Mermaids

Women with fish tails are among the oldest and still most popular of mythological creatures, possessing a powerful allure and compelling ambiguity. They dwell right in the uncanniest valley of the sea: so similar to humans, yet profoundly other. Mermaids: Art, Symbolism and Mythology presents a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and beautifully illustrated study of mermaids and their influence on Western culture. The roots of mermaid mythology and its metamorphosis through the centuries are discussed with examples from visual art, literature, music and architecture—from 600 BCE right up to the present day. Our story starts in Mesopotamia, source of the earliest preserved illustrations of half-human, half-fish creatures. The myths and legends of the Mesopotamians were incorporated and adopted by ancient Greek, Etruscan and Roman cultures. Then, during the early medieval period, ancient mythological creatures such as mermaids were confused, transformed and reinterpreted by Christian tradition to begin a new strand in mermaid lore. Along the way, all manner of stunning—and sometimes bizarre or unsettling—depictions of mermaids emerged. Written in an accessible and entertaining style, this book challenges conventional views of mermaid mythology, discusses mermaids in the light of evolutionary theory and aims to inspire future studies of these most curious of imaginary creatures.

A Critique of Muḥammad Shahrūr's Views on the Qur’ān, the Ḥadīth Corpus, Sharīᶜah, and Early Islamic Scholarship

This article describes the life, education, and thoughts of Muhammad Shahrūr, whose discourse on Islam generated confusion and much in the way of polemical debate. His controversial bias favoured modernity, influenced by modern Western epistemology, traditions, and secularism. The author applies qualitative content analysis to select writings. The analysis unveils his position (s) in light of mainstream Islam and focusses on Shahrūr’s approach to Islamic religious thought via (1) theories of Non-Synonymity and Limit; (2) his view of the Ḥadīth and Sharīᶜah; (3) the status of Muslim women with regard to polygamy, dress code and feminism; (4) the law of inheritance; (5) western culture and civilization; and (6) evolution; democracy, nationalism and pluralism, etc.

The Mythical Underworlds of Francis Stevens and Daphne du Maurier

This article analyses two stories by women writers (The Heads of Cerberus by Francis Stevens (1952) and The Breakthrough by Daphne du Maurier (1964)), which could both be considered as belonging to the genre of science fiction. These stories do not follow the ‘canonical’ or more popular type of underworld narrative, especially the idea of the katabasis or descent to the underworld and the encounter with the dead, a motif which has often been present in Western culture since classical antiquity and has generated numerous narratives. Rather, they evoke the classical myth of the underworld through the use of certain names (such as Charon and Cerberus) as well as exploring other concepts which coincide with ancient Greek accounts of the topography and inhabitants of the world of the dead, the realm ruled over by Hades.

The Mob Rule Continued

In 1967, during a mutiny known as the Wuhan Incident, Zhou Enlai flexed his political muscles and pacified the insurgent commanders. Mao felt threatened. Yuan-tsung’s friend Courtier Yu, her direct link to Zhou, warned her that she had been caught in the crossfire of a huge power struggle between Zhou and Mao. Zhou wanted to reach an understanding with the West that would lead to the lifting of its trade sanctions against China. Mao, however, wanted to resuscitate the Great Leap Forward. Yuan-tsung’s best bet was Zhou. If Zhou prevailed, he would use Jack’s knowledge of English and Western culture to explain his open-door policy to the West. In return Jack and Yuan-tsung would get their exit visas. Courtier Yu arranged a meeting at a place near Badaling where Yuan-tsung could take her plea directly to Zhou.

FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT AND REVOLUTIONARY PATRIOTIC MOVEMENTS IN VIETNAM AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The patriotic movement in Vietnam at the beginning of the twentieth century, to a certain extent, demonstrated the unity of two tasks: national liberation and social renewal with an orientation towards democracy, naturally, in relation to the conditions of that time. Vietnamese patriotic movements of that time, experiencing the influence of Western culture, including French, gradually moved away from feudal consciousness and over time came to understand the need to combine patriotism with bourgeois democratic values of the Western type. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Vietnamese patriots could not find a scientifically correct way to liberate their people.

Imágenes paceñas: El mago de la ciudad paceña moderna

In this essay we disentangle what Jaime Saenz conceives of as the “magic” of La Paz as elaborated in Imágenes paceñas. We analyze magic from three complementary angles. First, we focus on the relationship between magic and unease. This take on magic is associated in the text, in an unexplicit and tangential way, with non-Western culture; that is, the Aymara indigenous. Our second point of entry intersects the first. The version of La Paz that Saenz depicts is moved by unfamiliar cultural forces. As a consequence, it is a product of, and produces, a distinct form of inhabiting characterized by a temporality that troubles that of modernity; this, too, results in a sense of magic. Finally, in our third approach to magic, we analyze the tensions derived from the visual and written registers Saenz combines in this text. In the montage forged between text and photography, writing is employed to maintain somewhat hidden, and for that reason alive, the magical aspects of the city. And so, the author is in part a magician: he reveals something only to distract, all in the name of protecting the very conditions that enable his art.

Militarismens ontologi

The Ontology of Militarism: War and Peace as Conditions of Existence in Frida Stéenhoff ’s Stridbar ungdom and Elin Wägner’s Släkten Jerneploogs framgång This article claims that Western culture is tinged by an idea of an ontology of militarism. By analyzing how bodies are militarized because of this presumption, and how resistance against that very same presumption is carried out in Frida Stéenhoff ’s Stridbar ungdom (1906) and Elin Wägner’s Släkten Jerneploogs framgång (1916), this article presents an alternative understanding of the relationship between militarism and peace. Both works problematize and challenge the idea of militarism as a pre-condition for the human being. Finally, utopia, rather than militarism, emerges as indispensable to human beings.

Mer-Hagography: The Erasure, Return and Resonance of Splash’s Older Mermaid

The 1984 feature film Splash initially included a scene featuring an embittered, older mermaid (referred to as the “Merhag” or “Sea-Hag” by the production team) that was deleted before the final version premiered. Since that excision, the older mermaid and the scene she appeared in have been recreated by fans and the mer/sea-hag has come to comprise a minor element in contemporary online culture. The term “Merhag,” in particular, has also spread beyond the film, being taken up in fantasy fiction and being used—allusively and often pejoratively—to describe notional and actual female characters. Drawing on Mary Daly’s 1978 exploration of supressed female experiences and perspectives, this essay first examines Splash and associated texts with regard to the general figure of the hag in western culture (and with regard to negative, ageist perceptions of the ageing female), before discussing the use of “Merhag” and “Sea-Hag” as allusive pejoratives and the manner in which their negative connotations have been countered.