Imperial Farce?

This article explores the appropriation and translation of historical notions of “empire” into the modern era through close examination of the short-lived Central African Empire, imagined and brought to life by the flamboyant Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa. Curiously, in an era in which the formerly colonized francophone African nations were increasingly seeking to signal rejection of their French heritage, Bokassa presented his empire as a modern corollary to the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. This article draws on original research in French and US diplomatic archives to argue that we can understand the empire as a failed attempt to manufacture charisma, approaching farce before devolving into horror.

Se out of control

Within the framework of a uniform theory of the so-called se constructions in Spanish, I propose to explain a control ban that has received almost no attention in the previous bibliography. Specifically, as long as a subject control sentence has an impersonal SE as controller, the subordinate infinitive clause cannot contain any other instance of the clitic SE, other than the so-called spurious SE. The source of this restriction follows, as I will argue, from a legibility problem at LF produced, specifically, by a failed attempt to apply Agree between PRO and the embedded SE, which, as we shall see, acts as a probe for A-movement. If the explanation that I offer is correct, it also follows a series of theoretical conclusions that directly affect the way in which we must conceive of the design of Agree in the syntax and its effect at the LF interface. In particular, the system tolerates certain Agree failures (Preminger 2014) as long as it does not affect legibility in the semantics. Indeed, the theory of SE constructions that I assume here derives the distinction between paradigmatic and non-paradigmatic SE as the result of successful or unsuccessful Agree applications, respectively. The limit of this tolerance to failed applications of Agree must be found in the type of semantic object that can be deduced at LF. This limit is illustrated with the aforementioned restriction in control and impersonal SE contexts that motivates the present study.

Anton Korošec in apostolski nuncij Ermenegildo Pellegrinetti: politični katolicizem, manjšinsko vprašanje in konkordat med Svetim sedežem in Kraljevino Jugoslavijo

The article discusses some key political problems in Slovene and Yugoslav history through the relationship between Anton Korošec, a Catholic priest and one of the most prominent politicians of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia, and Ermenegildo Pellegrinetti, the apostolic nuncio in the first Yugoslavia. The analysis of memoirs and archival sources presents contextualised personal insights into the politicization of the Catholic Church and the activities of Catholic parties, including the issue of nationalisms, the anti-fascist action of Slovenes and Croats in Italy and the failed attempt to adopt a Concordat between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Holy See.

Kant's Prolegomena

The Prolegomena is often dismissed as Kant's failed attempt to popularize his philosophy, but as the essays collected here show, there is much to be gained from a careful study of the work. The essays explore the distinctive features of the Prolegomena, including Kant's discussion of philosophical methodology, his critical idealism, the nature of experience, his engagement with Hume, the nature of the self, the relation between geometry and physics, and what we cognize about God. Newly commissioned for this volume, the essays as a whole offer sophisticated and innovative interpretations of the Prolegomena, and cast Kant's critical philosophy in a new light.

What exactly is Takeuchi Yoshimi's logic of Asian resistance?

Literary Critic and Sinologist, Takeuchi Yoshimi, provides post-colonial and decolonial studies a logic of resistance that seeks to destabilize the colonialist projects of Western modernity without repeating its structural logic. In this regard, Takeuchi's logic of resistance functions as a dialectical lens into the “emancipatory traps” of Western modernity that frame the victim–victimizer paradox by turning negativity into a method of generating heuristic possibilities. But in this pursuit to look for alternative sites for mining theoretical possibilities, Takeuchi returns to the origins of Chinese modernity for imagining a proper logic of Asian resistance, that which could be deployed as a resource for negating the imperial gestures of modernist thought while affirming the positive kernel of the Enlightenment with the hope of bringing forth a global world that is continuously transformed by the cultural particulars themselves. The goal of this article is to further elucidate Takeuchi's logic of Asian resistance and to discuss how this logic can be read as having the potential to correct Nishida Kitarō's and the Kyoto School's failed attempt to overcome modernity.

Side-to-side penoscrotal anastomosis: a reliable technique for repair of recurrent urethrocutaneous fistula in male children

Background: Surgical repair of urethrocutaneous fistulae (UCF) is relatively simple and results are often satisfactory. However, in some cases of UCF, recurrence results despite several attempts at repair. Reports are scanty on the management of such recalcitrant UCF. The aim of the study was to present our experience with recurrent UCF, and describes our technique of side-to-side penoscrotal anastomosis for repair of such fistulae.Methods: This was a 10 years analytical comparative study of the outcome of repair of recurrent UCF in paediatric patients using the simple double layer repair technique, and our technique of anastomosing the penis to the scrotum between 2008 and 2019 in our centre. Data obtained and analysed with SPSS 21 version included the number of previous attempts at repair, number, site and size of UCF, technique of repair, and the incidence of recurrence of UCF.Results: Nineteen patients were studied. Nine had conventional double layer repair of UCF with recurrence in 5 (55.6%). Two of the recurrent cases were added to the remaining 10 patients to make a total of 12 cases who had the staged repair by penoscrotal anastomosis (PSA) and there was no recurrence during the average follow up period of 1 year. P value was <0.05.Conclusions: Findings in this study suggest a superior outcome when the penoscrotal anastomosis is used for repair of recurrent UCF. We think it is better to apply this technique in cases of UCF which the surgeon considers potentially difficult than to wait to have a failed attempt before deploying it.

Spontaneous pregnancy in a patient with premature ovarian insufficiency after a failed attempt of ovulation induction

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is defined as intermittent or permanent gonadal insufficiency before age of 40 years. POI causes female infertility hence pregnancies are uncommon but not impossible. Ovarian failure is not permanent, unlike menopause. There could be intermittent ovulation and spontaneous pregnancy. Many protocols aimed to restore ovarian functions have been described in the recent years. This is a case of POI women who conceived spontaneously in the immediate menstrual cycle after a failed attempt at ovarian stimulation following many years on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). She had an unremarkable pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby via caesarean section.

What is Nikolai Klyuev’s “Hung Upside Down” Crying for? (On Poetic Epitaph to Victims of White Terror)

The article is devoted to the problems of historical and cultural commentary, as well as the interpretation of the ideological-figurative content and genre attribution of N. A. Klyuev’s poem “Hung upside down...”, created by the poet during the Vytegorsk period of his life (1918—1922). The analysis showed that the facts of Klyuev’s Vytegorsk life at the time of his creation “Hung upside down...” and the poet's deeply felt fear of being subjected to a cruel execution prompted him to literally perpetuate the memory of the victims of the White Terror who were martyred by hanging during the Civil War. The authors of the study come to the conclusion that references to the Bible and L. I. Palmin’s poem “Requiem” make it possible to attribute this work of Klyuev to one of the most ardent works of the poet of that time, calling on the living to selflessly serve the ideals of the proletarian revolution, and to identify its genre as a literary epitaph to the victims of the White Terror, which stands out for its monumentality and the timelessness of its valuable message to descendants. The authors of the article are convinced that the failed attempt by Klyuev to republish the poem “Hung upside down...” in 1927 betrays the poet, who is experiencing criticism of the counter-revolutionary content of his works, a desire to demonstrate the continuity of his later work with his “communard” past.

Crocodile Attack Injuries: A Failed Attempt to Conceal Homicide

Crocodile attacks are not uncommon in this region. There have been 92 cases reported since 2015 and 50 cases alone reported in Sarawak. Every year death has been attributed to a crocodile attack. An estimate of 71% of the total cases of crocodile attack ended up dead. However, there are instances where a crocodile attack happened after the death of a person. This is a case of an adult male who was reported missing. His body was found by two local anglers, being mauled by crocodiles. Only partial trunk and lower limbs were found, and the major organs were absent. The postmortem features of the crocodile attacks have been described.

Day and Night Leisure Routines and Regimes

The chapter assesses disjunctures between military routines and patterns of leisure and nightlife in the cities of the eastern Mediterranean. Military authorities attempted to control the desires of their subordinates to escape from the confines of the camp through the provision of leisure activities intended to boost military effectiveness. Many servicemen, however, continued their pursuit of pleasure in the nocturnal city, stimulating a flourishing of entertainment venues that came to occupy a major place in the topography of the imagined Levantine city. The chapter finally considers how military time-keeping regimes were extended to the city through the control of licensing hours and lighting in a failed attempt to silence and extinguish the night.