Articles
Book Review Articles
A. Clare BRANDABUR
Steven TÖTÖSY de ZEPETNEK
The Comparative Method
and the Study of Literature
Abstract: Aldo Nemesio, argues in his
article, "The Comparative Method and the Study of Literature," for the
comparative method as follows. Contemporary literary research is based
on parameters and methods which do not appear to have evolved similar to
other fields of inquiry. If the study of literature is concerned with literary
behavior, for instance, the object of study cannot limit itself to
a single author or to a limited number of authors and what surrounds them
closely. Also, national boundaries are too narrow: what happens within
the boundaries of a culture can be understood only if we relate it to what
happens elsewhere. A comparative investigation tries to understand the
working of those human activities that are related to writing, distributing,
and reading objects which -- in ways that differ in different cultures
-- are called literature. Literary studies have a longer history than most
contemporary sciences: for this reason, literary studies are probably hampered
by old habits and constrictions. A long-standing tradition and an established
prestige is a hindrance to advantageous change. The most important task
of contemporary literary scholars consists in overcoming the awe of their
own traditions.
The Comic in Literature
as a General Systems Phenomenon
Abstract: Vera Zubarev proposes in her
article, "The Comic in Literature as a General Systems Phenomenon," that
the definitions of and about aspects of dramatic genre are best articulated
from the theoretical approach of systems theory. It is assumed that self-regulation
is a basic element, that is, any object, any system or phenomenon has its
own structure, fulfills its own function, performs its own process, has
its own operator, and maintains its genesis. A number of new notions can
be drawn from this proposition with regard to the concepts of potential
in dramatic genre and the comic, as follows. 1) The core of dramatic genre
is the degree of strength of protagonists' potential; 2) In accordance
with 1), a new classification of genres follows as consisting of three
types of potential (limited, average, powerful) which are assigned to three
basic types: comedy (limited potential), dramedy (powerful potential),
and drama (average / above average); each type is divided into further
branches which are a combination of a type of ending (successful, unsuccessful
/ indefinite) and a type of potential (limited / average / powerful); 3)
Differentiation is made between the notion of the comic and the laughable:
here, the concept of the comic is linked to the limited potential and it
has no relationship with laughter; and 4) Tragedy and comedy are not the
opposite types of dramatic genre: tragedy is a branch of dramedy; a further
branch is "succedy" while tragedy is opposed to sad comedy and succedy
is opposed to funny comedy.
What's Past is Prologue:
Imagining the Socialist Nation in Cuba and in Hungary
Abstract: Patricia D. Fox's article, "What's
Past is Prologue: Imagining the Socialist Nation in Cuba and in Hungary,"
examines the symbolic mooring of Cuban and Hungarian identity, recuperated
Caliban from William Shakespeare's The Tempest and an ever conflicted
Faustus/Adam from Imre Madách's Az ember tragédiája,
respectively. Despite serial cosmological fragmentations and political
upheaval, the present analysis holds that production and reproduction of
these founding figures in the process of imagining the socialist nation
represent an ongoing litigation of meaning. This process then conserves
a marked thematic continuity through temporal conceptions, totality of
exegesis, the mix of rational and mythical, and the recoding of past symbols
to serve the present reality and to indirectly realign the past and prophesy
the future. Beyond the formative and transformative points of similarity
between the two cases, the essay discusses culturally specific divergences
and the impact of differing experience and mentalities on literary and
filmic expression. In conclusion, the study first offers a tentative model
of socialist nation, positing a framework within which to understand and
complicate Cuban and Hungarian sui generis patterns and then describes
in the more universal context of narrating the nation those practices and
characteristics common to that genre.
Thematics and Intellectual
Content: The XVth Triennial Congress of the International Comparative Literature
Association in Leiden
Abstract: Marko Juvan's article, "Thematics
and Intellectual Content: The XVth Triennnial Congress of the International
Comparative Literature Association in Leiden," offers an in-depth view
of the intellectual structure and atmosphere of the Congress. The author
describes both in detail and in an overview the thematics of the Congress,
Literature
as Cultural Memory, and explicates the intellectual content of a good
number of important panels and papers presented at the Congress. The article
represents in a concise manner the current situation of the discipline
of Comparative Literature in an international context.
Manifesto for a Revolution
of the West
Abstract: Armando Gnisci's article, "Manifesto
for a Revolution of the West," is a proposal for solidarity and action
he understands as "revolution" against inequities and injustice. The world,
conquered by the Eurocentric will-to-power, already centrifuged and spread
across the globe, is now in sight of a new era. Images of the near future
are appearing on the horizon: the rich and powerful North dominates and
wastes the South. The cruelty of this Brave New World is contrasted with
the utopean diaspora of de-colonizers, the "Creolitisation" of mind and
cultures, the resistance of differences, and revolution. The first image,
to which we all involuntarily belong, leads to the destitution of the world.
The second, a scattered hope, leads to an inevitable opposition of the
first. It must be possible to move our Western culture and destiny toward
a "common place," where we can be together with our brothers and sisters:
Creoles, half-castes, immigrants, the oppressed, the unemployed,
clandestines, and revolutionaries; where we can contribute to a world-wide
colloquium of active utopia and revolution against inhumanity.
Memories of Hungary:
A Review Article of New Books by Suleiman and Teleky
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture:
A WWWeb Journal ISSN 1481-4374
CLCWeb Library of Research and Information
...
CLCWeb
Contents 1.1 (March 1999)
<http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb99-1/contents99-1.html>
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Purdue
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