Agustina Bessa-Luís: a força do romance como enciclopédia aberta e o ímpeto arquivístico

Resumo: Este artigo analisa a obra de Agustina Bessa-Luís (1922-2019) pela concepção de romance como enciclopédia aberta, conforme propõe Italo Calvino em Seis propostas para o próximo milênio. Inicialmente, discorremos sobre a Encyclopédie iluminista. Na sequência, dialogamos com a fortuna crítica da escritora portuguesa e com os estudos acerca do romance como enciclopédia aberta para justificar o caminho de leitura empreendido. Apontamos também o caráter arquivístico e inventariante qualificador do romance enciclopédico. Trabalhamos com as ponderações teóricas de Italo Calvino (1990), Maria Esther Maciel (2009), Maria das Graças Souza (2015) e Umberto Eco (2013).Palavras-chave: romance como enciclopédia aberta; enciclopedismo; Agustina Bessa-Luís.Abstract: This article analyzes the work of Agustina Bessa-Luís (1922-2019) by the conception of romance as an open encyclopedia, as proposed by Italo Calvino in Six proposals for the next millennium. Initially, we talked about the Enlightenment Encyclopédie. Next, we dialogue with the portuguese writer’s critical fortune and with the studies about the novel as an open encyclopedia to justify the reading path undertaken. We also point out the archival and inventoried character that qualifiers the encyclopedic novel. We work with the theoretical weightings of Italo Calvino (1990), Maria Esther Maciel (2009), Maria das Graças Souza (2015) and Umberto Eco (2013).Keywords: novel as an open encyclopedia; encyclopedism; Agustina Bessa-Luis.

Craii De Azi Și De Ieri. O Analiză Comparativă a Romanelor Ierbar De Andrei Dósa Și Craii De Curteaveche De Mateiu Caragiale

On the back cover of Andrei Dósa’s first novel, Ierbar, Alexandru Vakulovski, a Moldavian writer and literary critic, highlights the (possible) connection between the characters in Dósa’s text and the decadent (anti)heroes from Mateiu Caragiale’s Craii de Curtea-Veche. Proposing a lucid walk on the reading path opened by Vakulovski, the current paper aims to present a comparative study of the two novels published at a time distance of ninety years to explore the level of kinship on which the narrative actants from the mentioned books are positioned, as well as the similarities and differences of the social, political and economic context in which they are living.

Multimodal literacy: Unfolding reading path in children’s picture book and its potential for EFL classrooms

This paper reports on an investigation into the reading path patterns in a children’s picture book. The primary investigation focused on the semiotic resources involved in the construction of meanings in picture books i.e. language and image elements. These semiotic resources provide insights into the unfolding of the storylines in the observed picture book. In order to detail the roles of these resources, a picture book entitled Tacky the Penguin (Lester, 1988) was selected and examined by employing two methods: Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996, 2006) structure of information value and Royce’s (1998) Intersemiotic Complementarity. The results of the analysis suggest that the whole picture book is built from a page-by-page reading path that allows for a linear and non-linear reading path. While each page presents a different layout of information value, the general pattern leads to a linear reading path from the beginning up to the end of the picture book. The mapping of the reading path is reinforced by the interrelated meanings between verbal and visual resources on the page. Drawing on the analysis results, this paper offers the delve into the flow of information from the language and image resources in the picture books that can be used to inform practical use of picture books in EFL classrooms.

Finnegans Wake for Dummies

Chapter 3 argues that there is a way to read and understand Finnegans Wake, if we can only read according to a new path that starts in the middle and works out to the beginning and the end. Included is a report of a successful experiment in pedagogy that read the Wake in outwardly radiating circles, as dictated by the principle of ascending difficulty, beginning with the easiest sections and working out to the hardest ones. This “spiral reading” path then turns out to track very closely the process of Joyce’s compositional process, and so gives us an insight into Joyce’s method. A syllabus for the original course is included as an Appendix, in an invitation to future teachers.

Eye-tracking the semiotic effects of layout on viewing print advertisements

The print advertisement produces meaning for its readers through the interaction of a complex system of semiotic elements. Understanding this meaning is based on readers’ ability to follow the established reading conventions of their culture. The article describes a study that uses eye-tracking technology to examine readers’ interaction with the semiotic elements of two print advertisements. The relation between print advertisements and semiotics is informed by intersemiotic analysis and the reading path concept. The advertisements’ layout is rearranged to form two sets of texts: one original advertisement and a modified version. We have calculated the time sequence in which visual and verbal areas attract attention, the amount of time spent on them and the depth of attention paid to the areas read. The results show how layout re-arrangement affects reading behaviour, such as reading the smallest visual first and the target text sequentially without visual elements interrupting the reading, or having the same point of entry in both the original and the modified advertisements.

Multimodal Communication óf Specialized Knowledge across Hypertext Innovation and Generic Tradition

As more and more educators try to employ interactive texts in the educational process, investigation of how knowledge communication takes place in hypertext becomes increasingly signifi cant. Drawing on a multimodal theoretical framework, this paper explores knowledge communication in interactive texts from the Volcano World website (http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Online/index.html). The analytical focus is first on how specialized knowledge is multimodally constructed inside the generic framework of traditional lessons through different types of interactive exchanges and across several semiotic modes. Second, the analysis discusses how the linear reading path imposed by the generic structure of traditional lessons is disrupted by hypertext’s meaning-making pathways. The paper concludes that the stable generic structure of lessons combined with the openness of hyperlinks can be and, to some extent, is being exploited in websites like Volcano World to enhance the process of progressively acquiring, producing and exchanging specialized knowledge across several semiotic modes. By detecting the kind of meaning-making structures that can be established when communicating specialized knowledge in a hypertext environment, educators can continuously adapt online interactive texts to accommodate students accustomed to complex interactive activities and eager to get to grips with them.