгүп-өсүшү жана алдыда боло турган окуялар тууралуу окурманга маалымат берүүдө кошумча каражат катары колдонулат. Жазуучу романда пейзаждык сүрөттөөлөрдү өтө кылдат колдонгону байкалат. Алсак, тоо адамдагы улуулук жана бийиктикти айгинелейт, толукшуган ай жан- дүйнөнүн бөксөрбөй толуп турушун көрсөтөт, ачык асмандын алай-дүлөй түшкөн көрүнүшкө айланышы - каармандын ички сезими, уйгу-туйгу ойлонуусу, жан дүйнөсүнүн бурганак болушун ачып көрсөтүүдө маанилүү болсо, чабалекейлердин тынымсыз учуп чабалакташы, жан алакетке түшүп чыйпылдашы – алдыда боло турган кырсыктуу окуя тууралуу кабар берсе, согуштун апааты жашыл шибердин, бак-дарактардын күлгө айланышы, чымчык-куштардын күздү күтпөй кайдадыр учуп кетип жатышы менен түшүндүрүлөт. Tүйүндүү сөздөр: пейзаж. роман, идея, легенда, эпилог, каарман, негизги окуялар. Аннотация. В статье дается пейзажное описание. Пейзажное описание используется в произведении как дополнительное средство эстетических ценностей и помогает раскрыть образы героев, и действия произведения. Писатель в романе тонко использует пейзажное описание. Например горы возвышенное и самое ценное в человеке, а полная луна – счастливое душевное состояние человека, а превращение безоблачного неба в бущующий вид – указывает, как неспокойно в душе главного героя, его беспокойные мысли, как бушует его внутренний мир, а ласточки неспокойно летающие, предвещают несчастье, птицы улетающие раньше времени, превращение зелёной травы, деревьев в пепел предвещают ужасы войны. Ключевые слова: пейзаж. роман, идея, легенда, эпилог, герой, главное событие Annotation. The article discusses the landscape description. The landscape description is used in the work as an additional tool for aesthetic values and helps to reveal the images of heroes, and in the development of the action of the work/ The writer in the novel subtly uses the landscape description. The mountains are the sublime and the most valuable in a person, and the full moon is a happy state of mind of a person, and the transformation of a cloudless sky into a raging view indicates how restless the soul of the protagonist is, his restless thoughts. How his inner world is raging, and the swallows are restlessly flying, foreshadow the misfortune, the birds flying away ahead of time, the transformation of green grass, trees in the forehead the horrors of war. This article describes the idea of the story "Do not kill" which is given instead of the epilogue in the novel "When the mountains fall" which was written by Ch.Aitmatov. It considers the role of a story that calls to live in peace and to end wars that are occurring in the world. Keywords: Landscapе, novel, idea, legend, epilogue, hero, main event.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document