Comment, Rating, Opinion, Review – the Preliminary Research

The article focuses on functional speech genres used on the Internet to assess the level of customer satisfaction after purchasing goods and services on portals with various offers. It attempts to define what genre is used in the texts called commentaries, evaluations, opinions and consumer reviews. Both Internet users and providers of goods and services use these terms interchangeably. The situation may result from the fact that in the ordinary mind, they constitute one genre. The text introduces the research on the statements of internet users expressing their opinion on the transaction, the purchased products, and the service provided. Nowadays, the Internet has such a large social impact that it is important to examine the changes in speech genres existing in the Internet space in relation to their prototypes derived from the literary tradition.

Uriel Weinreich’s “Languages in Contact” in the Soviet Union: Treading a Dangerous Ground

In a democratic society with a market economy, editorial policy is often a matter of financial feasibility rather than anything else. Meanwhile, totalitarian societies approach it from a different angle, frequently putting political considerations in the centre. Living behind the Iron Curtain, Soviet scholars had very limited access to Western publications – very few of them were translated into the languages of Soviet republics. What is more, research shows that they were subject to censorship, just like literary works. Besides, the work of a translator, being invisible to the majority of readers, could be quite dangerous and ruin one’s scholarly career. Thus, a scholar embarking on a translation journey to acquaint their colleagues with the best samples of world research had to be very considerate. Such was the case of the Russian translation of Uriel Weinreich’s seminal book Languages in Contact done by the Ukrainian linguist, translator, lexicographer, and educator Yuriy Zhluktenko. The present paper explores the matter of censorship and self-censorship in this translation and its paratexts.

The Concept of “Thrownness” in Algis Budrys's Short Story “Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night”

This paper analyses the concept of thrownness and the related notions of immediacy and actuality in a 1961 short science fiction story “Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night” by Algis Budrys. It first defines the concept of thrownness (Geworfenheit), created and coined by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger in his classic book Being and Time, and it explains how this notion can be employed in literary analysis in general and applied to this work in particular. The article then analyses how certain stylistic devices in the short story, namely similes, change of pace and the presentation of an inner conflict in the main character, contribute to the feeling of authenticity. In other words, it attempts to exhibit the means used in a prose work to make it seem more realistic and immediate. Finally, the work also argues that science fiction is in many ways more real than other fictional works. Although it belongs to the genre that has traditionally been denied serious literary merit, the novel view and interpretation of this story aims to disclose new horizons of artistic expression that illuminate human mental and physical frailty and stimulate a valuable inquiry into the meaning of life.

Michał Kaziów: the Way to Independence of the Blind Writer in the Context of Selected Issues of Narrative Medicine and Human Rights

The article undertakes constructive reflection on the loss of human health in the context of the issue of disability, with an indication that it is a state of mind rather than actual, physical impotence. The main subject of considerations is the attitude of the writer, Michał Kaziów, perceived as a way to independence and creativity developed as a result of his health condition in the light of selected issues of narrative medicine and human rights. The paper presents the difficult fate of Kaziów after a permanent loss of fitness (L. Kowalewski, M. Czerwińska) under the model of social disability (P. Hunt, M. Oliver) and an autobiographical attitude (M. Czermińska). The views of R. Charon (a doctor and a literary scholar) and her co-workers were also taken into account, according to which narrative medicine is a specific, well thought and described in the literature on the subject form of clinical (and didactic) practice that supports the process of diagnosis and treatment. Simultaneously, a review of laws and regulations on the creation of legal norms that supported people with disabilities and their evolution was undertaken. The whole text correlates with the thesis that the change in approach to disability is a living testimony to overcoming difficulties and their consequences, both in an individual and collective experience.

Regional Identity and Multiculturalism: the Baltic Germans of Latgale in the Early 20th Century Latvian Literature

In the studies of Latvian culture and history, there is a number of investigations dedicated to the influence of Baltic German culture on Latvian culture. Hence the Latgale region was not given due attention in this regard. The role of the Baltic Germans in this region is peculiar due to its specific history, and it is important to study how the Baltic German culture influences the multicultural identity of Latgale. A project of the Latvian Science Council The Baltic Germans of Latgale in the context of socio-ethnic relations from the 17th until the beginning of the 20th century (2020–2021) is devoted to this topic. One of the tasks of the project is the analysis of the image of the Baltic Germans in fiction. In the framework of the research, the works written in the Latvian literary language, the action of which is set in Latgale, are analysed. The focus is on fictional works about Latgale written by two authors – Antons Austriņš (1884–1934) and Ādolfs Ers (1885–1945) – in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The said writers are the first currently distinguished authors narrating in the Latvian literary language, who describe Latgale in a number of their works. Compared to other nationalities (Poles, Russians, Jews), the Baltic Germans are mentioned minimally in their works; moreover, it is a commonplace that in some cases protagonist’s belonging to German descent is not mentioned, which can only be inferred. Although the Baltic Germans belong to the Latgale past, their culture is imperceptibly and harmoniously apparent in Latgale, i.e. it is evident in the castles (castle ruins) and manors as well as in the use of Germanisms by the Baltic Germans, it has determined the location of the Latgale cities and influenced the worldview.

Interaction of Lithuanian and Belarusian Dialects in the Surroundings of Radun

The research focuses on the interaction of the Lithuanian and Belarusian languages in thesurroundings of Radun (Belarus, Voranava district, Lith. Rodūnia). Employing the language changemethodology, the paper presents a detailed analysis of the most prominent cases of phonetic interference oftwo – old and middle – generations of residents in both languages spoken by them.The data show that the oldest residents are expressing both languages using the Lithuanian articulatory base. Over time, the characteristic Lithuanian features begin to level: varies the pronunciation of a; in open endings, the long tense vowels i, ы are usually pronounced as é; unstressed vowels are reduced inconsistently, etc.As Lithuanian is for the middle-generation speakers, it already demonstrates essential changes, whichoccurred because they started expressing their Lithuanian using the Belarusian articulatory base. First of all, they usually lengthen stressed short vowels; they do no longer pronounce unstressed long vowels; they donot distinguish between acute – or circumflex-accented mixed i, u + R type diphthongs; the distinction between the falling and rising diphthongs ai, au, is made based on phonetic, not accentual, factors; the palatalised dental consonants t, d are replaced by the palatalised velar consonants k, g.

Language, Representation and Fetish. Hunger in “The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick

Streszczenie: The Shawl Cynthii Ozick stanowi niezwykle interesującą próbę zapisu doznania głodu, utraty i Holokaustu. Opowieść ta przekształca się w medytację nad możliwością przedstawienia doznań traumatycznych, nie poddających się łatwej symbolizacji. Umieszczając język i literaturę, czy też szerzej reprezentację, w stanie podejrzenia, Ozick pozostaje wierna tradycji żydowskiego anikonizmu. Autorka czyni to jednak w sposób ostentacyjnie literacki, zatrącający o idolatrię fikcji powieściowej. Odrzucając przedstawienia werystyczne lub hiperrealistyczne głodu i Holokaustu, Ozick podpowiada, że iluzja bezpośredniości, którą takie teksty wytwarzają, jest li tylko fetyszem, nie zaś śladem obecności ciała w literaturze. Ambicje Ozick są być może skromniejsze, ale z pewnością uczciwsze. Autorka odsłania nieprzystawalność porządku zmysłów i literatury, jednak – trawestując tytuł książki Georgesa Didi-Hubermana – wydaje się również mówić „literatura mimo wszystko”, afirmując tym samym medium języka oraz literaturę pomimo wszystkich jej niedoskonałości. Summary: The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick is an extremely intriguing attempt at writing hunger, loss and the Holocaust. The novella transforms into a meditation on the possibility of depicting traumatic sensations, which easily defy symbolisation. As she casts suspicion on language and literature, and more broadly representation, Ozick adheres to the tradition of Jewish aniconism. However, she does so in an ostentatiously literary manner, verging on the idolatry of fiction. Ozick discards verisimilitude and hyperrealism in the representations of hunger and the Holocaust. In so doing, she seems to suggest that the illusion of immediacy they produce is merely a fetish rather than the literary celebration of the body. Ozick’s ambitions may be more moderate but they are certainly more honest: she explores the irreconcilable differences between the realms of the sensual and the literary. However, she also seems to say “literature in spite of all” (to misquote Georges Didi-Huberman’s dictum), thereby articulating her affirmation of the linguistic medium and literature in spite of all their shortcomings and deficiencies.

Masculinity in Algirdas Landsbergis's Short Stories

In interwar and post-war societies, men were required to show endurance, courage, and emotional stability, but their traumas, caused by the experience of war and the economic, political, and social realities of the post-war period, are just started to be analysed. Algirdas Jeronimas Landsbergis (1924–2004), a playwright, prose writer, editor, literary and theatre critic of the Lithuanian diaspora, conveys these themes in his work. The images of masculinity revealed in the texts help clarify the general experience of the society hidden in the works and understand what kind of masculinity prevailed in society after the world wars changed the lives of women and men. Using K. G. Jung’s theory of analytical psychology, the article analyses A. Landsbergis’ short stories, which literature researchers less studied. Texts are explored as reflections and shapers of society, and in the case of masculinity, it is discussed what is meant by the archetypes of masculinity recorded in the literature. Based on the work of R. L. Moore and D. Gillette and J. C. Campbell, the archetypes of the divine child, the child prodigy, the Oedipus child and the hero and mature masculinity – the king, warrior, magician and lover are distinguished.

Hero vis-à-vis Author

This article examines the complex relationship between the hero and the author. Through a reflexive phenomenological tone, it is argued that the hero depicts the emotional seed of the subject itself while the author is the beautiful mind that projects events and worlds by cultivating the intellectual seed. The call of adventure as a ringing bell for the hero and the author, the proclaimed Death of the Author, the almost confirmed Death of the Hero, and the horizon of the Teacher’s Death are discussed. In this setting, the fear from the authority of the hero and the author remains imminent. This article attempts to move beyond the horizon of death certificates in order to reach primary frequencies at the nexus between author and hero, derived from the very inner tones of the human psyche that come as a call to take us away to the beautiful world of Aha Erlebnis. The author and the hero – they do matter.

Review of Sorina Chiper’s Book “Discourse Studies In Practice”

The book “Discourse Studies In Practice” is a compilation of articles on discourse, written by S. Chiper over fifteen years and published in Romania and abroad. The research of different topics has been done in the methodological framework of critical discourse analysis (CDA). This book aims at discourse researchers and students, and anyone interested in discourse and intercultural studies.