“But in the Thunder, I Still Hear Thor”: The Character Athelstan as a Narrative Focal Point in the Series Vikings

This article explores the way the character Athelstan serves as a narrative focal point in the popular television series Vikings. Using this series as its main case study, it addresses the question of the ways in which the character functions as a synthesis between the two opposing world views of Christianity and Norse religion that are present in the series. After establishing that Vikings is a prime example of the trend to romanticize Viking culture in popular culture, I will argue that while the character Athelstan functions as a narrative focal point in which the worlds can be united and are united for a while, his eventual death when he has reverted back to Christianity shows that the series ultimately favors Viking culture and paints a very negative picture of (medieval) Christianity indeed.

The portrayal of Syrgiannes Palaiologos Philanthropenos in the historical works of Nikephoros Gregoras and John Kantakouzenos

Syrgiannes Palaiologos Philanthropenos played a leading role in the conflicts between factions of the Byzantine aristocracy in the 1320s and 1330s. The most important historians of the period, Nikephoros Gregoras and John Kantakouzenos, depict a rather negative picture of the personality of Syrgiannes. He is portrayed as an overambitious individual who constantly plots against the throne. He is seen as a perjurer whose actions prove that he has no moral constraints and does not hesitate to betray his friends. This image has influenced modern scholarship which to a large extent uncritically accepts this negative image of Syrgiannes without taking into consideration the biases and contradictions of the narratives of Gregoras and Kantakouzenos. The cross-examination of the information provided by these two historians indicates that a large part of their account of the activities of Syrgiannes and his motives should be treated cautiously.

Obrazowość jako cecha stylistyczna szesnastowiecznego pamfletu politycznego Uwagi o Acrostichis własnego wyobrażenia Kniaża Wielkiego Moskiewskiego Walentego Neothebela

The main subject of the study is to point out the language and text exponents of picturesqueness as a style feature of historical pamphlet of XVI th. century. The observations were made on the example of the work Acrostichis własnego wyobrażenia Kniaża Wielkiego Moskiewskiego by Walenty Neothebel. One can indicate a few determinants of picturesqueness, they are: discontinuous words structures, proverbs and idioms, comparisons, enumerations and large and extensive description contexts. In general distinguished devices are not imaginative or exquisite, frequently being allied to simple, even colloquial language. In that the analyzed text is clearly vivid and evocative. The applied devices serve pragmatic effectiveness of the work, wich is its most important component. In the analyzed piece of work one can distinguish the features of more than one literary genre, e.g. pamphlet, morality play or dialogue, but the pragmatic aspect leads primarily to critical texts of political subject which are close right to the pamphlet. Furthermore, one can mark that Walenty Neothebel due to negative picture of tsar Ivan the Terrible presented in Acrostichis preserved the negative stereotype of Russians in Polish language and culture.

Educational situation in Herzegovina during the period of Kingdoms Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918-1929)

In the first years of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of SHS), the educational situation in Herzegovina was very bad. The low level of literacy (in some areas over 90%) and the small number of educational institutions, gave a negative picture, which was further complicated by the incompetence and slowness of the state administration. From the mid-1920s, the situation began to change. The construction of schools and literacy through course teaching were significant, but still insufficient steps to solve all the accumulated problems in this area. Based on unpublished sources and relevant literature, the paper discusses the state of the school system in Herzegovina, during the first period of monarchist Yugoslavia (1918-1929).

Klucht, satire en ernst

Summary This paper examines the themes of Plato´s Symposium and the general functions of the first five speeches. It also discusses the importance of the person of Socrates as a subject of the dialogue and his connexion to eros. Eros and Socrates together form the focus of the Symposium. The second part of this article analyses the speech of Aristophanes in detail. This funny speech has several functions: Plato uses the speech to develop a general notion of eros which is interesting and worthwhile to reflect upon. The myth offers an explanation for the three kinds of sexual identity, but also for things like promiscuity, the function of sexuality and the feeling that eros is more than just sex. Eros is a force regulating human life. At the same time, his speech is a defence of homosexual love, a rather strange position for someone who usually paints a very negative picture of homosexuality in his comedies. The article aims to demonstrate that Aristophanes is ridiculing himself in the Symposium. The things he says in his speech are the opposite of his own ideas. In fact, Plato treats Aristophanes in the same way as the poet of comedies treated Socrates in the Clouds. So this speech, too, is related to Socrates.

A Mind Trying to Right/Write Itself: Metaphors in Madness Narratives

This article explores autobiographical madness narratives written by people with lived experience of psychosis, dated from the mid-19th century until the 1970s. The focus of the exploration is on the metaphors used in these narratives in order to communicate how the writers experienced and understood madness from within. Different metaphors of madness, such as going out of one’s mind, madness as an inner beast, another world, or a transformative journey are presented based on several autobiographical books. It is argued that these metaphors often represent madness as the negative picture of what it is to be human, while the narrative writing itself helps to restore a sense of belonging and personhood. The value and function of metaphors in illness and madness narratives is further discussed.

Past and Present Nationalist Political Rhetoric in Finland: Changes and Continuities

This article focuses on nationalist political rhetoric in two historical periods in Finland. We analysed the rhetorical changes and continuities in anticommunist newspaper articles from the past (1930s) and in anti-Islam blogs in the present (2010s). We identified two similar discourses in the political rhetoric of both eras, each discourse constructed around two different Others: the external Other, the stranger from the outside world, and the internal Others, those within our own society. Our analysis identified some significant differences pertaining to the form of the rhetoric in the two studied time periods. The writers in the past used unproblematic and blatant rhetoric that often relied on metaphorical and hyperbolic expressions. The present-day bloggers painted a negative picture of the Other more often than did their counterparts of the 1930s by using factuality-enhancing strategies such as giving details, citing statistics, and drawing on expert knowledge. Importantly, moreover, the present-day discourse was characterised by defensive and counterattacking rhetorical formulations, as illustrated by the extensive denials and reversals of racism. Our analysis suggests that the discourse of Otherness seems to require much more rhetorical work and justifying proclamations in the present than in the past nationalist political rhetoric.