Religious perspectives in Soviet prose fiction 1964-1988: The animist/totemist dichotomy

The thesis explores religious themes in selected examples of Soviet prose fiction published officially between 1964 and 1988. In Part I the threefold relationship between religion, literature and political ideology is considered. It is proposed that religious models applied by Soviet writers may be helpfully related to an anthropological debate on the nature and development of religion, based on the theories of Edward B. Tylor and Emile Durkheim. Briefly, it is shown how the animist/totemist dichotomy highlighted by this controversy may be applied to Russian religious thought before the 1917 Revolution and to the literature of the Soviet era. Part II points to animist elements in writings by Valentin Rasputin, Chabua Amiredzhibi and Daniil Granin. It draws attention to the connection between Rasputin's religious vision and traditional Siberian beliefs, particularly those of the Buryat. Chabua Amiredzhibi's novel Data Tutashkhia is analysed with reference to Zoroastrian thought. Daniil Granin's 'Kartina' ('The Picture') serves as an example of a work in which notions of art and beauty take on an animist quality. Part III pays attention to literature revealing a tension between the animist vision and the totemic understanding of religion. It argues that early fiction by Chingiz Aitmatov reflects aspects of pre-Islamic Central Asian religious tradition. 'Komissiia' ('The Commission'), a novel by Sergei Zalygin, is treated as a work which asks how individual, spontaneous needs may be accommodated within a system of social and moral order. The writing of Vladimir Tendriakov offers a further example of a vision divided between an awareness of psychological dilemmas and loyalty to familiar sociological models. Part IV shows how Durkheim's theory of religion as an expression of collective self-consciousness may be related to ideas in works by the Russian nationalist writers: lurii Bondarev, Sergei Alekseev and Vasilii Belov. It suggests that particular examples of fiction by Petr Proskurin, Chingiz Aitmatov and Vladimir Tendriakov indicate a renewed interest in the God-building ideas of Maksim Gor'kii and Anatolii Lunacharskii. In conclusion, the thesis argues that the alternative religious vision introduced by Soviet writers between the fall of Khrushchev and the Millennium of Christianity in Rus' served as a model for society's subsequent reorientation and for new discourse under perestroika

Synchronous appearance of gastrointenstinal stromal tumor and myeloma plasmocyticum with c-kit expression - a case report

U 60-letniego mężczyzny rozpoznano jednocześnie nowotwór podścieliska przewodu pokarmowego (GIST) i szpiczaka plazmocytowego (MP). W badaniu immunofenotypowym wykazano ekspresję c-kit (CD117) zarówno na plazmocytach MP, jak i na komórkach GIST. W wyniku leczenia MP z zastosowaniem schematu VAD (winkrystyna, adriamycyna, deksametazon), a następnie 9-miesięcznej terapii talidomidem, w połączeniu z podawanymi co miesiąc melfalanem i deksametazonem, uzyskano i utrzymano trwającą 14 miesięcy remisję częściową (PR). Leczenie GIST obejmowało całkowite usunięcie guza, a po pojawieniu się przerzutów w jamie brzusznej - systemową terapię przy użyciu inhibitorów kinaz tyrozynowych. Zarówno 2-miesięczne leczenie imatynibem, jak i 2,5-miesięczne sunitynibem zakończyły się niepowodzeniem. Pacjent zmarł 18 miesięcy od rozpoznania obu nowotworów z powodu progresji GIST, znajdując się w okresie PR MP. Stwierdzenie obecności ekspresji c-kit na komórkach obu nowotworów i ich synchroniczne wystąpienie może sugerować wspólne zdarzenie onkogenne (mutacji c-kit), a jednocześnie wyklucza wyindukowanie GIST i/lub MP leczeniem przeciwnowotworowym. Podkreślenia wymaga odmienna odpowiedź obu nowotworów na leczenie, która skłania do rozważenia nieznanego efektu nowych terapii celowanych i immunomodulujących synchronicznie i/lub metachronicznie występujących nowotworów na przebieg kliniczny każdego z nich z osobna.We report a case of a 60-year-old man in whom synchronous appearance of gastrointenstinal stromal tumor (GIST) and myeloma plasmocyticum (MP) with c-kit expression on both tumors. The treatment of MP with VAD (vincristine, adriamycin, dexamethasone), followed by a 9-month administration of thalidomide, combined with melphalan and dexamethasone given once a month, resulted in achieving and maintaining partial remission (PR) for 14 months. The therapy of GIST included a total resection of the tumor and, after tumor metastasizing within abdominal cavity, systemic treatment with c-kit kinase inhibitors. Both 2-month imatinib administration and 2.5-month sunitinib therapy were unsuccessful. The patient died 18 months since diagnosis of both tumors due to progression of GIST, in PR of myeloma. A simultaneous occurrence meof both tumors excludes carcinogenic effect of therapy. Expression of c-kit by cells of both malignancies may suggest one oncogenic event, namely c-kit mutation, in pathogenesis of both tumors. It is also worthy to stress different response of MM and GIST to treatment. This case raises also the question of potential cross-effect of targeted and immunomodulatory therapies on synchronous and/or metachronous neoplasms'clinical course

Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe

This volume provides a collection of research reports on multilingualism and language contact ranging from Romance, to Germanic, Greco and Slavic languages in situations of contact and diaspora. Most of the contributions are empirically-oriented studies presenting first-hand data based on original fieldwork, and a few focus directly on the methodological issues in such research. Owing to the multifaceted nature of contact and diaspora phenomena (e.g. the intrinsic transnational essence of contact and diaspora, and the associated interplay between majority and minoritized languages and multilingual practices in different contact settings, contact-induced language change, and issues relating to convergence) the disciplinary scope is broad, and includes ethnography, qualitative and quantitative sociolinguistics, formal linguistics, descriptive linguistics, contact linguistics, historical linguistics, and language acquisition. Case studies are drawn from Italo-Romance varieties in the Americas, Spanish-Nahuatl contact, Castellano Andino, Greko/Griko in Southern Italy, Yiddish in Anglophone communities, Frisian in the Netherlands, Wymysiöryś in Poland, Sorbian in Germany, and Pomeranian and Zeelandic Flemish in Brazil

Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe

This volume provides a collection of research reports on multilingualism and language contact ranging from Romance, to Germanic, Greco and Slavic languages in situations of contact and diaspora. Most of the contributions are empirically-oriented studies presenting first-hand data based on original fieldwork, and a few focus directly on the methodological issues in such research. Owing to the multifaceted nature of contact and diaspora phenomena (e.g. the intrinsic transnational essence of contact and diaspora, and the associated interplay between majority and minoritized languages and multilingual practices in different contact settings, contact-induced language change, and issues relating to convergence) the disciplinary scope is broad, and includes ethnography, qualitative and quantitative sociolinguistics, formal linguistics, descriptive linguistics, contact linguistics, historical linguistics, and language acquisition. Case studies are drawn from Italo-Romance varieties in the Americas, Spanish-Nahuatl contact, Castellano Andino, Greko/Griko in Southern Italy, Yiddish in Anglophone communities, Frisian in the Netherlands, Wymysiöryś in Poland, Sorbian in Germany, and Pomeranian and Zeelandic Flemish in Brazil

Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe

This volume provides a collection of research reports on multilingualism and language contact ranging from Romance, to Germanic, Greco and Slavic languages in situations of contact and diaspora. Most of the contributions are empirically-oriented studies presenting first-hand data based on original fieldwork, and a few focus directly on the methodological issues in such research. Owing to the multifaceted nature of contact and diaspora phenomena (e.g. the intrinsic transnational essence of contact and diaspora, and the associated interplay between majority and minoritized languages and multilingual practices in different contact settings, contact-induced language change, and issues relating to convergence) the disciplinary scope is broad, and includes ethnography, qualitative and quantitative sociolinguistics, formal linguistics, descriptive linguistics, contact linguistics, historical linguistics, and language acquisition. Case studies are drawn from Italo-Romance varieties in the Americas, Spanish-Nahuatl contact, Castellano Andino, Greko/Griko in Southern Italy, Yiddish in Anglophone communities, Frisian in the Netherlands, Wymysiöryś in Poland, Sorbian in Germany, and Pomeranian and Zeelandic Flemish in Brazil

Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe

This volume provides a collection of research reports on multilingualism and language contact ranging from Romance, to Germanic, Greco and Slavic languages in situations of contact and diaspora. Most of the contributions are empirically-oriented studies presenting first-hand data based on original fieldwork, and a few focus directly on the methodological issues in such research. Owing to the multifaceted nature of contact and diaspora phenomena (e.g. the intrinsic transnational essence of contact and diaspora, and the associated interplay between majority and minoritized languages and multilingual practices in different contact settings, contact-induced language change, and issues relating to convergence) the disciplinary scope is broad, and includes ethnography, qualitative and quantitative sociolinguistics, formal linguistics, descriptive linguistics, contact linguistics, historical linguistics, and language acquisition. Case studies are drawn from Italo-Romance varieties in the Americas, Spanish-Nahuatl contact, Castellano Andino, Greko/Griko in Southern Italy, Yiddish in Anglophone communities, Frisian in the Netherlands, Wymysiöryś in Poland, Sorbian in Germany, and Pomeranian and Zeelandic Flemish in Brazil