El amor es una aventura en el mal: los sonetos de Sor Juana

A discussion of Sor Juana's love poems from a triple postructuralist perspective re-accented from Gilles Deleuze and M. Bakhtin: nomadism, a rizomatic writing of multiplicities and heterogeneities, and the grotesque, represented by a periferal Baroque verbal garb. Such a re-reading enables the narrative subject to be unstable and to constantly change the role and the voice, multiplying the narrative selves which come into textual existence through rarified ambiguities. The many faceted nature of the "female subject" in these erotic sonnets displays what is known as "beyond the pleasure principie", and they question what Lacan calls desire and the paradoxes of pleasure.Lectura de los sonetos amorosos de Sor Juana desde la triple perspectiva de una serie de conceptualizaciones posestructuralistas de GilIes Deleuze y de M. Bajtín: el nomadismo, la escritura rizomática de multiplicidades y heterogeneidades, y lo grotesco, que en ella adquiere el signo de una lengua barroca periférica. Tal relectura hace inestable al sujeto hablante que se multiplica en voces, y el género sexual del yo poético se representa en mezclas en imbricaciones de ambigüedades rarificadas. La naturaleza multifacética del "sujeto femenino" despliega en estos sonetos eróticos eso que se conoce como "más allá del principio del placer", y cuestionan lo que Lacan llama el deseo y las paradojas del goce

Antropofagia e intermidialidade: o caso de como era gostoso o meu francês

Obra maior, mas pouco estudada, do movimento tropicalista do final dos anos 1960, Como era gostoso o meu francês (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1970-72) recicla os ideais antropofágicos do modernismo brasileiro dos anos 1920, cuja base se encontra na literatura europeia colonial. O enredo aparentemente linear do filme versa sobre um francês devorado por índios tupis no século XVI, ao estilo do relato autobiográfico do aventureiro Hans Staden que teria escapado por pouco de destino semelhante em viagem ao Brasil. Mas a tessitura do filme é na verdade uma colagem de materiais diversos no melhor estilo tropicalista, incluindo não apenas citações do texto de Staden mas também os desenhos que ilustram a edição de 1557 de seu livro, além de referências aos escritos de Jean de Léry, André Thevet, Nicolas de Villegagnon, José de Anchieta, Manoel da Nóbrega, e a poemas e receitas culinárias do século XVI. Neste texto, sugiro que a ausência de hierarquia entre esses materiais, alinhavados por um hibridismo de mídias, línguas e culturas europeias e indígenas, confere ao filme um valor político que transcende o derrotismo reinante na esquerda brasileira naquele momento de auge da ditadura militar. Ao lado de outras obras modernistas associadas ao tropicalismo, Como era gostoso o meu francês reivindica para o cinema e a arte de seu tempo o direito de pertencer a um mundo multicultural para além dos limites da nação brasileira, provisoriamente em poder de mãos erradas

Multimedia identities: an analysis of How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman

This paper will draw on intermediality as a means to gain a deeper insight into the political contribution made by the film How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman, directed in 1970 by Cinema Novo exponent, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and first screened in 1971. It will argue that, beyond the film’s sensational focus on cannibalism, its intermedial relations bring about a new dimension of hybridity and transnationalism hitherto absent from the Cinema Novo agenda. How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman presents a distinctive multiperspectival structure derived from the self-revealing and self-standing form in which its raw materials are shown. For example, Hans Staden’s book was not only a source for the fictional plot, but actual chunks of its text are displayed, alongside sixteenth-century drawings, letters, poems, decrees and testimonials by French and Portuguese colonisers, in the form of title cards or voiceover commentary, often in contradiction with the images and between themselves, thus multiplying the narrative layers that preserve their own, original semantic agency. This Tropicália-inspired multimedia procedure not only disregards the attachment to medium specificity that had hitherto characterised political cinema in Brazil, but also deconstructs the unified figure of the auteur, held as the supreme creator in the early Cinema Novo days. In this paper, I shall examine the possible political Utopia contained in the film’s hybrid form, which opens up to a supra-national view of the world in which humans, whatever their origin or standing, become mere vessels of their cultural capital

MEDIATION AND DECONSTRUCTION OF BINARY HIERARCHY IN ARAVIND ADIGA’S THE WHITE TIGER

The paper discusses binary opposition, one of the most explored concepts in post-colonial criticism, as used in The White Tiger (2008) – Aravind Adiga’s debut novel placed, due to its topic as well as the issues it raises, in the tradition of post-colonial literature. Since the binary theory was first used by the movement of structuralism, and later developed by the famous post-structuralist and post-colonial theorist Jacques Derrida, the aim of this paper will be to implement the structuralist concept of binary opposites, as well as Derida’s binary theory, on the novel. The paper explores the mediation as the means of overcoming the polarities, indicated by the structuralist theorist Claude Lévi-Strauss, as well as the deconstruction of the hierarchy created by the system of opposites, suggested by Derrida’s theory. In addition to analyzing the primary binary concept, it also explores the parallel secondary analogies which serve to reinforce and further contrast the polarities, as well as their role in the novel. The findings will reveal that the exploration of binary oppositions in literature can benefit in deciphering messages which may sometimes appear too abstract to apprehend: since contexts usually generate their own semantic systems, we can tremendously benefit from interpreting the system of oppositions and demystifying their semantic value

Les nouveaux médias, ou, L’ère du labyrinthe intermédial

Avec l’émergence des nouveaux médias, une nouvelle façon de raconter les histoires s’impose. Les structures connues de l’esthétisme classique semblent désuètes par rapport aux dispositions des nouvelles plateformes de diffusion. Mieux encore, ces plateformes propulsent le récit, lui permettent de sortir de la rigidité de la ligne narrative : elles intègrent la technique au logos. L’intermédialité devient omniprésente; la diversité des types médiatiques employés dans une œuvre sont rendus visibles et sont articulés par la mise en récit. Méchoulan dira que dans l’« être-entre », dans l’espace reliant chacune des unités sémantiques, que l’événement de la pensée advient; pour Rodowick c’est le « figural ». Une figure particulière s’impose : le labyrinthe. Multipliant les possibilités narratives spécifiques aux nouveaux médias, le labyrinthe fait converger les composantes intermédiales. Bleeding Through : Layers of Los Angeles 1920-1986, une œuvre dirigée par Norman Klein, pose le labyrinthe comme élément structurel en y tissant un réseau où s’inscrit une pratique intermédiale. On y adresse le temps comme une opération fragmentaire, qui se sectionne, se réorganise en rompant avec la linéarité classique. Il nous faudra alors voir comment le labyrinthe réfléchit dans l’étude du temps certains éléments de la mythologie grecque. Les réflexions de Gervais sur le labyrinthe permettront d’étayer pareille hypothèse. Nous analyserons Bleeding Through à la lumière de ces théories pour ainsi dégager l’essence de cette figure qui a infiltrée la narration contemporaine. En somme, le labyrinthe se présente dans l’écologie médiatique actuelle comme une figure inhérente à la mise en récit.With the emergence of new media, a new way of storytelling becomes necessary. The known structures of classic estheticism become obsolete when confronted with the dispositions of the new broadcasted platforms. These so called platforms propel the plot structure, allowing an expansion of the rigid narrative line : they integrate technology into the logos. Intermediality becomes omnipresent ; the diverse media summoned in the different projects are made visible and articulated through narrative work. Méchoulan would talk about the « être-entre », the virtual space linking semantic units, that the occurrence of thoughts convene ; Rodowick would refer to this same spatial concept as « figural ». A particular figure then appears and seems to illustrate the workings of intermediality: the labyrinth. In multiplying the narrative possibilities specific to new media, the labyrinth interrelates the intermedial components. Bleeding Through : Layers of Los Angeles 1920-1986, directed by Norman Klein, establishes the labyrinth as a narrative backdrop to the intermedial practice. Herein, time is addressed as a fragmented function that can be segmented, reorganized, thus breaking with classic linearity. Subsequently, elements of Greek mythology tied to the labyrinth’s imaginary are highlighted, particularly through Gervais’s reflexions on memory and forgetting. To question the essence of the labyrinth’s figure, which infiltrates contemporary narration, Bleeding Through is analyzed under the scope of these theories. In short, the labyrinth is presented as an inherent figure to storytelling within the current media ecology

Tangible interaction in museums and temporary exhibitions: embedding and embodying the intangible values of cultural heritage

[EN] Moving from a design perspective, the paper explores the potential of tangible interaction in giving shape to intangible contents in museums and temporary exhibitions. Going beyond tangibility intended in the strict sense of touching assets we use here a wider interpretation of tangibility that considers touch in the sense of embodied experience. In this way we consider as tangible all those experiences that foster a strong involvement of the body when interacting with digital content. This includes objects-based and gesturesbased interactions. Tangible interaction is interpreted as a practice able to multiply the levels of the narrative, to make the visit experience memorable and to give materiality to intangible values. This approach uses tangible interaction as a way to let the audience experience practices and rituals linked to the contents and representative of the intangible values embedded in the assets. The potential of tangible interaction to foster the intangible values of cultural heritage is discussed starting from a provisional classification of tangible interaction case studies. In particular four different categories are identified that are: smart replicas/originals, symbolic objects, codified gestures and performing gestures. In conclusion, two possible design strategies that employ tangible interaction for enabling the experience of intangible values of cultural heritage are highlighted. These are: Embedding meaning: it consists in creating sensorised objects that embed in themselves meanings related to intangible values of cultural heritage, and that communicate explicitly this meaning in their physicality; Embodying meaning: it consists in integrating a meaning related to intangible values in gestures, so that intangible values are communicated implicitly in the action performed by the visitor.Duranti, D.; Spallazzo, D.; Trocchianesi, R. (2016). Tangible interaction in museums and temporary exhibitions: embedding and embodying the intangible values of cultural heritage. En Systems&design:beyond processes and thinking. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 160-171. https://doi.org/10.4995/IFDP.2015.3322OCS16017

Carried meaning in the Mahābhārata

The Mahābhārata describes itself as both a comprehensive and exhaustive text, incorporating a range of genres while presenting diverse perspectives through a matrix of interacting narratives. Its main story and subtales are the subject of productive contemporary studies that underscore the significance of the Sanskrit epic, though this scholarship is also famously criticized for overlooking literary inquiry. The following dissertation enacts a close reading of four subtales, Nala’s Tale, Rāma’s Tale, Sāvitrī’s Tale, and The Yakṣa’s Questions, in context with the larger work to uncover the implications of a literary study of the Mahābhārata. By conducting translations of passages from the epic, this dissertation builds sites of alliance among frame and subtale, literary and translation theory, critical analysis and contemporary scholarship, as well as the Mahābhārata and other works of literature in order to consider the ways in which meaning is generated throughout the text. Language, constituent parts, and operative principles are found to reverberate in the epic, eschewing didacticism and stasis for literary vitality. Themes of loss, love, disguise, and discovery veer throughout the subtales as sideshadows that at once collaborate and contradict to continuously redefine one another. The Mahābhārata’s self-conscious and reiterative reinterpretation of its own constructs presents critical insights on translation as dialogical correspondence, occurring within utterances as well as between languages. The act of translation, utilized by the poem itself to develop and proliferate significance, reveals difference and bears legibility within the epic.Asian Studie

Narrating Deliverance: The Literary Double in the Writing of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Bharati Mukherjee

This dissertation studies the literary double in contemporary fiction by three Bengali American writers: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Bharati Mukherjee. The main focus is on examining what is expressed by the double, and in finding reasons for its recurrence in this fictional genre that mainly explores the migrant experience in the United States. The dominant idea of an individualized selfhood is largely a Western construction and has been increasingly contested by diffused and decentered subjectivities. The literary double blurs boundaries between individual subjectivity and the community, expressing more than a singular ‘I’ could, and thus forges new forms of selfhood. These non-unitary subjectivities often emerge in the writing of nondominant or marginalized subjects such as women and ethnic minorities. In literary history, the double has often been reduced to an evil foil to the protagonist, but this dissertation broadens the concept of the double from a mere trope to a literary device reflective of its era, performing cultural work. The texts studied in this dissertation are Sister of My Heart (1999) and The Vine of Desire (2002) by Divakaruni, “Hema and Kaushik” (a novella in the short story collection Unaccustomed Earth, 2008) and The Lowland (2013) by Lahiri, and Desirable Daughters (2002), The Tree Bride (2004), and Miss New India (2011) by Mukherjee. These works were published at the turn of the new millennium, paralleled by a theoretical reorientation from a socio-realist critique of postcolonial and world literatures toward a more aesthetically focused approach. The dissertation argues that in the primary texts listed above, the literary double challenges the concept of individual subjectivity with a dual or non-unitary subjectivity, informed by the postcolonial context. Second, its frequent occurrence is connected to the bi-cultural identity of the Bengali American writers and their characters. Finally, it gives voice to that which has been silenced, functioning as a narrative vehicle for deliverance from the past – from individual, familial, or colonial trauma.-- Väitöskirja käsittelee kaunokirjallista kaksoisolentoa Chitra Banerjee Divakarunin, Jhumpa Lahirin ja Bharati Mukherjeen 2000-luvun teoksissa. Tutkimuksen päätarkoitus on selvittää, mitä kaksoisolennolla ilmaistaan kyseisissä teoksissa, sekä löytää syitä sen esiintyvyydelle kaunokirjallisuudessa, jossa pääsääntöisesti kuvataan bengalilais-amerikkalaisten elämää Yhdysvalloissa. Vallalla oleva käsitys yksilösubjektiviteetista on ennen kaikkea länsimainen konstruktio, jota jaettu tai jakautunut subjektiviteetti yhä yleisemmin haastaa. Kaunokirjallinen kaksoisolento hämärtää rajoja yksilön ja yhteisön välillä ilmaisten enemmän kuin mihin erillinen ”minä” pystyy, luoden minuuden uusia muotoja. Jaetun subjektiviteetin kuvauksia esiintyy tyypillisesti valta-asemien ulkopuolisten ja marginalisoitujen yksilöiden kuten naisten tai etniseen vähemmistöön kuuluvien teksteissä. Kirjallisuushistoriassa kaksoisolento on usein typistetty yksiulotteiseksi päähenkilön piilotetun pahuuden ruumiillistumaksi. Väitöskirja laajentaa näkemyksen kaksoisolennosta kaunokirjallisesta troopista kohti kulttuurista konstruktiota, joka heijastaa aikansa ilmiöitä ja arvoja. Väitöskirjan ensisijainen tutkimusaineisto koostuu seuraavista teoksista: Divakarunin Sister of My Heart (1999) ja The Vine of Desire (2002), Lahirin “Hema and Kaushik”, episodimainen pienoisromaani novellikokelmassa Unaccustomed Earth (2008; suomeksi Tuore maa) ja The Lowland (2013; suomeksi Tulvaniitty), sekä Mukherjeen Desirable Daughters (2002), The Tree Bride (2004) ja Miss New India (2011). Teokset ovat ilmestyneet vuosituhannen vaihteessa, jolloin jälkikolo-niaalisessa kaunokirjallisuudentutkimuksessa siirryttiin sosiorealistisesta tulkinnasta kohti teosten muotoa ja estetiikkaa huomioivampaa suuntaa. Yllä mainituissa teoksissa kaunokirjallinen kaksoisolento haastaa yksilösubjektiviteetin jaetun subjektiviteetin käsitteellä, jonka syntyprosessissa jälkikoloniaalisella kontekstilla on merkittävä rooli. Kaksoisolennon tiheä esiintyvyys tässä kirjallisuudenlajissa myös heijastaa bengalilais-yhdysvaltalaisten kirjailijoiden ja heidän henkilöhahmojensa kaksikulttuurista identiteettiä. Kaksoisolento kerronnallisena välineenä antaa äänen vaiennetulle, vapauttaen ja eheyttäen yksilön henkilökohtaisesta, yhteisöllisestä tai koloniaalisesta traumasta