Negative constructions in theory and practice: Ukrainian-Belarusian parallels

In the article the material of monumental texts of the Ukrainian language of the 16th – the first half of the 17th century (business documents, artistic, polemical, chronicle, scientific and confessional literature) and the studied monuments of the Old Belarusian language are studied the diachronic aspect of the use of case forms (generic or accusative) in negative verb constructions; their functioning in modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages is analyzed. It has been revealed that in the monuments of the Ukrainian language of the specified period the accusative case in denial is inferior to the generic one. The use of certain syntactic models (parallel use of genitive and accusative forms in the pre- and postposition) was determined by the general style and place of writing the monuments. In studies of monuments of the Old Belarusian language in this position the genitive was fixed, and sometimes in negative constructions the accusative and the genitive were allowed at the same time. In the linguistics of the 20th – early 21st century philologists have repeatedly drawn attention to the peculiarities of the use of genitive and accusative cases in negative constructions both on the All-Slavic background and on the material of individual languages. Synchronously, it has been revealed that in the modern Ukrainian language the literary norm in negative constructions is the use of the genitive case instead of the accusative. However, there is no noticeable tendency to replace the accusative and the genitive in verbs with a negative participle not, as there are many cases of using the possessive case in literature and in everyday speech. On the other hand, there is no unanimity in the grammars of the modern Belarusian language on this issue: some scholars believe that both generic and possessive cases are possible in negative constructions, while others believe that only generic is possible. However, from a sample of analyzed works of Belarusian writers of the twentieth century, artistic and journalistic posts, as well as conversational style records, it can be argued that there are only a few cases of use of the accusative case, in particular in proverbs and sayings, and only the genitive is dominant in the negative constructions.

Modelyuvannya istorychnoho slovnyka polonizmiv (na materiali pivnichnoukrayins'kykh pam'yatok XVI–XVII st.)

This article substantiates the relevance of the historical dictionary of words borrowed from the Polish language, describes the principles of its construction, the structure of the dictionary articles. The main purpose of the dictionary is to collectively present the Polonisms that functioned in the northern Ukrainian records of the XVI–XVII centuries as well as to indicate origins, semantics, chronology, territory, etc. The register of lexicographical work will include Polonisms found in the records of the XVI–XVII centuries. Borrowed words will be selected from the etymological source, etymon will be added to them, each lexical meaning will be illustrated, the location and time of writing the record will be indicated. If necessary, the words will be given a broader commentary on the semantics, phonetic or grammatical design, etc. Today, its file contains about 800 words of Polish origin, found in various texts of the XVI–XVII centuries in northern Ukrainian area (acts of city, sub-chamber and district governments in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Ovruch, Kyiv, diplomas, universals both public and private; texts of various genres: fiction, polemical, confessional literature). In the publication we substantiate that before borrowing there must be an indication of the source of information (relevant etymological dictionaries or other work), because, firstly, it confirms the origin of foreign words, and secondly, from an ethical point of view, researchers often do not trace history of a foreign word, and on the basis of existing studies of etymologists, respectively, there should be a vocation, and thirdly, a number of tokens in Ukrainian linguistics do not have an unambiguous interpretation, so the researcher of borrowings thus illustrates whose views he adheres or has his own opinion.

A Fruitful or Wild French Vineyard? Distinguishing the Religious Roots of Albigenses and Waldensians in the Twelfth Century

Much like how fruitful and wild branches are mixed in the same vineyard, there is a great deal of confusion when someone tries to discern the religious roots of heretical movements grown out of the Middle Ages. Two peculiar cases are often associated by confessional literature: Waldensians and Albigenses, demonized by Roman Catholic literature or romanticized by Protestant and modern Medieval fictional literature. In the quest for historical accuracy this paper intends to argue for the supremacy of certain contextual theological beliefs rather than socio-economic features alone in discerning the true nature of these movements despite their similarities and common persecution by the dominant Catholic religion. While the Albigenses reintroduced the ancient heresy of Gnosticism, the Waldensians were driven by a return to apostolic Christianity. The study also points out the need to analyze those movements beyond a one-dimensional approach in order to see the heterogeneity inside each movement, especially in their progressive evolution through time. Results point toward the need to reject an ancient origin thesis for the case of the Waldensians, whereas still allowing, in their case, a possible proto-Protestant connection.

Catch a Sight of "Church": Amateur Photographs as a Window into the Life of Evangelical Christians of the USSR

It is known that the documents from the State archives concerning the history of religious life in the USSR had the primary importance and they are remained the same. However, a significant part of historical documents are kept by believers. Film and photo documents are of particular interest. The “visual turn” in the historiography of the beginning of 2000s opened up new opportunities for studying film sources and photographic documents. The attention of historians has focused on the symbolic and linguistic systems of transmission of film and photographic messages, on the visualization of ethnic, confessional identities or cultural characteristics of various population groups. Thus, turn to the film and photo documents helps better understanding the collective self-perception of Soviet believers and finding the ways to present themselves to the surrounding world. The purpose of this study is to study the informational possibilities of photographic documents on the history of Evangelical Christian-Baptists in the USSR in the 1970s. The main historical sources in the study are two photographs from the mid-1970s. They are kept in the church of evangelistic Christians-Baptists in the city of Perm. Archival documents of the State Archives of Perm Krai and confessional literature helped to reconstruct the historical context of photography. Conversations with a presbyter of the Perm community of Evangelical Christians-Baptists helped in attribution of photographs. The author believes that these photographs formed the iconographic image of the ECB church in the space of the Soviet city. The active use of these photographs in the post-Soviet period testifies the high “symbolic efficiency” (P. Bourdieu) of photographic communication from the past.

“Some ancestral dread:” Woolf, Autobiography, and the Question of “Shame”

In this essay, Laura Marcus explores the interconnections of shame, sexuality and the self in Woolf’s autobiographical writing. Drawing on Woolf’s epistolary discussions with Ethel Smyth as well as her speculation on the origins of shame in A Sketch of the Past, Marcus offers a new reading of Woolf’s ‘ancestral dread’ that goes beyond its plausible origin in her sexual abuse by her brother. Situating Woolf’s responses in relationship to a range of disciplines including psychoanalysis, philosophy as well as a tradition of confessional literature, Marcus therefore shows how Woolf uses the concept of ‘shame’ for a productive exploration of identity, memory and the exposure of the self’s intimacies in writing.

When Caged Birds Sing: The Many-folded Subject in the Baroque World of Heian Japanese Women's Writing

In this article, the world of Heian women's literature is interpreted through Deleuzian concepts of desire and becoming and figures of the rhizome, the Baroque fold and origami, supported by Elizabeth Grosz's concept of art as originating in the impulse to seduction. Within the constraints of movement, dress and behaviour imposed by a polygamous hierarchical court society, Heian women created a rich body of literature that celebrated and subtly critiqued their world. Through aesthetic intensification of form and imagination within a labyrinthine cloistered society, they folded their fictional and autobiographical subjectivities into intricate patterns of desire. The richly described and imagined world of their fictional and confessional literature, still read, translated and transformed into other art forms, celebrates the freedom of the imagination even in confined and controlled circumstances.

Speaking from experience: narrative schemas, deixis, and authenticity effects in Verena Stefan's feminist confession Shedding

Confessional writing, such as Swiss feminist Verena Stefan's autobiographical novel Shedding (1977) (German: Häutungen, 1977[1975]), is often praised as being an expression of a particular individual's authentic voice. This readerly concept of authentic voice has been under-examined in contemporary and postmodern narrative theories, which have tended to emphasize the abstractness, the disembodiedness of voice. In this article I draw from Monika Fludernik's concept of narrative schemas and from theories of deixis in literature within cognitive poetics in order to develop a model by which to explain the authenticity effects attributed to Stefan's book and to other works of testimonial and confessional literature. Through an analysis of stylistic features related to different aspects of deixis, I illustrate how deictic shifts may encourage readers to pay more attention to certain narrative parameters over others within the framework of familiar narrative schemas, thereby creating a greater sense of immersivity in the text and consequently the effect of a narrative that is being experienced even as it is being told.

Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative as Confessional Literature: "After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?"

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