scholarly journals EL RELATO NEGATIVO DE LA TRANSICIÓN ESPAÑOLA Y SU PLASMACIÓN LITERARIA: UNA LECTURA SOCIOCRÍTICA DE EL JARDÍN COLGANTE, DE JAVIER CALVO

Author(s):  
José Manuel RUIZ MARTÍNEZ

En el presente artículo, llevaremos a cabo una lectura sociocrítica de la novela El jardín colgante de Javier Calvo. Esta novela aborda en su argumento la Transición española y, en parte a través del recurso al subgénero de la novela de espionaje, presenta desde la ficción una imagen negativa, violenta y descarnada de dicha Transición, entendida como una conspiración de las elites fundada en la violencia y en un pacto de olvido. A través del citado análisis sociocrítico, mostraremos cómo se inscriben ciertos elementos simbólicos de carácter antagónico en el dispositivo semiótico-discursivo de la obra y cómo a la postre estos muestran una visión de la Transición más problemática, ambigua y contradictoria de lo que podría parecer en una lectura superficial del texto, y revelan de forma inconsciente los principales conflictos conceptuales e ideológicos que la Transición aún genera. In this article, we will carry out a socio-critical reading of the novel El jardín colgante, by Javier Calvo. This novel is about the Spanish Transition to democracy, and, partially based on the conventions of the spy novel as a subgenre, it builds a negative image of it. The novel presents the Spanish Transition as a conspiracy of elites based on violence and in a pact of oblivion. Through the aforementioned socio-critical analysis, we will show how certain symbolic antagonistic elements are inscribed in the semiotic-discursive device of the work, and also how they reveal a more problematic, ambiguous and contradictory view of the Spanish Transition than it might appear from a first reading, and also how they unconsciously expose the main conceptual and ideological conflicts that this period of the Spanish History still generates. Abstract: In this article, we will carry out a socio-critical reading of the Javier Calvo’s novel El jardín colgante. This novel is set during the Spanish Transition to democracy, and, partially based on the conventions of the spy novel as a subgenre, it builds a negative image of it. The novel presents the Spanish Transition as a conspiracy of elites based on violence and in a pact of oblivion. Through the aforementioned socio-critical analysis, we will show how certain symbolic antagonistic elements are inscribed in the semiotic-discursive device of the work, and also how they reveal a more problematic, ambiguous and contradictory view of the Spanish Transition than it might appear from a first reading, and also how they unconsciously expose the main conceptual and ideological conflicts that this period of Spanish History still generates.

10.1068/d459t ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haim Yacobi

This paper offers a critical analysis of the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that deal with planning policy in general and in Israel in particular. The inherent dilemmas of the different NGOs' tactics and strategies in reshaping the public sphere are examined, based on a critical reading of Habermas's conceptualization of the public sphere. The main objective of this paper is to investigate to what extent, and under which conditions, the NGOization of space—that is, the growing number of nongovernmental actors that deal with the production of space both politically and tangibly—has been able to achieve strategic goals which may lead towards social change.


Author(s):  
Francesca Orestano

By dwelling first on the ‘faults’, then on the ‘excellencies’ remarked by reviewers and critics of Little Dorrit, this chapter also traces the history of that novel’s critical reception as it evolved from a close focus on contemporary politics and economics toward a study of the writer’s Hogarthian skill at building a visual satire. Subsequently the characters’ psychology as well as Dickens’s became the object of critical enquiry. When visual studies brought to the fore the import of perception and its narrative function, another area of investigation opened, in this chapter specifically connected with, and culturally encoded in, the technique of the stereoscope and the scientific notion of the binocularity of vision. Implemented by Dickens in the construction of Little Dorrit, this notion allows for a further critical reading of the novel as lieu de mémoire where real and imagined imprisonments, inscribed in history, also conjure the scene where cultural memory rewrites individual and collective identity in the present.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Rika Tsuji ◽  

The purpose of this paper is to reimagine philosophy programs in schools, such as philosophy for/with children, through a critical analysis of the work of Hannah Arendt and Judith Butler, especially in light of their understanding of the space of appearance and plurality. ​Drawing on a critical reading of Hannah Arendt along with Butler’s critique, I argue that during the enactment of the community of philosophical inquiry (CPI), the classroom becomes a space of appearance through the collective willingness of those present to be exposed to and recognize unknown others and matters in the condition of plurality. I begin by summarizing Arendt’s notions of the space of appearance and plurality. Next, I introduce Butler’s critique and reading of Arendt to focus on sociopolitical aspects of the space of appearance. Finally, I synthesize both Arendt’s and Butler’s analyses to show the phenomenological and sociopolitical aspects of the CPI.


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