The Second Imperialist War

Author(s):  
Alan M. Wald

This chapter explains the difficulties caused for the Trotskyist movement and like-thinking Marxists by World War II, due to its combination of vexing features. Writings by James P. Cannon on “the proletarian military policy” and by Albert Goldman in the pages of the Militant newspaper are used to explain the strategy by which resistance to fascism was theorized. The alternative thinking of Dwight Macdonald and the perspectives of Meyer Schapiro and Edmund Wilson are also discussed, as well as new developments in literary criticism.

Author(s):  
Norma Rudinsky

This paper resulted from an attempt to explore factors determining or underlying the "Marxificalion" of Slovak literature after 1945-- an attempt motivated by a hunch that certain Marxisl-Leninisl principles had provided a different insight into Slovak literature from that provided by the liberal, democratic "aesthetic appreciation" school of criticism in prewar Czechoslovakia. The idea that Slovak literary criticism has thrived, relatively, since World War II is by no means new and was advanced, for example, by emigre crilics.


2019 ◽  
pp. 150-160
Author(s):  
Maria Ivanytska

The article provides an insight into the work of cultural activists in Germany in the post-war decades. It delineates the following groups of translators and popularizers of Ukrainian literature in West Germany: 1) German speakers: Halychyna descendant Hans Koch and Elisabeth Kottmeier, the wife of the Ukrainian poet Igor Kosteckyj; 2) the Ukrainian scholars who began their activity before the war: Dmytro (Dimitrij) Tschižeswskij, Iwan Mirtschuk; 3) representatives of the younger wave of emigration – Jurij Bojko-Blochyn, Olexa and Anna-Halja Horbatsch, Igor Kostetskyj, Mychahlo Orest, Jurij Kossatsch and others. The author reflects on the question whether or not the post-war Ukrainian emigration was integrated into a wider context of German culture. This is analyzed from the vantage point of the Western European reader’s/ literary critic’s readiness for the reception of Ukrainian literature. Among the first promoters of Ukrainian literature was the Artistic Ukrainian Movement (Munich), whose member of the board, Jurij Kossatsch, published the first review of the then contemporary Ukrainian literature in the German language “Ukrainische Literatur der Gegenwart” (1947). The author analyzes the first collection of translations of Ukrainian poetry “Gelb und Blau: Moderne ukrainische Dichtung in Auswahl” (“Yellow and Blue: Selected Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry”) compiled by Wolodimir Derzhawin, who condemned the persecution and extermination of poets in the USSR, criticized proletarian literature and the choice of authors. The preface by Derzhavin testified to the conviction of Ukrainian emigrants that free Ukrainian literature could flourish only in the exile. The work of the translators’ tandem of Igor Kosteckyj and Elisabeth Kottmeier is further described. The chronological and quantitative comparison of scholarly publications on Ukrainian literature in the then West Germany revealed that one of the major accomplishments of the Ukrainian diaspora was the transition from the complete lack to a gradual increase of interest in the aforementioned subject. The article emphasizes the significance of the translating activity of Anna-Halja Horbatsch aimed at introducing Ukrainian literature to the German Slavic Studies scholars along with ordinary readers. This was made possible when large collections of translations “Blauer November. Ukrainische Erzähler unseres Jahrhunderts” (Blue November: Ukrainian writers of this century) and “Ein Brunnen für Durstige “ (“The Well for the Thirsty”) were out, and in the 90’s – when the publishing house specializing in translations from Ukrainian literature was founded. The Soviets’ negative reaction to those and previous publications is perceived as a manifestation of the political engagement of socialist literary criticism. Conclusion: Anna-Halja Horbatsch’ contribution to the systematic acquaintance of the West German reader with modern Ukrainian literature is by far the most significant due to her numerous translations, scholarly articles, and critical reviews.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 187-201
Author(s):  
Bálint Szele

This paper presents trends in today’s Shakespeare translation in Hungary based on interviews with Hungarian translators and scholars. Instead of a collection of names and dates of translators and translations, it focuses on the organic development of Hungarian Shakespeare translation, which has been going on for more than two hundred years, and tries to fit new developments into the tradition of translating Shakespeare in a theoretical framework. “Hungarian Shakespeare,” now seen as a broad collection of Hungarian translations and adaptations, lives on, is kept alive in theaters, but it is undergoing a process of simplification. It was very hard work to do away with the forced prudishness and mannerism of the nineteenth century Shakespeare translations. After World War II, during the dominance of Communist culture, it was not allowed for several translations of Shakespeare to co-exist, so a politically appointed committee was set up to decide which one fit into the official canon. Only the selected texts could be printed and used in performances. After the political changes in Hungary in 1989, there was an upsurge of interest in Shakespeare, and since the 1990s there has been an unprecedented plurality of Shakespeare translations. I aim to examine the processes that led to the development of today’s easy-to-understand and naturalistic translations, and to the abandonment of century-old classical ones.


Author(s):  
Gerard L. Weinberg

The ‘Conclusion’ shows how the world was changed forever by World War II, during which around sixty million people had been killed, the majority of them civilians. There were huge losses in the Soviet Union and China, but the country most damaged was Poland. Massive destruction and economic dislocation characterized much of Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and portions of North Africa. The war and its ending also brought about enormous population movements. Countries faced massive reconstruction, the defeated had reparations to pay, and war criminals had to be dealt with. The war also provided new developments in technology and medicine, which transformed post-war life.


2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Vanja Avsenak

The purpose of this article is to present the reception of Sinclair Lewis's novels by Slovene critics. Initially, the article focuses on the life and workof Sinclair Lewis, giving special emphasis to social influences that made the author a representative figure in the literary and social world. Thus his works are nowadays to be understood primarily as fiction, but on the other hand also as sociological documents of a social and political situation of the period between the two world wars. Generally, the effect they produce is one of a critical discussion of the nation of the United States. When speaking of the social relevance that Lewis's novels have, it is obvious that his works are the portrayals of Americans and their deficiencies. At the time of their publication Lewis's novels received unfavourable criticism on accountof his overly open pro-European attitude and Slovene critics of the period before World War II emphasise this in much detail. It was precisely this anti-American propaganda in the novels themselves and sincerity on the part of the novelist that won the European critics as well as the readers whenit came to appreciating his works. However, Lewis's view of the Americans, as presented throughout his works, only enhanced his literary credibility as a modern writer. That is why the articles by Slovene critics that appeared after the Second World War, and even more significantly after Lewis's death, almost minutely reflect a more favourable attitude to Sinclair Lewis, which was also the case with foreign literary criticism of the post-war period. Critics still discuss the qualities and flaws of Lewis's novels, but being more lenient they no longer profess that the novels lack in artistic value. They remain, however, primarily relevant as social documents of the pre- and post-war era, which fully presented the American middle-class mentality in America and elsewhere. For this reason, the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to Sinclair Lewis in 1930 seems duly justified. It signifies appreciation and respect that the American and European readers as well as critics used to have and still have for Sinclair Lewis. Therefore, it is no surprise that his novels are being translated in several foreign languages even in modern times.


2019 ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Barbara Zybert

Objective – activities aiming at the preservation of the Polish cultural heritage undertaken by the library, archive, and museum functioning at the Polish Catholic Centre (Polski Ośrodek Katolicki-POK) in Martin Coronado in Argentina are presented. Particular attention is paid to the legacy of soldiers fighting on the fronts of World War II, mainly associated with the 2nd Polish Corps commanded by General Władysław Anders. Methods – A method of analysis and literary criticism was used. Results and conclusions – The Polish Catholic Centre in Martin Coronado and its libraries, archive, and museum are important in commemorating the contribution of Polish soldiers to the victory of World War II. They also play an important role in relation to the Polish community, affecting the state of national and social consciousness, shaping and maintaining its national identity, as well as strengthening patriotic attitudes.


Worldview ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-5
Author(s):  
Joseph I. Coffey

Since the end of World War II, the United States has aimed at deterring aggression against this country or its allies by a judicious combination of longlange nuclear striking forces and other forces armed with both nuclear and conventional weapons. (The verb "to deter" is defined as "to inhibit" or, in a more absolute usage, as "to prevent." One of the ambiguities of the concept of deterrence is that no one, including ourselves, is clear as to which usage is meant, much less which may prevail.) Of late years, as the Soviet Union achieved and developed a nuclear capability, deterrence has increasingly rested on the ability of the United States to launch a devastating retaliatory blow against anyone attacking the U.S. or, by extension, our allies.


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