Humanities

15 pages, 800 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcendence in Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentricity and Tu Wei-ming’s Embodied Confucianism from the Perspective of Cultural Community

by Yingli Zhou, Carolyn Calloway-Thomas and Gaowei Li

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040108 - 20 Aug 2024

Viewed by 687

Abstract

The concept of cultural community has been firstly or more obviously embodied in the works of the minority/minoritized literature or writers from marginalized countries and approached from different perspectives, such as small and enduring spiritual bonds, aspiration and an ideal, or self-deconstruction due [...] Read more.

The concept of cultural community has been firstly or more obviously embodied in the works of the minority/minoritized literature or writers from marginalized countries and approached from different perspectives, such as small and enduring spiritual bonds, aspiration and an ideal, or self-deconstruction due to heterogeneity, conflict, and difference. However, most researchers explore the cultural community in the works of merely one racial group, such as American Indian, Chinese, Korean, or African. There has been comparatively little research on the construction of a cultural community across races. Focusing on Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentricity and Tu Wei-ming’s embodied Confucianism, two cultural movements that fully embody a “new cosmopolitanism” and have the potential to dialog and complement each other, this study compares the views of transcendence of these two philosophies in terms of sense, the ultimate goal, orientation of time, vehicle for realization, and thinking pattern in the hope of the construction of a Sino-African cultural community, which reflects mutual understanding, coexistence, harmony without uniformity, and the contact, conflict, and intermingling of heterogeneous cultures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

12 pages, 229 KiB

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“And the Script Sounds”: Literary Hermeneutics and Imaginary Listening

by Rolf J. Goebel

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 107; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040107 - 19 Aug 2024

Viewed by 1062

Abstract

Friedrich Hölderlin’s late hymns Patmos (first version) and Mnemosyne (early draft) create an intriguing tension between the “solid letter” that must be deciphered faithfully and the evocation of a “sounding script” that, together with an equally enigmatic “echo”, refuses direct hermeneutic understanding. At [...] Read more.

Friedrich Hölderlin’s late hymns Patmos (first version) and Mnemosyne (early draft) create an intriguing tension between the “solid letter” that must be deciphered faithfully and the evocation of a “sounding script” that, together with an equally enigmatic “echo”, refuses direct hermeneutic understanding. At the point where the reader’s interpretive desire threatens to fail, musical settings like Peter Ruzicka’s MNEMOSYNE: Remembrance and Forgetting can be listened to as an attempt to actualize what Hölderlin’s original writing must leave unrealizable: the presence of real sound. In this audio-hermeneutic transfer, the act of listening opens up possibilities of the audible that are promised by the literary text without being actualized. The present essay interrogates this intermedial translatability between letter and sound by isolating a few selected passages from the facsimile reproduction of Hölderlin’s palimpsestic manuscript of multiple revisions, as provided by the Frankfurter Ausgabe. Mindful of the discontinuities and gaps in the original poems, my own analysis foregrounds its own fragmentary mode of reading Hölderlin’s poetry and listening to Ruzicka’s music. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hölderlin and Poetic Transport)

13 pages, 231 KiB

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The Mobility of Identity: The Cosmopolitan Vision in Chang-rae Lee’s A Gesture Life

by Jiameng Xu

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040106 - 16 Aug 2024

Viewed by 654

Abstract

Chang-rae Lee, a contemporary Korean-American writer, is renowned in the literary world for his rich imagination, delicate emotional expression, unique transcultural perspective and idiosyncratic narrative technique. He is one of the representatives who succeeds in transcending the classical paradigm of ethnic literature. Cosmopolitanism [...] Read more.

Chang-rae Lee, a contemporary Korean-American writer, is renowned in the literary world for his rich imagination, delicate emotional expression, unique transcultural perspective and idiosyncratic narrative technique. He is one of the representatives who succeeds in transcending the classical paradigm of ethnic literature. Cosmopolitanism stems from ancient Greek philosophy, further developing in the age of Enlightenment and thriving in the era of globalization. Taking close reading as the primary methodology and cosmopolitanism as the major theoretical framework, this research attempts to provide a multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary and in-depth interpretation of Lee’s A Gesture Life, and finds that Lee has expressed his ideal vision that rejects the essentialist paradigm of unchanging cultural identity and upholds cosmopolitanism which embraces cultural diversity and heterogeneity. Additionally, through the depiction of cosmopolitan community, Lee has expressed his expectation for peaceful coexistence, communal solidarity, and mutual assistance among various ethnicities, and he has visualized a picture that different ethnic groups engage in transcultural communication in a harmonious way. In conclusion, A Gesture Life has widened the boundaries of Korean-American literature, and the cosmopolitan vision in the text has contributed to the development and prosperity of American ethnic literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

16 pages, 321 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The “Final Rays” of a Setting Sun: Lenka Reinerová and the Legacy of “Prague German Literature”

by Markéta Balcarová

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040105 - 14 Aug 2024

Viewed by 830

Abstract

Lenka Reinerová is considered a contemporary witness of both the 20th and 21st centuries and the last German writer in Prague. Indeed, she is the last known prose writer from Prague who wrote in German and boasts a long list of famous predecessors, [...] Read more.

Lenka Reinerová is considered a contemporary witness of both the 20th and 21st centuries and the last German writer in Prague. Indeed, she is the last known prose writer from Prague who wrote in German and boasts a long list of famous predecessors, such as Franz Kafka, Max Brod, E. E. Kisch and others. Interestingly, Reinerová did not only earn a place among the Prague German literature writers because of her mother tongue. In her memoirs, she also engages with literary and academic discourse on the German-language literature coming from Prague. The following article aims to describe this continuity in more detail. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prague German Circle(s): Stable Values in Turbulent Times?)

20 pages, 4297 KiB

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‘After All the Years of Separation’: Musically Representing Author L.M. Montgomery’s Suspended Romances

by Merri Bell

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040104 - 11 Aug 2024

Viewed by 672

Abstract

Canadian author L.M. Montgomery did not set out to write stories about romance. As she indicated in her journals, she wrote character-driven stories of young girls navigating their way through girlhood. However, she understood that the public, and her publishers, expected these girls [...] Read more.

Canadian author L.M. Montgomery did not set out to write stories about romance. As she indicated in her journals, she wrote character-driven stories of young girls navigating their way through girlhood. However, she understood that the public, and her publishers, expected these girls to experience romance that culminated in marriage, following the societal traditions of the time. Montgomery managed this dichotomy by having many characters experience a suspended romance, delaying the romantic aspect of the relationship for as long as possible. Arts-based practice is a mode of analysis and offers the opportunity to find a new way of understanding and communicating Montgomery’s type of suspended romance. Music is, in many ways, considered romantic, so it is an appropriate medium to communicate Montgomery’s romantic narrative structures. This paper investigates Montgomery’s use of suspended romance in her novels and how this delay provided her characters with time to develop other areas of their lives. An arts-based methodology was used to identify and analyse recurring themes in Montgomery’s work, as the question is not can Montgomery’s theme of romance be musically represented but how. The result of this creative experimentation is a new musical composition that articulates these suspended romances using six different musical devices. This creative work exemplifies the intertextual link that exists between Montgomery’s work and new musical compositions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Music and the Written Word)

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13 pages, 317 KiB

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Cosmopolitanism Reinvented: Intercultural Encounters between Sino–African American Intellectuals in Early and Mid-20th Century China

by Xinwen Huang

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040103 - 9 Aug 2024

Viewed by 830

Abstract

Against the backdrop of global decolonization, nationalist movements, and civil upheavals in the early and mid-20th century, a renewed form of cosmopolitanism emerged through the intercultural encounters between African American and Chinese intellectuals. This cosmopolitan ideal was cultivated and embodied by these two [...] Read more.

Against the backdrop of global decolonization, nationalist movements, and civil upheavals in the early and mid-20th century, a renewed form of cosmopolitanism emerged through the intercultural encounters between African American and Chinese intellectuals. This cosmopolitan ideal was cultivated and embodied by these two historically, culturally, and geographically distinct communities and ultimately exerted lasting influences on a global scale. Despite initially perceiving China as a distant Other, African American authors such as Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois made their journeys to China in search of cultural inspiration for literary creations and social endeavors. While actively promoting the works of African American authors in China, the Chinese intellectual community in turn viewed the African American people as the Other Self and potential allies in international affairs. Mutual understanding and appreciation were pursued from both sides, leading to a co-reinvention of cosmopolitan ethos. By delving into the interconnected narratives, this article seeks to elucidate the nuanced dynamics and reciprocal influences that characterized the Sino–African American intellectual relationships in the context of international solidarity, decolonization, and the quest for social justice in the early and mid-20th century. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

11 pages, 326 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analogical Perspective from “Shengsheng” Philosophy on Virginia Hamilton’s Survival Writing in M.C. Higgins, the Great

by Huimin Liu

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040102 - 1 Aug 2024

Viewed by 655

Abstract

This article aims at examining Virginia Hamilton’s survival writing in the novel M.C. Higgins, the Great through the analogical lens with the traditional Chinese philosophy of “shengsheng (生生)”. Current research on Hamilton’s survival writing has ignored the cosmological aspect. In fact, what [...] Read more.

This article aims at examining Virginia Hamilton’s survival writing in the novel M.C. Higgins, the Great through the analogical lens with the traditional Chinese philosophy of “shengsheng (生生)”. Current research on Hamilton’s survival writing has ignored the cosmological aspect. In fact, what the novel reveals is not limited to the aspects of social and emotional survival, but also the ecological or cosmical co-existence. Considering Hamilton’s global awareness and some similarities between African and Chinese traditions, this article resorts to the cross-cultural reference of the Chinese “shengsheng” philosophy. The concept originating from Xici (《系辞》), the commentaries on Zhouyi (《周易》), is well known for its wisdom on how all things in the universe can be born and how they can coexist, and thus it can be drawn upon for exploring Hamilton’s survival writing. Specifically, this article takes a comprehensive analogical examination and discussion of the four aspects, namely, shengsheng virtue (生生之德), shengsheng affect (生生之情), shengsheng disposition (生生之性), and shengsheng fate (生生之命). This is to supplement the covering of Hamilton’s survival writing and to enlarge the interpretation of Hamilton’s works with philosophical and cosmopolitan visions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

11 pages, 550 KiB

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Between Sensibility and History: The Count de Rethel (1779) by Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

by Hélène Vidal

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040101 - 26 Jul 2024

Viewed by 648

Abstract

The Count de Rethel: An Historical Novel (1779) can be ascribed to Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806) as a translation of Anecdotes de la cour de Philippe-Auguste (1733) by Marguerite de Lussan. The action is set at the court of Philip II [...] Read more.

The Count de Rethel: An Historical Novel (1779) can be ascribed to Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806) as a translation of Anecdotes de la cour de Philippe-Auguste (1733) by Marguerite de Lussan. The action is set at the court of Philip II of France, known as Philip Augustus, at the time of the war with King Henry II and the Crusade with Richard I, known as the Lionheart. This inspired revival of fictionalised medieval history heralding romanticism in the age of sensibility refashions the codes of chivalry according to the aesthetics of the second half of the eighteenth century. This essay focuses on the interplay between fiction and history, between the present of writing and the rewriting of history through Cavendish’s translational prism, featuring the Middle Ages as a golden age of heroism and the Count de Rethel as a paragon of ancient virtue set against contemporary men of fashion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Eighteenth-Century Novel and History)

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11 pages, 248 KiB

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“Except for This Hysteria, She Is the Perfect Woman”: Women and Hysteria in An Inconvenient Wife

by Nina Marie Voigt

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040100 - 25 Jul 2024

Viewed by 664

Abstract

Historical fiction can be understood as a hybrid space: it represents the past and simultaneously allows a consideration of the culture it is written in. Under the assumption that novels help address cultural shifts and attitudes, this paper aims to investigate how, why, [...] Read more.

Historical fiction can be understood as a hybrid space: it represents the past and simultaneously allows a consideration of the culture it is written in. Under the assumption that novels help address cultural shifts and attitudes, this paper aims to investigate how, why, and with what implications medical discourses surrounding women are depicted in fiction. This paper explores the manifold conceptualizations of hysteria in An Inconvenient Wife written by Megan Chance in 1998, arguing that the novel presents a complex view of discourses of medicalization. Its central claim is that the novel constructs hysteria not only as a tool of oppression but also as a tool with which to escape social constraints and patriarchal control. Through understanding historical fiction as not merely commenting on the past, but as addressing contemporary issues, the text adds to discussions centering on intersections of medicine and literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

13 pages, 433 KiB

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“From out the Portals of My Brain”: William Blake’s Partus Mentis and Imaginative Regeneration

by Annalisa Volpone

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040099 - 23 Jul 2024

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Abstract

Partus mentis (the parturition of the mind) brings together the following two significant aspects of Romantic culture and ideology: the exploration into human generation, and the process of how imagination forms an idea and makes the mind creatively productive. This article suggests that [...] Read more.

Partus mentis (the parturition of the mind) brings together the following two significant aspects of Romantic culture and ideology: the exploration into human generation, and the process of how imagination forms an idea and makes the mind creatively productive. This article suggests that analyzing William Blake’s portrayal of imagination through the partus mentis trope can enhance our comprehension of how he illustrates and employs this faculty in his works. In Blake’s partus mentis, the analogy between the brain and the womb is pivotal. The brain is seen as a host for ideas that are conceived through imagination, and once they are brought to life, they become art. This is a vital component of Blake’s cosmogony, tying into his personal reinterpretation of biblical Genesis and his concept of the Human Form Divine. It also includes his response to medical theories and practises regarding generation and life. This article pays close attention to the medico-cultural discourse that was contemporary to Blake, and its wide use of the ‘analogy’, which defined the episteme of the long eighteenth century. The analogy approach was later challenged by the ‘epistemology of the visual’, which emphasized the use of anatomical atlases, wax models, and dissections for direct experiential insights into bodily functions and processes, particularly of the brain and the womb. This article argues that Blake is able to transcend these two epistemologies while harnessing specific elements from each. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

11 pages, 218 KiB

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The Enduring Shadow of “Maternal Emptiness”: From Hitchcock’s Distorted Mother Image to Contemporary Cinema’s Maternal Representations

by Kexin Lyu, Zhenyu Cheng and Dongkwon Seong

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040098 - 22 Jul 2024

Viewed by 1041

Abstract

Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, is renowned for his unique cinematic style and profound insights into the complexity of human nature. Among the various female characters in his films, the mother figure holds a particularly significant place. This article proposes the concept [...] Read more.

Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, is renowned for his unique cinematic style and profound insights into the complexity of human nature. Among the various female characters in his films, the mother figure holds a particularly significant place. This article proposes the concept of “maternal emptiness” to describe the predicament of the mother figures in Hitchcock’s films, where they are often depicted as distorted, dark, and somewhat lacking in maternal essence. Drawing on psychoanalytic and feminist film theories, especially the works of Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, and Laura Mulvey, this study aims to deconstruct Hitchcockian “maternal emptiness” and explore its deep-rooted causes. Through a systematic examination of the mother figures in Hitchcock’s filmography, this article identifies the following three main categories: the mother roles of blonde women, the mother roles of female protagonists, and the mother roles of male protagonists. Close textual analysis reveals that these mother figures, despite their apparent diversity, share a common plight—a deviation from the maternal essence of love, care, and nourishment. This “maternal emptiness” is further traced back to Hitchcock’s childhood traumas, the patriarchal ideology in the cultural context, and the changing status of motherhood in modern society. By engaging critically with existing Hitchcock scholarship, including the works of Tania Modleski, Paul Gordon, and Slavoj Žižek, this study situates the concept of “maternal emptiness” within the broader discussions of motherhood in cinema. It explores how Hitchcock’s representation of mothers both reflects and challenges contemporary understandings of maternity. Furthermore, this study examines the enduring influence of Hitchcock’s maternal representations on contemporary cinema, analyzing films such as Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!” (2017) and Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” (2018) to demonstrate the ongoing relevance of “maternal emptiness” in modern film discourse. The study concludes by considering the legacy of Hitchcock’s maternal representations in contemporary cinema, demonstrating the ongoing relevance of the concept of “maternal emptiness” in film analysis and its potential for reimagining maternal subjectivity in cinematic representation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Film, Television, and Media Studies in the Humanities)

13 pages, 4002 KiB

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From Agni to Agency: Sita’s Liberation in Arni and Chitrakar’s Graphic Retelling of the Ramayana

by Dhruvee Sinha and Zeeshan Ali

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040097 - 22 Jul 2024

Viewed by 1083

Abstract

The traditional interpretations of the Ramayana have been critiqued for preserving and promoting patriarchal gender structures by emphasising masculine heroism and often portraying female characters as unidimensional symbols of selflessness, purity, and honour. This paper analyses how Samhita Arni and Chitrakar’s graphic novel [...] Read more.

The traditional interpretations of the Ramayana have been critiqued for preserving and promoting patriarchal gender structures by emphasising masculine heroism and often portraying female characters as unidimensional symbols of selflessness, purity, and honour. This paper analyses how Samhita Arni and Chitrakar’s graphic novel Sita’s Ramayana offers a retelling that foregrounds Sita’s perspective to question and reinterpret the social constructs. By analysing the text through a feminist literary lens, this paper examines how the novel adapts the traditional narrative to provide centre stage to Sita’s various encounters with instances of oppression. The findings reveal how Arni’s retelling employs unique aesthetics that combine texts and Chitrakar’s patua art illustrations to question the traditional male-centred versions, making this novel a part of a broader structure of feminist reinterpretations that aim to highlight female agency in cultural canons. This paper examines Sita’s stance against societal expectations for women, such as self-sacrifice, while also tracking her personal growth, which is symbolically represented by her reunion with Mother Earth. The novel contributes to the ongoing tradition of literary revisionism by offering a nuanced critique of the patriarchal foundations within classical myths. This is underscored by the novel’s reinterpretation of the epic in a way that points out the plasticity of the Ramayana, which can be reshaped to support more progressive views, encouraging discourse on existing gender norms present in contemporary societies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Literature in the Humanities)

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14 pages, 336 KiB

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Chinggis Khan, Women, and the West: Literary and Cinematic Remakes of the Secret History of the Mongols

by Benedetta De Bonis

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040096 - 18 Jul 2024

Viewed by 869

Abstract

The name of Chinggis Khan and the women who contributed to the rise of his empire have long been associated with barbarism in the West. However, the rediscovery of the Secret History of the Mongols, a medieval Mongolian epic chronicle, in 1866, [...] Read more.

The name of Chinggis Khan and the women who contributed to the rise of his empire have long been associated with barbarism in the West. However, the rediscovery of the Secret History of the Mongols, a medieval Mongolian epic chronicle, in 1866, and its numerous translations circulating since the mid-20th century has led Western scholars to a total revaluation of these figures. This paper analyses the representation of Chinggis Khan and his queens in the literary and cinematic adaptations of the Secret History of the Mongols produced in Europe and the United States, specifically in English, French, and Italian. It critically engages with E. W. Said’s works, and with postcolonial and gender studies. The article argues that the portrayal of the Mongols has become increasingly positive in 20th and 21st century remakes of the epic chronicle, highlighting how the West reconsiders its relationship with cultural and gender otherness in an era marked by decolonisation and feminist claims. Full article

26 pages, 7944 KiB

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Heavens of Knowledge: The Order of Sciences in Dante’s Convivio

by Anna Pegoretti

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040095 - 17 Jul 2024

Viewed by 713

Abstract

The essay focuses on Dante’s divisio scientiae presented in the second book of his Convivio. As a first step, it offers a fresh reading of Dante’s description of knowledge and the cosmos, emphasizing its deeply visual nature. The article then presents an [...] Read more.

The essay focuses on Dante’s divisio scientiae presented in the second book of his Convivio. As a first step, it offers a fresh reading of Dante’s description of knowledge and the cosmos, emphasizing its deeply visual nature. The article then presents an overview of the Medieval tradition of the divisio scientiae, culminating with divisions that are geographically and chronologically close to Dante’s Florence. In relation to Brunetto Latini’s Rettorica and Tresor, new evidence is provided to elucidate his peculiar division of logic. Ultimately, Dante’s divisio and its objectives are reassessed in light of their historical background, underscoring their cosmological and totalizing scope. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the findings consider cognitive practices, such as diagrams, and examine a wide array of sources within their historical and institutional context, highlighting their transmission and dissemination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue “In terra per le vostre scole” (Par. XXIX, 70): Dante’s Paradiso and the Medieval Academic World)

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12 pages, 229 KiB

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The Lady on the Sofa: Revisiting Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Illness

by Isadora Quirarte-Ruvalcaba

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040094 - 17 Jul 2024

Viewed by 1427

Abstract

If there is one poet who has been widely represented under a legendary light, it is Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), mostly through the figure of a secluded invalid. Barrett Browning’s illness and death have been romanticised ever since her own time, with multiple [...] Read more.

If there is one poet who has been widely represented under a legendary light, it is Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), mostly through the figure of a secluded invalid. Barrett Browning’s illness and death have been romanticised ever since her own time, with multiple rumours and theories mostly focusing on the fact that her illness was ‘miraculously dispelled’ by ‘love’ and only reappeared gradually to take the poet’s life. This article proposes yet another and quite different diagnosis for Barrett Browning’s illness, theorising on the possibility that Barrett Browning’s ailment was a pulmonary congenital malformation, which remained misdiagnosed due to the lack of medical technology at the time. Several of the diagnoses given to Barrett Browning by her medical practitioners, contemporary and posthumous biographers and other scholars are presented and compared, alongside my own hypothesis. In addition, Barrett Browning’s arguable morphine dependency is reassessed in order to explore its impact on her illness, with the possibility that it exacerbated or even caused some of her symptoms. This reassessment also explores the role that morphine played in Barrett Browning’s death, suggesting an accidental overdose possibly overlooked by Robert Browning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

11 pages, 1756 KiB

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‘Frail Warrior’: Stevenson as Manly Invalid at Saranac Lake

by Christy Rieger

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040093 - 17 Jul 2024

Viewed by 576

Abstract

Although “frail warrior” appears a contradiction in terms, the epithet captures how Robert Louis Stevenson’s admirers sought to reconcile a late-nineteenth-century ideal of physical manliness with the reality of the adventure writer’s debilitating illness. This construction of the writer’s public image is evident [...] Read more.

Although “frail warrior” appears a contradiction in terms, the epithet captures how Robert Louis Stevenson’s admirers sought to reconcile a late-nineteenth-century ideal of physical manliness with the reality of the adventure writer’s debilitating illness. This construction of the writer’s public image is evident in accounts of his stay at the Saranac Lake, NY, tuberculosis sanatorium during the frigid winter of 1887–1888. The institution’s distinctive wilderness setting for medical treatment enabled a heroic model of disabled masculinity, one that is framed by American national identity. This archetype informs the author’s posthumous reputation and shows how gender and nationality shape metaphoric thinking about illness and authorship. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)

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13 pages, 254 KiB

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“The Horror of It Made Me Mad”: Hysterical Narration in Richard Marsh’s The Beetle (1897)

by Ariel Fried

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040092 - 15 Jul 2024

Viewed by 1353

Abstract

This article analyzes the hysterical narration styles of two major characters in Richard Marsh’s The Beetle (1897) to reveal the ways late-Victorian discourses attempted (and often failed) to distance particular social anxieties from their modern origins. Attending to previous literary criticism regarding socially [...] Read more.

This article analyzes the hysterical narration styles of two major characters in Richard Marsh’s The Beetle (1897) to reveal the ways late-Victorian discourses attempted (and often failed) to distance particular social anxieties from their modern origins. Attending to previous literary criticism regarding socially Othered groups of this period—racialized foreigners, New Women, and the urban poor—as well as (pseudo)scientific studies from the 1870s–80s, this reading notes the ways that Victorian cultural biases surrounding race, gender, and class could be projected onto Gothicized, Orientalized figures in literary texts. Pairing a postcolonial examination of the novel’s spatial and temporal elements with a psychoanalytic reading of this text, I argue that the slowing pace in Robert Holt’s narrative and the compulsive repetition of Marjorie Lindon’s both reflect the novel’s disruption of space and time and structurally parallel the symptoms of a “hallucinatory hysterical attack,” as conceived by Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud. Together, these hysterical narratives reveal the failure of particular cultural and scientific discourses to completely bury Victorian anxieties about modernity into different, explicitly Othered spaces and times by collapsing both space and time in the narration of psychic trauma. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Discourses of Madness)

16 pages, 1440 KiB

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Digital Blackface: Adultification of Black Children in Memes and Children’s Books

by Christian Farrior and Neal A. Lester

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040091 - 11 Jul 2024

Viewed by 2410

Abstract

The adultification of Black children is a form of anti-Blackness that brings Black children into adult situations. The adultification of Black children can be rooted in early 20th-century children’s books with minstrel imagery showing Black children in perilous situations for adult entertainment and [...] Read more.

The adultification of Black children is a form of anti-Blackness that brings Black children into adult situations. The adultification of Black children can be rooted in early 20th-century children’s books with minstrel imagery showing Black children in perilous situations for adult entertainment and for white children’s learning. This essay puts “digital blackface”—the online cross-racial memes using Black children’s reactions, emotions, and stereotypes as cross-racial humor—in conversation with historical children’s books featuring Black children. Linking digital representations and misrepresentations to children’s picture books demonstrates how Black children in both formats and social spheres are thrust into adult politics at their expense. Adultifying Black children across time in children’s books with minstrel imagery and digital blackface shows how Black children have never been exempt from the anti-Blackness and systemic white supremacy erroneously believed to be an adult issue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue African American Children's Literature)

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20 pages, 306 KiB

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The “I” as Implicated Subject: Performative Confession in Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart

by Jihie Moon

Humanities 2024, 13(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13040090 - 3 Jul 2024

Viewed by 927

Abstract

Confessional forms of autobiographical writing have predominated in post-apartheid South African literary studies. This paper discusses Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart, published in 1990 during drastic social and political changes in South Africa’s transition to democracy. It was one of the first [...] Read more.

Confessional forms of autobiographical writing have predominated in post-apartheid South African literary studies. This paper discusses Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart, published in 1990 during drastic social and political changes in South Africa’s transition to democracy. It was one of the first and most prominent examples of this genre. Focusing on Malan’s perspective as a white Afrikaner and an “implicated subject”, this study explored how his confessional account grappled with the existential dilemma of post-apartheid Afrikaner identity. Malan simultaneously affirmed his Afrikaner identity to confront his implication in apartheid and sought to establish a legitimate place for this identity within the new multicultural society. Through a close reading of Malan’s strategic performance, this paper argues that his work offers a means of reimagining the collective self in a new community and understanding historical injustices from a multidimensional perspective. Ultimately, My Traitor’s Heart contributes to the post-apartheid project of envisioning a more inclusive psychological and topographical construction of individual and collective identity, with the implicated subject as its centre. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Literature in the Humanities)

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Humanities, Volume 13, Issue 4 (August 2024) – 19 articles

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