Women's fan writing and transformative works in eleventh-century Japan

This exploration of the literary cultures of eleventh-century Japan analyzes the ways in which the writing and reading practices of the period resemble those of modern transformative fan communities. Studying the defining fictional text of this era, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 1021), within the framework of fan studies demonstrates how existing so-called canonical material was transformed into a vehicle for female-centric reimaginings of dominant narratives. The circumstances of the work's authorship and its initial reception are examined via the author's own diary and The Sarashina Diary (ca. 1059), a memoir written by an early reader of the Genji, providing insight into both individual fan identity and the extensive female-led fan communities of the period.

Creating a rich reading environment

The days of starting a child's reading development, age five, with an ‘early reader’ are long gone. Children will always pick up a book when it feels interesting to do so, just like adults. With so many great books and resources available, it has never been easier to find the inspiration.

An Early Reader of James? Ethical Parallels between the Epistle and 2 Enoch

The letter of James remains an enigma in many ways, including its immediate reception. Another enigmatic work, 2 Enoch, though vastly different in temperament and form, contains numerous ethical parallels with the epistle. Most prominent among the ten detailed here are the use of the imago Dei to prohibit slander, an absolute ban on taking oaths and a warning to wealthy landowners not to exploit day laborers. Utilizing criteria developed by Luke Timothy Johnson, a strong case can be made that 2 Enoch is to be numbered among the earliest readers of James. If so, there are implications for the date, geography and social context of both works. This proposal also sheds light on the relationship between the oath-formulas in Jas 5.12 and Mt. 5.33-37.

Aphra Behn and Bishop Burnet

Aphra Behn's Pindaric Poem to Dr Gilbert Burnet is among her last and most politically outspoken works; published in 1689, shortly after the Revolution, it apparently declines an invitation from Burnet to write propaganda for the new Williamite regime. A copy of this poem, now held by Cambridge University Library, includes detailed handwritten corrections to both spelling and punctuation. As the poem is well printed, there is no obvious reason why these corrections should have been undertaken by either the printer or publisher, or an early reader. It is possible that the annotator was Behn herself, in anticipation of a second edition that she did not live to see into print.

Förderung von Perspektivenübernahme und Zielrezipientenorientierung im Translationsunterricht (deutsch – spanisch): kinderliterarische Ausgangstexte als didaktisches Instrument

This paper will focus onthe role that source texts from early reader children’s literature can play in beginners’ translation classes helping students to develop culturally sensitive concepts of translator role and responsibility and encouraging them to use reader-oriented translation strategies.In accordance with Functionalist Translation Theory, the translator’s ability to take into consideration culturally different perspectives is regarded as a basic component of his/her expert intercultural competence.It will be argued that students’ empathy and ability to take others’ perspectives can be fostered through source texts that enable them to connect both with the fictional world (“text world”) and the target recipient’s situation (“real world”).

7. Performance and new Chaucers

Creative responses to Chaucer, across the world, have never been more varied and vibrant. This repairs some shortcomings of earlier centuries, where imitators have generally reworked entrenched ideas of a fatherly, and occasionally misbehaving, Chaucer, although an exception must be made for Shakespeare, who was a brilliant early reader of Chaucer. ‘Performance and new Chaucers’ considers the globalization of Chaucer and looks at how his work has influenced the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Lavinia Greenlaw. Marilyn Nelson, and Caroline Bergvall. The extraordinary growth of translations worldwide since 2000 suggests new esteem for Chaucer as the poet of an unfinished Englishness ripe for translation, adaptation, and local variation.

A New Feminist Venture: Work, Professionalism and the Modern Woman

This chapter discusses Time and Tide’s early feminist identity through an exploration of its close interdependence, and competition, within the feminist and women’s press. The magazine drew extensively on the networks associated with suffrage media and professional women’s magazines to build its early reader and contributor base, but from the beginning was also working to establish itself as a paper with a much broader reach. Through an analysis of Time and Tide’s editorial and self-marketing strategies, its relationship with male readers, and the staging in and outside its columns of a public debate about the ‘modern woman’, the chapter grapples with the paradoxical idea that the ‘new’ thing Time and Tide was doing was to disavow identification with the ‘feminist’ or ‘women’s periodical’ category at the same time as it remained both of these things.

Mamaqtuq! by The Jerry Cans

The Jerry Cans. Mamaqtuq! Illustrated by Eric Kim. Inhabit Media, 2018.Mamaqtuq! means “delicious”. This delightful Inuit board book tells a simple story of hunting all day for seal, running out of provisions and finally finding and catching a seal. It is written in Inuktitut and English, appropriately, at an early reader level. Erik Kim’s cartoon-like illustrations are bright, fun, and representative of the hunters, their clothing, and the environment. The book contains images of people using hunting rifles, but there are no images of seals being killed. As a stand-alone book it is a very good presentation of traditional hunting. However, the book is just one half of the story. The authors, The Jerry Cans, are a band from Iqualuit, whose music is a “unique mix of Inuktitut alt-country, throat singing and reggae.” The words in the Mamaqtuq! are the lyrics to a song. You can see the YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DueVqYKWQxE. The piece looks like a skit, with a cardboard boat and people waving cloth to make waves. The seal is played by a young man, so the shooting part is a little more disturbing than in the book. There is also a realistic scene of lead vocalist, Andrew Morrison, eating raw, bloody meat. However, the production is exuberant, even festive, fun, and true to the culture. The book is highly recommended for elementary school libraries and public libraries.Recommendation: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.