Spleen and ideal : the concept of the "fin’amor" in Thomas’ "Tristan"

Spleen and ideal. The concept of the fin’amor in Thomas’ Tristan The concept of fin’amor in Thomas’ Tristan is traditionally subject to two interpretations: either it is glorified as a religion, with lovers as its martyrs, or it is criticized within the framework of Christian principles. This paper proposes an alternative to such interpretative dichotomy: it attempts to prove that glorifying the fin’amor as an ideal does not mean idealizing the lovers. In fact, Thomas judges severely his characters not in the name of Christian religion but in the name of an entirely profane, yet highly spiritual ideal of courtly love. The lovers, although far from being its embodiment, still aspire and refer to it, suffering from their own imperfection. This tension is highlighted by the aesthetics of doubling characterizing Thomas’ writing

La peur du diable dans Vie des peres (XIIIe siècle)

The article analyses the vision of the devil in the selected tales of the Vie des peres, a collection of pious tales from the thirteenth century, freely inspired by patristic literature and medieval exempla. The period in which the collection was written, the thirteenth century, bridges the gap between the early and late Middle Ages: it is a time when the perception of the devil is changing, and he is becoming increasingly feared. The analysis focuses mainly on four stories in which the devil is at the centre of the story, and in which his very image is a source of fear and a key element of the story: ‘Devil’s Mouth’, ‘Devils Vision’ and two versions of ‘Devil’s Image’. The vision of the devil in these stories coincides with the teratological vision that is dominant in the iconography, to which the stories directly allude. The message of these stories is generally positive: the protagonists almost always manage to overcome their fears and free themselves from the power of the devil. In this way, the authors avoid the trap of Manichaeism: the devil, despite his cunning and sophistication, is in the end only a caricature of an angel, unable to oppose God effectively. The fear of the devil appears several times on the pages of Vie des peres, but it is the message of hope that dominates.L’article analyse la vision du diable dans les contes choisis de la Vie des peres, recueil de contes pieux du XIIIe siècle, librement inspiré de la littérature patristique et des exempla médiévaux. La période de la rédaction du recueil, le treizième siècle, marque la transition entre le haut et le bas Moyen Âge : c’est une époque où la perception du diable évolue et où celui-ci devient de plus en plus redouté. L’analyse se focalise surtout sur quatre récits dans lesquels le diable est au centre de l’histoire, et où son image même est source de peur et élément clé du récit : « Gueule du diable », « Vision de diables » et deux versions d’« Image du diable ». La vision du diable dans ces histoires coïncide avec la vision tératologique qui domine dans l’iconographie, à laquelle les histoires citées font d’ailleurs directement allusion. Le message de ces histoires est généralement positif : les protagonistes parviennent presque toujours à surmonter leurs peurs et à se libérer du pouvoir du diable. Les auteurs évitent ainsi le piège du manichéisme : le diable, malgré sa ruse et sa sophistication, n’est finalement qu’une caricature d’ange, incapable de s’opposer efficacement à Dieu. La peur du diable apparaît à plusieurs reprises sur les pages de la Vie des peres, mais c’est le message d’espoir qui domine

"The ugly truth" : Cahus’ dream revisited

The aim of this paper is to propose an analysis of the Cahus’ Dream, a well known episode of the Perlesvaus, Arthurian romance from the 13th century, within the context of the medieval dream theories. Inspired mostly by Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio – fo cusing on the divinatory (or deceptive/ illusory) role of dreams – as well as by Tertullian’s and Augustine’s Christian refl ections on the relations between the soul and the sleeping body, these theories permit to shed a new light on the oneiric adventure of the squire. In fact, the author furnishes numerous clues which make it look as an insomnium or fantasma: a false, illusory dream, deprived of any deeper signifi cation. Thus, unable of uncovering some hidden, symbolic meaning, the mirage paradoxically turns out to be a material, "ugly", as the text has it, truth, blurring the border between dream and reality in a most confusing way, and setting the specific Perlesvaus tone from the very beginning of the romance

“‘Chascun qui entre est entaiez’. Contempt in Béroul’s Tristan”

The article analyses the place of contempt in Béroul’s Romance of Tristan. Since its appearance in literature, the love of Tristan and Isolde has been the object of a double perception: on the one hand, a valued image of the “martyrdom of love”, and on the other hand, the much less positive image of a degrading, even despicable passion. It is interesting to note that contempt does not only appear in polemical works, but is, on the contrary, already present in the source text, especially in Béroul’s version. An in-depth study of the terms used to describe passion (including those used by the protagonists themselves), an analysis of the play of masks and of the episodes that stage the particularly humiliating situations in which all the characters without exception find themselves, reveals an ironic and sarcastic look by the author, and highlights the sometimes brutal, even cynical tone of the work. The analysis focuses on the major episodes of the story: the scene of the “clandestine rendezvous”, Tristan’s disguise as a leper and Isolde’s “ambiguous oath” (the crossing of the marsh).L’article analyse la place du mépris dans Le Roman de Tristan de Béroul. Dès son apparition dans la littérature, l’amour de Tristan et d’Iseut est l’objet d’une double perception : image valorisée du « martyre d’amour » d’une part, et d’autre part celle, nettement moins positive, d’une passion dégradante, voire méprisable. Il est intéressant de constater que le mépris n’apparaît pas seulement dans les œuvres polémiques, mais qu’il est au contraire bien présent déjà dans le texte-source, surtout dans la version de Béroul. Une étude approfondie des termes utilisés pour qualifier la passion (y compris ceux qu’emploient les protagonistes eux-mêmes), l’analyse du jeu de masques et des épisodes qui mettent en scène les situations particulièrement humiliantes, dans lesquelles se retrouvent tous les personnages sans exception, révèle un regard ironique et narquois de l’auteur, et met en valeur une tonalité parfois brutale, voire cynique, de l’œuvre. L’analyse s’organise autour des grands épisodes du récit : le « rendez-vous épié », le déguisement de Tristan en lépreux et le « serment ambigu » d’Iseut (le passage du marais)

The "She-devils" in the "Perlesvaus" and the phantasms of castration

The article investigates two mysterious feminine figures appearing in the 13th century Old French prose romance Le Haut Livre du Graal (Perlesvaus). Their ontological status, which remains uncertain until the end, gives them, along with the sexual violence and castration phantasms they incarnate, a highly troubling and uncanny aspect. The analysis highlights also the textual strategies used by the author in order to create such an effect

Les diaboliques du Perlesvaus ou les fantasmes de castration

The article investigates two mysterious feminine figures appearing in the 13th century Old French prose romance Le Haut Livre du Graal (Perlesvaus). Their ontological status, which remains uncertain until the end, gives them, along with the sexual violence and castration phantasms they incarnate, a highly troubling and uncanny aspect. The analysis highlights also the textual strategies used by the author in order to create such an effec

Inhibitors of serine proteases in regulating the production and function of neutrophil extracellular traps

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), DNA webs released into the extracellular environment by activated neutrophils, are thought to play a key role in the entrapment and eradication of microbes. However, NETs are highly cytotoxic and a likely source of autoantigens, suggesting that NET release is tightly regulated. NET formation involves the activity of neutrophil elastase (NE), which cleaves histones, leading to chromatin decondensation. We and others have recently demonstrated that inhibitors of NE, such as secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) and SerpinB1, restrict NET production in vitro and in vivo. SLPI was also identified as a NET component in the lesional skin of patients suffering from the autoinflammatory skin disease psoriasis. SLPI-competent NET-like structures (a mixture of SLPI with neutrophil DNA and NE) stimulated the synthesis of interferon type I (IFNI) in plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in vitro. pDCs uniquely respond to viral or microbial DNA/RNA but also to nucleic acids of “self” origin with the production of IFNI. Although IFNIs are critical in activating the antiviral/antimicrobial functions of many cells, IFNIs also play a role in inducing autoimmunity. Thus, NETs decorated by SLPI may regulate skin immunity through enhancing IFNI production in pDCs. Here, we review key aspects of how SLPI and SerpinB1 can control NET production and immunogenic function

New directions in treatment of the ischemic stroke

Stroke remains a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The cause is decrease or total blocking of blood perfusion in brain and fast recognition is essential to conduct proper treatment. Currently commonly used methods are thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy, which high efficacy is observed only if they are performed within a few hours of the first symptoms. Hence loads of people, who are diagnosed later, become unable to undergo effective treatment.In the study are presented pathogenesis, epidemiology, classification, diagnosis and current treatment of the disease, but the main aim of the study is to present the results of the reports on new treatments for ischemic stroke. The research method is a review of the available literature published in PubMed, UpToDate and Google scholar databases.In the study were reviewed new methods, which can be alternative for currently used ones. They are small molecules including fluoxetine, aripiprazole, L-DOPA, cholinergic and noradrenergic drugs, growth factors (HCG, EPO), monoclonal antibodies, allogenic stem cells, neurostimulators,  robotic therapy and telerehabilitation.They give hope for curing a larger number of patients and improving effects of rehabilitation after ischemic stroke. However most of the methods, which are presented in this study require the use of tests that will allow checking their safety and application

Dielectric response of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phase in thin cells

We studied dielectric properties of a polar nematic phase (NF) sandwiched between two gold or ITO electrodes, serving as a cell surfaces. In bulk, NF is expected to exhibit a Goldstone mode (phason), because polarization can uniformly rotate with no energy cost. However, because the coupling between the direction of nematic director and polarization is finite, and the confinement, even in the absence of the aligning surface layer, induces some energy cost for a reorientation of polarization, the phason dielectric relaxation frequency is measured in a kHz regime. The phason mode is easily quenched by a bias electric field, which enables fluctuations in the magnitude of polarization to be followed in both, the ferronematic and nematic phases. This amplitude (soft) mode is also influenced by boundary conditions. A theory describing the phase and amplitude fluctuations in the NF phase shows that the free energy of the system and, consequently, the dielectric response are dominated by polarization-related terms with the flexoelectricity being relevant only at a very weak surface anchoring. Contributions due to the nematic elastic terms are always negligible. The model relates the observed low frequency mode to the director fluctuations weakly coupled to polarization fluctuations