Entr’acte

The entr’acte, “Framing Urban Spaces,” focuses on two images by William and Thomas Birch that depict different aspects of the same Philadelphia streetscape, conveying the necessity of imaginative perspective to construct Philadelphia as a city. To use Birch’s words, these images, and the literary texts I read in Part II, meditate on Philadelphia as a city “raised, as it were, by magic power.”

МИФОЛОГЕМЫ РУССКИХ СКАЗОК: СЛЕДЫ ОЛИЦЕТВОРЕНИЯ И ОБОЖЕСТВЛЕНИЯ ЗЕМЛИ

В статье рассматриваются мотивы сказок, в которых содержатся черты представлений о земле как о живом существе (зооморфном или антропоморфном), наделенном особой магической силой. С данной точки зрения анализируется, в частности, семантическая основа образов крупных копытных животных в сказках типов № 511 и 1892 (по указателям Андреева-Аарне и СУС). Привлечение сравнительных параллелей позволяет проследить вероятное развитие образа «живой земли» из зооморфного в антропоморфный (через объединяющий их мотив прорастающего сквозь лоно чудо-дерева). Выявляются отголоски представлений о «цепи перерождений» души умершего, связанных с почти несомненным олицетворением земли в образе сказочной царевны, владевшей мифическими «источниками жизни» – чудесным деревом с его живительными плодами и возрождающими водами. Рассматриваются и вероятные истоки взаимосвязи образов царевны и змееподобного существа, изначальная функция которого в древности реконструируется как связанная с идеей воз/перерождения. Прослеживается также отражение сказкой социальных сдвигов, в ходе которых мужской персонаж из более раннего олицетворения души предка трансформируется в героя-победителя, в том числе – и могущественной царевны-богатырши. The article examines the fairy tales’ motifs which present the earth as a zoomorphic or anthropomorphic creature endowed with magic power. From this point of view, the author analyses the semantic base of ungulate characters in the tales of types 511 and 1892 (according to ATU and Comparative index of Plots). The comparative study allows us to trace the probable development of the motif of the “alive earth” from its zoomorphic personification to an anthropomorphic one (through the uniting motif of the tree sprouting through a womb). The study reveals the echo of the idea of the “chain of rebirth” of a dead person’s soul, connected with an almost undoubted impersonation of the earth as a fairy-tale princess who owned the mythical lifesprings: reviving waters or a magic tree with reviving fruits. The paper also considers the probable origin of interconnection between the characters of the princess and the snake-like creature: their reconstructed original function is connected with the idea of rebirth/reincarnation. The author also traces the reflection of social changes in fairy tales. A male character transforms from a personified ancestor’s soul to a hero, including a hero who defeated a powerful princess.

Politics and Magic

The idea that politics and magic are intertwined is both preposterous and commonsensical. Macbeth and Tempest both tell stories of the uses of magic power for political purposes—to undermine rule or to maintain dominance. The relationship between supernatural power and political power can both be seen as a metaphorical comment on an ineffable, mysterious quality of political power, and as an evaluative comment on the identification of politics with sleight of hand and trickery. The problems of discrimination between appearances and reality, between manipulation and authority, are dramatized in both these plays; and raise the question of the theatricality of political power and conduct, as well as raising evaluative questions about the evils of authoritarianism, colonial domination and exploitation.

Menolak Wabah dalam Serat Ronggo Sutrasno Karya Sunan Kalijaga

One of the Javanese texts with esoteric value is the Ronggasutrasna Kidungan Fiber which is kept by the Surakarta Sastra Lestari Foundation. Serat Kidungan Ronggasutasna is a Javanese script in which there is a text in the form of fibers written by Sunan Kalijaga written together with Ronggasutrasna and then published by Tan Gun Swi. This manuscript is a compilation of a number of songs including Rumeksa Ing Wengi (KRIW), Padanghyangan Kidungan (and those of the dhedhemit ratuning), and other hymns. However, the KRIW text is not an original manuscript written by Sunan Kalijaga. This is evidenced by the existence of other KRIW texts in PNRI presented in handwriting. Serat Kidung Ranggasutrasna is the song of the 'kid' of old fibers which is a representation of esoteric values and Islamic symbolism of the spiritual messages of Kanjeng Sunan Kalijaga. After the authors examined the contents of the text, the authors concluded that most of the Ranggasutrasna's fiber of the Kidungan text contains the magic power plan in the form of spells of rebel, repellent witchcraft, sorcery, babysitting, escaping from the bondage of debt, self defense, war ethos, worship ethos, and treatment system in Javanese culture. Fiber Kidung Ranggasutrasna belongs to the piwulang script which is presented in the form of Javanese song.Keywords: Song of Ranggasutasna; esoteric; magical power; local wisdom. Intisari Salah satu naskah Jawa yang bernilai esoteris adalah Serat Kidungan Ronggasutrasna yang disimpan oleh Yayasan Sastra Lestari Surakarta. Serat Kidungan Ronggasutasna adalah sebuah naskah Jawa yang di dalamnya terdapat sebuah teks berbentuk serat hasil tulisan Sunan Kalijaga yang disusun bersama Ronggasutrasna dan kemudian diterbitkan oleh Tan Gun Swi. Naskah ini merupakan kompilasi dari beberapa kidungan yang di antaranya Kidungan Rumeksa Ing Wengi (KRIW), Kidungan Padanghyangan (danyanghyangan para ratuning dhedhemit), dan kidung-kidung lainnya. Namun teks KRIW bukan merupakan naskah asli tulisan Sunan Kalijaga. Hal ini dibuktikan dengan adanya teks KRIW lain dalam PNRI yang disajikan dalam tulisan tangan. Serat Kidung Ranggasutrasna merupakan nyanyian 'kidungan' serat kuna yang merupakan representasi nilai-nilai esoteris dan simbolisme Islam dari pesan-pesan spiritual Kanjeng Sunan Kalijaga. Setelah penulis meneliti isi teks, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa sebagian besar teks Serat Kidungan Ranggasutrasna berisi tentang piwulang kekuatan gaib yang berupa mantra-mantra tolak balak, penolak santet, tenung, penjaga bayi, kluar dari belenggu hutang, bela diri, etos perang, etos ibadah, dan sistem pengobatan dalam budaya Jawa. Serat Kidung Ranggasutrasna tergolong ke dalam naskah piwulang yang disajikan dalam bentuk tembang Jawa.Kata kunci: Kidung Ranggasutasna; esoteris; kekuatan gaib; kearifan lokal.

MAGIC POWER OF WORDS IN RHETORIC AND THEIR LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FEATURES

Тhe article analyzes the magical power of words used in rhetoric, and their lexical and semantic features.It was emphasized that the meaning of the magical power of the word is embodied in life, and not in the sum of the lexical meanings of the components of rhetorical expressions. The idea of these statements is devoted to issues that have an educational orientation, but in fact is full of semantics of bad intentions, such as mutilation, death, destruction. It is not a rhetorical device that has rhetoric, but the fact that after a certain time it passes into real reality, revealing the meaning of such Proverbs as "spoken word, shooter", which still do not lose their meaning in the Kyrgyz people. We are talking about the fact that for a long time is widely used in the oral national oral folk art, as an artistic method, and is also used as a genre painting with a special content, form, identity.

THE INFLUENCE OF RHETORIC ON A PERSON AND THE MAGICAL NATURE OF THE WORD

The article describes the influence of rhetoric on a person, the nature of words that cause positive and negative mood. Such statements, which are now taking place in the rhetoric of the Kyrgyz language, express a positive or negative psychological mood in relation to someone and pay attention to the increase in the strength of emotional impact on the listener, say that his ancient patterns lead directly to magical beliefs.The meaning of the word is accompanied by calls to magic power, requests and requests, at the same time, the opposite of thought, based on the offense force to take revenge, to eradicate, however, such rhetorical statements that are found in today's people, retain their magical content.

Ranking games

This chapter starts with a discussion of the magic power of round numbers and left-digit effects, and it then deals with two popular ranking games concerning colleges and countries. A recurring theme in our complex world pertains to the question of whether it is possible to summarize the performance of an organization faithfully with a single score. Schools are complex social organizations that serve a variety of purposes, and measuring their progress toward these goals is obviously tricky. Students, admissions offices, and college administrators are the major stakeholders in the college ranking game. Ranking colleges not only provides a passive mirror of the institutional landscape but also drives changes within the institutions. Similarly, ranking countries both reflects the current state and motivates change. While some believe that the idea of the nation-state is outdated and a source of conflict, countries remain a primary means of controlling people, organizing society, and managing the distribution of wealth. Measuring corruption and freedom within countries is difficult, and the ranking of countries based on these measurements is discussed.