The torment of exile and the aesthetics of nostalgia : transnational Chinese neo-romanticism in Xu Xu’s post-war fiction

Physical exile certainly was a painful reality for Xu Xu. Restorative nostalgia might to some extent have informed his literary activity in those years. However, nostalgia in Xu Xu’s postwar fiction, I will argue in this paper, constitutes above all the expression of a quest for a purely aesthetic utopia that had already begun to take shape in his pre-war oeuvre and that came to full fruition in his post-war fiction. By analyzing a number of Xu Xu’s novellas from Hong Kong, such as Bird Talk, The Other Shore 彼岸 (1951), and The All-Souls Tree 百靈樹 (1954), I will show that nostalgia in Xu’s fiction is ultimately time and place unspecific, and that Xu himself was aware of the limits and fallacy of restorative nostalgia. Nostalgia, I will illustrate, was a way for Xu Xu to give expression both to a real sense of loss as well as a sense of metaphysical homelessness that did not directly result from his exile in Hong Kong, but that is bound up with the experience of modernity and the reality of China’s cultural post-war politics. Nostalgia thus becomes the expression of a literary aesthetic that connects Xu Xu to a number of other writers who are typically associated with a twentieth-century revival of romanticism, foremost Hermann Hesse (1877−1962). Like for Xu Xu, the expression of nostalgia was as much an aesthetic gesture for Hesse as it was a political gesture. My reading of Xu Xu’s use of nostalgia thus challenges conventional interpretations of the use of nostalgia in postwar Chinese literature and enhances our understanding of the interplay of aesthetics and politics in the work of Chinese writers in exile. In my analysis of Xu’s work in the context of neo-romanticism, I will draw on the work of Michael Löwy who understands the romantic critique of modernity as bound up with an experience of loss. “The Romantic vision,” Löwy writes, “is characterized by the painful and melancholic conviction that in the modern reality something precious has been lost, at the level of both individuals and humanity at large; certain essential human values have been alienated. This alienation, keenly sensed, is often experienced as exile […]” (Löwy 2001, 21). Löwy quotes Friedrich Schlegel as speaking of the soul, the seat of humanness, as living “under the willows of exile (unter den Trauerweiden der Verbannung),” far removed from the true hearth of homeland (Löwy 2001, 21). It is precisely this sense of metaphysical homelessness, I will argue, that lies at the root of the nostalgic longing expressed by Xu Xu’s fictional protagonists. Yet Löwy’s study on romanticism informs this paper in another way. Löwy understands romanticism as a highly diverse movement the numerous strands of which can be found in genres and literatures not usually thought to be part of the romantic canon. By drawing on Xu’s own critical writing on the role of the artist in society and by illustrating his intellectual proximity to writers and thinkers of the romantic movement, I will argue that Xu Xu’s postwar fiction contributes to a transnational romantic canon and constitutes a creative engagement with romantic aesthetics that links modern Chinese literature to global literary modernity

(Non-)Anomalous D-brane and O-plane couplings: the normal bundle

The direct string computation of anomalous D-brane and orientifold plane couplings is extended to include the curvature of the normal bundle. The normalization of these terms is fixed unambiguously. New, non-anomalous gravitational couplings are found.Comment: 6 pages, latex, no figures; version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

China on the move : travel, exile, and migration in Chinese literature and film of the 20th century

During no previous century in China’s long history has society experienced more profound and far-reaching changes than during that nation’s long twentieth century. The contact with Western modernity and institutional change during the late Qing dynasty, the end of dynastic rule and the birth of the Republic, the Pacific War and the Civil War, the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan’s gradual democratization and finally the era of opening and reform in China under Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平 (1904−97) and the ensuing economic rise are only some of the key historical events that have profoundly transformed Chinese society and culture. What these events have in common is that they all gave rise to various forms of displacement, both voluntary and involuntary, and both internally within China proper as well as from China to the outside world. This special issue intends to explore the degree to which displacement in the form of travel, migration, and exile has given rise to modern literary and cinematic works and how intellectuals, writers, and filmmakers have responded to the various forms of displacement in their works. The theme of this special issue is deliberately broad in scope. The editors believe that only if studied over the entire span of the twentieth century and in all its various facets can the impact of displacement on the creative imagination of Chinese writers and filmmakers be adequately explored

Promoting Service Learning Via Online Instruction

Service learning and online instruction are both important and much debated topics in higher education. Many professors and colleges are attempting to use service learning and online instruction as effective learning tools for their student clientele. Both topics are being written about exclusively in professional journals, as educators grapple with how lo implement these two effective means of learning into class content. The purpose of this manuscript is to discuss service learning and online instruction in a symbiotic educational relationship. The authors discuss the efficacy and benefits of service learning and online instruction, and request ways to incorporate these techniques into the classroom. A case example is presented to illustrate the application of these two techniques as they are combined to produce an effective online course that provides students with a hands-on learning experience

Optical coherence tomography in multiple sclerosis: A 3-year prospective multicenter study

Prospective multicenter study; Multiple sclerosis; TomographyEstudi prospectiu multicèntric; Esclerosi múltiple; TomografiaEstudio multicéntrico prospectivo; Esclerosis múltiple; TomografíaObjective To evaluate changes over 3 years in the thickness of inner retinal layers including the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL), and combined macular ganglion cell and inner plexiform layers (mGCIPL), in individuals with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) versus healthy controls; to determine whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) is sufficiently sensitive and reproducible to detect small degrees of neuroaxonal loss over time that correlate with changes in brain volume and disability progression as measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Methods Individuals with RRMS from 28 centers (n = 333) were matched with 64 healthy participants. OCT scans were performed on Heidelberg Spectralis machines (at baseline; 1 month; 6 months; 6-monthly thereafter). Results OCT measurements were highly reproducible between baseline and 1 month (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.98). Significant inner retinal layer thinning was observed in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with controls regardless of previous MS-associated optic neuritis––group differences (95% CI) over 3 years: pRNFL: −1.86 (−2.54, −1.17) µm; mGCIPL: −2.03 (−2.78, −1.28) µm (both p 5 years (pRNFL: p < 0.05; mGCIPL: p < 0.01). Brain volume decreased by 1.3% in individuals with MS over 3 years compared to 0.5% in control subjects (effect size 0.76). mGCIPL atrophy correlated with brain atrophy (p < 0.0001). There was no correlation of OCT data with disability progression. Interpretation OCT has potential to estimate rates of neurodegeneration in the retina and brain. The effect size for OCT, smaller than for magnetic resonance imaging based on Heidelberg Spectralis data acquired in this study, was increased in early disease.The authors wish to thank Carolyn M. Ervin for her substantial contribution in the data analyses, as well as Mark Kirby, Aisling Towell, and Marie-Catherine Mousseau (Novartis Ireland Ltd.) for their writing support, funded by Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. FB is supported by the NIHR biomedical research center at UCLH

Non(anti) commutativity for open superstrings

Non(anti)commutativity in an open free superstring and also one moving in a background anti-symmetric tensor field is investigated. In both cases, the non(anti)commutativity is shown to be a direct consequence of the non-trivial boundary conditions which, contrary to several approaches, are not treated as constraints. The above non(anti)commutative structures lead to new results in the algebra of super constraints which still remain involutive, indicating the internal consistency of our analysis.Comment: 10 pages Latex, To appear in Physics Letters

Performance of Polyethylene Vapor Barrier Systems in Temperate Climates

The performance of nine different vapor barrier systems comprising polyethylene (PE) membranes were assessed. The vapor barrier systems comprised membranes of virgin PE, 100% new PE, regenerated PE and multilayered virgin and regenerated PE. Membranes were joined either with tape suited to the individual system or an adhesive base on butyl rubber. The vapor barrier systems were evaluated and compared using standard laboratory tests. Chemical analytical techniques and physicomechanical tests were used. Mechanical properties were assessed using laboratory tests recommended by the harmonized standard EN 1385. Chemical analyses followed standard laboratory protocols performed with specialized equipment and visual examination. Chemical and mechanical properties were determined before and after exposure to an aging regime comprising 168 days at 70 °C in total. The chemical stability of the plastic present in each membrane was further evaluated after an additional exposure to an aging regime comprising 50 days followed by another 30 days at 70 °C. Additional aging indicated chemical changes in the membrane material with time. However, it was not possible to distinguish between aging properties for membranes containing virgin PE, 100% new PE, regenerated PE or multilayered virgin and regenerated PE