Representation of Indian Religion in the Short Stories of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

India, with its plethora of religions and cultures, has been an enigmatic place for foreigners. Hinduism, a way of life more than being a religion (as proclaimed by the Supreme Court of India), has often been misunderstood by outsiders. Sometimes a biased attitude is reflected in the literature produced by these foreigners. A person like Thomas Babington Macaulay, who himself admitted that he had no knowledge of Sanskrit or Arabic, had the foolish courage of saying that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. In this paper we shall analyze the representation of religion in the short stories of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

The Double Mistaken Identity of Colonial Literature

Although postcolonial approaches in world literature and translation studies have produced much necessary scholarship, they have in general disregarded the historical ‘native’ author and translator working in colonial or semicolonial settings. Studies on Urdu literature in the 19th century, for instance, focus mostly on the role of British Orientalists. Drawing upon Allen’s trans-indigenous project, I propose to read the historical ‘native’ text approaching it with a concept drawn from Amerindian ethnohistory: ‘double mistaken identity’ (DMI). While ‘native’ intellectuals might have unwittingly contributed to furthering the cause of Western colonialists, DMI allows for two perspectives to coexist in the ‘native’ text, one of which is a ‘native’, non-hybrid perspective. I take the failed colonial project in 16th-century Japan as a model, focusing on a translation that both Urdu and Japanese intellectuals undertook: that of Aesop’s Fables. There is a case for considering ‘native’ literature fully colonial, fully ‘native’, and fully global.

Comparative palynomorphological study of two species in the valley of Zagoria, Gjirokastra, Albania

In this study there are demonstrated for the first time in albanian literature the palynomorphologic characteristics of two types of plants (Centaurea epirota and Viola epirota), collected in Zagoria valley, Gjirokastra region, in Albania. To carry out the study, light microscopy was used and it was concluded that the pollen grains of Centaurea epirota were 3 colporate, isopolar, with radial symmetry. In the polar view, the pollen grains have a circular triangular shape while in the equatorial view they have a compressed oval shape. Exine appeared scabrate. Viola epirota consisted of 3-4 colporate, sometimes even 5 colporate pollen grains. In the polar view, the pollen grains had a circular shape of 3 or 4 angles, sometimes even 5 angles while in the equatorial view they had an elliptical shape. Exine appeared granulate. To see the impact of ecological factor and the method of laboratory processing of pollen grains, the size of the new species studied was compared with the size of the pollen grains of Centaurea cyanus and Viola alba, Viola odorata and Viola arvensis, taken from the native literature.

Africanization of Christianity: Henry Venn’s indigenization of Christianity

The history of Christianity has always been a two-way process of transformation in any given culture. Christianity and paganism are reciprocal; Christianity is necessary for revelation to be fulfilled, but the actual quality of this fulfillment depends upon the quality of the religious man transformed by revelation. Christianity, as a result of this, needs a natural religion, the same way it needs all human realities as the sole mission is to save what has first been created. The link between Gospel and culture is that Gospel whenever its introduced and established in a new culture, is “transposed” in a particular way a sweet melody into a new key. Moreover, the Gospel, when transposed from its biblical world to other cultural worlds, undergoes change itself as well as causing these other worlds to change. Crowther created an astonishing impact and contribution after his consecration in 1864; as he strived to indigenize or Africanize Christianity to make it possible for the Christian faith to be accepted by Africans without having to give up or disown their cultural values. This work seeks to find what part Henry Venn, the dynamic and accomplished secretary of the Church Missionary Society, played to see how Christian faith can go well together or combine with African beliefs and practices to produce Christianity which may become a religion for Africans. This work has shown that Henry Venn's ideas on native Church organization include: the native Church needs the ablest native pastors for its fuller development and that it should be under a native bishop and that a native Church is organized as a national institution. This work adopted a qualitative method that used historical and content analysis. This work concluded that for the Africanization of Christianity to be actualized, African Church must have its liturgy or incorporate what was good of the native religions to develop an authentically African Christianity. And that reducing the various African vernaculars into writing and developing native literature was a first step in the reforming movement toward Africanization of Christianity; just as Venn urged Crowther to undertake the translation of the Bible into Yoruba and to preach in Yoruba even while still at Freetown.

Structural and Contextual features of the Textbook «Literature of the peoples of Russia» for the 4th grade

В статье рассматриваются структурно-содержательные особенности учебника «Литература народов России» для 4-го класса в школах с многонациональным составом учащихся. Внимательное прочтение художественного произведения в учебнике служит базой для литературоведческого анализа. В учебнике учитываются психологические особенности восприятия литературы народов России русскоязычными учащимися; реализуется диалогический подход к литературным произведениям народов России, что представляется особенно важным в условиях школ национальных регионов РФ, а также школ с многонациональным составом учащихся, изучающих как русскую, так и родную литературу. The article analyses structural and substantial features of the textbook «Literature of the peoples of Russia» for the 4th grade of schools with the multinational classrooms. The special attention in the textbook is paid to attentive reading of the works of art which is the base for the literary analysis. In the textbook psychological features of perception of literature of the peoples of Russia are considered by Russian-speaking students. It is noted that the textbook dialogical approach to literary works of the peoples of Russia is implemented. It is especially important for the schools of national regions of the Russian Federation and schools with the multinational classrooms where students study both the Russian, and their native literature.

FOREIGN PERCEPTION OF THE LITERATURE OF KAZAKHSTAN

For profound and overall study of history of contemporary literature of Kazakh people it is necessary to consider achievements of literature of other nations and perception of literature of native literature within the context of world community. Actuality of the proposed issue causes objective necessity of studying reception of creation of Kazakh writers and poets in foreign countries, because at present best patterns of Kazakh literature have been translated into languages of many countries of the world. In this article the author discusses the special features and originality of foreign perception of the literature of Kazakhstan during Independence period. Literary translation plays a major role in this process. The number of translations and foreign feedbacks, reviews and studies is an important index for determining the international literary scale of a writer or poet.

Shaman as a Prophet in the lyrics of Alampa

The subject of this research is the theme of the mission of poet and poetry in works of the pioneer of Yakut lyrics A. I. Sofronov-Alampa. The goal of this article consists in comprehensive analysis of the image of poet in his lyrics. The theme of poet and poetry is traced throughout his artistic journey. Alampa’s poetic heritage features 43 compositions on this topic, which is 12.6% of all his poems. It is noted that the aesthetic views and principles of Alampa were formed under the influence of the poetry of A. Pushkin and M. Lermontov. Reminiscences, constant references to the image of Prophet allow concluding that adoption of traditions of the classics led the poet to portraying the image of the Creator – a mediator between the divine powers and a human. However, the poet took a different approach towards this matter, through the “prism of the spiritual heritage of his nation”, and introduced into his native literature the image of Shaman as the higher force possessing the power of healing and word. Reflecting on the genesis of nature and poetic talent, Alampa refers to the founder of Yakut literature Alexey Kulakovsky as the Shaman – a Creator from God. But first of all, the Shaman at Alampa is a benevolent person – Algyschyt, who heals the wounded and lost souls with power of the word, and guides to the path of happiness. Sofronov grants a special mission and higher purpose to the Shaman-poet – “touch the hearts of the people with the word”.  The scientific novelty consists in the attempts to examine the image of poet in the lyrics of Alampa.

Transnational perspectives in the Italian language class: the uses of non-native literature to develop intercultural competence

This paper explores how a transnational approach to university language classes may help develop students’ intercultural competence. Researchers have shown that the integration of literature in the language class has the potential to raise intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006), especially when migrant and travel literatures are used (Matos, 2012, Paran, 2008). I present an empirical case study of the use of migrant literature in Italian in a Learning Unit (LU) for final-year undergraduate students of Italian language – Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) C1/C2 (Council of Europe, 2001). After describing the context of the LU, I explain the rationale behind its design, outline its contents, and observe that the LU helps students to improve all canonical linguistic skills as well as intercultural abilities.