Edgar Allan Poe and the Tradition of Western Mysticism: A Study of A Selection of his Short Stories

The article is devoted to the mystical elements and allusions surfacing in Poe‘s ―analytical,‖ ―angelic,‖ and ―landscape‖ tales: ―A Descent into the Maelström,‖ ―The Purloined Letter,‖ ―The Murders in the Rue Morgue,‖ ―The Domain of Arnheim,‖ ―Landor‘s Cottage,‖ ―Mesmeric Revelation,‖ ―The Colloquy of Monos and Una,‖ ―The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion,‖ and “The Power of Words.‖ It is argued that the narrative circumstances in ――A Descent into the Maelström,‖‖ in which the Norwegian fisherman describes to the unnamed narrator his adventure, rework the long-established spiritual imagery. The Dupin tales, in turn, are grounded in the cult of Night and in the initiatory powers of darkness, recalling the mystical ―night of the soul.‖ The two ―landscape tales‖ depict the act of an artistic transcendence, performed by an artisan devoted to emulating the supernal order within the bounds of empirical reality. The article pays also due attention to the revelatory experience that results from crossing the boundary between the temporal and the eternal in Poe‘s ―angelic‖ dialogues.Este artículo se centra en los elementos y alusiones místicos que afloran en los cuestos ―analíticos,‖ ―angélicos‖ y ―paisajistas‖ de Poe: ―Un descenso al Maelström,‖ ―La carta robada,‖ ―Los crímenes de la calle Morgue,‖ ―El dominio de Arnheim,‖ ―La cabaña de Landor,‖ ―Revelación mesmérica,‖ ―El coloquio de Monos y Una,‖ ―La conversación de Eiros y Charmion,‖ y El poder de las palabras. Se explica cómo las circunstancias narrativas de ―Un descenso al Maelström,‖ relato en el que un pescador noruego describe al narrador su aventura, se elaboran en base a un imaginario espiritual de larga tradición. Se explica, así mismo, cómo los cuentos de Dupin beben del culto a la Noche y a los poderes iniciáticos de la oscuridad, evocando la ―noche del alma‖ mística. Se explica, además, cómo los dos ―cuentos paisajistas‖ representan el acto de trascendencia artística ejecutado por un artesano dedicado a emular el orden celestial dentro de los límites de la realidad empírica. Por último, el artículo presta la debida atención a la experiencia reveladora que resulta del cruce de la frontera entre lo temporal y lo eterno en los diálogos ―angélicos‖ de Poe

A new intervention in the national imaginaty: The portrayal of the southwest in the novels of Paul Auster

The article focuses on two novels by Paul Auster, The Book of Illusions (2002), Travels in the Scriptorium (2006), in which the Southwest emerges as a mythical territory, providing a rich ground in which the American grand narratives can be explored and revised. It is the contention of the article that the choice of this particular locale affords an excellent opportunity for a critical engagement with the national imaginary, the powerful myths shaping the American imagination. Travels in the Scriptorium reinvents the Southwest as the bloody arena on which the American imperialist mission is reenacted. In the novel, the Alien Territories, representing the American Southwest in the historical expansion of the United States, figure as a site of vicious struggle and ruthless conquest. By contrast, The Book of Illusions, presents the Southwest, specifically New Mexico, as the last mainstay of the American Dream. The creation of the Blue Stone Ranch in the “wilderness” of New Mexico and its transformation encapsulate the history of the American nation in its essential stages. But more importantly, the Southwest is envisioned as a region invested with a restorative, almost sacred quality. The Book of Illusion is the story of trauma. And the recovery from trauma is a process that either originates or takes place in New Mexico.Este artículo se centra en dos novelas de Paul Auster, The Book of Illusions (2002) y Travels in the Scriptorium (2006) en las cuales el Sudoeste emerge como un territorio mítico que proporciona un espacio para la exploración y revisión de las grandes narrativas americanas. El propósito es señalar la elección de esta localización en particular como una oportunidad excelente para desarrollar un compromiso crítico con el imaginario nacional, conformado por los sólidos mitos y representaciones que configuran la imaginación americana. Travels in the Scriptorium redefine el Sudoeste como el terreno sangriento en el que se recrea la misión colonialista americana. En la novela, los Territorios Foráneos, que representan el sudoeste americano dentro de la expansión histórica de los Estados Unidos figuran como un lugar de lucha y conquista violentas. Por el contrario, The Book of Illusions presenta el Sudoeste, Nuevo México específicamente, como el último pilar del sueño americano. La creación del rancho Blue Stone en las tierras salvajes de Nuevo México y su transformación comprenden la historia de la nación americana en sus etapas constitutivas. De forma significativa, el Sudoeste se concibe como una región con rasgos revitalizadores, casi sagrados. Así, The Book of Illusions es la historia del trauma cuyo proceso de recuperación se origina y tiene lugar en Nuevo México

Drug-induced liver injury

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) remains the most common cause of acute liver failure (ALF) in the western world. Excluding paractamol overdose, nearly all DILI encountered in the clinical setting is idiosyncratic in nature, since affected individuals represent only a small proportion of those treated with such drugs. In many cases the mechanism for idiosyncrasy is immune mediation and is often identified by genetic risk determined by HLA variants. In the absence of diagnostic tests and/or biomarkers, the diagnosis of DILI requires a high index of suspicion after diligently excluding other causes of abnormal liver tests. Antibiotics are the class of drugs most frequently associated with idiosyncratic DILI, though recent studies indicate that herbal and dietary supplements are an increasingly recognised cause. It is imperative that upon development of DILI the culprit drug be discontinued especially in the presence of elevated transaminases (AST/ALT ≥5ULN) and/or jaundice. Risk factors for the development ALF include hepatocellular DILI and female gender, the treatment being supportive with some benefit of N-acetylcysteine in early stages. In view of the poor transplant-free survival in idiosyncratic DILI, early consideration for liver transplant is mandatory

LOST IN THE TEXTUAL MAZE? CONCEALMENTS AND DOUBLINGS IN PETER STRAUB’S MR. X

The article explores the textual intricacy and the epistemological uncertainty projected by the 1999 novel of Peter Straub titled Mr. X. Already the title of the novel hints at secrecy, hidden identities, and cryptic messages. Indeed, the novel seems to be conceived as a cryptogram and a kind of literary “Russian doll”. This applies as much to the person of the narrator as to the construction of the narrative, its layers upon layers of secrecy and deception. This cryptic character of the novel is reinforced by the lack of closure and the ambiguity of the ending: “the fog” that shrouds everything as well as “undecipherable signs” that Ned meets along the way serve as a trope that projects the implied reader’s loss of certainty. The sense of being lost in the textual maze is compounded by the abundant instances of doubling and mirroring in the text. This is first observed in the composition of the novel as the dual-level narrative, consisting of the part narrated by Ned, and of the diary of Mr. X, the mysterious figure seen by Ned in his dreams, later revealed to be his father. The two, Ned and Mr. X, in their own peculiar ways act out the same pattern: Ned’s quest to find out the identity of his father is paralleled by his father’s (futile) attempts to confirm his own unearthly origins. However, duality is most powerfully expressed by the motif of doppelganger: Ned, the narrator, in time realizes the existence of his not-entirelyhuman brother, Robert, his “shadow self”, his “dark half”. Finally, even the novel, Mr. X, finds itself reflected in the work of fiction written by Mr. X, a story titled Blue Fire. Blue Fire, introduced at length into the narrative, serves as its specular text, mise en abyme, encapsulating its two central themes, as verbalized by the narrator: “the obsession with the ancestral house” and “the flight from and the pursuit of the Other”

In Search of a Modern Epic: on the Generic Status of Walt Whitman’s song of mysel

The aim of the article is to show the affinities of S ong o f M y self by Walt Whitman, an American Romantic poet, with the classical epic poem, on the basis of the theory of genre evolution propounded by such Polish scholars as Ireneusz Opacki, Michał Głowiński and Andrzej Zgorzelski. The first part discusses the status of S ong o f M y self as an epic poem as it is perceived by American literary historians. Then the extensive analysis of the poem’s elements and devices is conducted, pointing to their roots in the classical epic. However, the dominant tendency in the poem is the strategy of simultaneous evocation and subversion of the epic tradition. As a result, S ong o f M y self emerges as an innovative poem, a precursor to the later Modernist ‘long poems’, and serves as the link between the classical epic poem and the extended poetic works or sequences of the twentieth century. In the final analysis, the role of S ong o f M y self is seen to consist in harking back to the tradition of classical epics on the one hand, and in its radical modification, and thus it seems to launch a new poetic genre

The American Waste: A New Take on the Conquest of the West in Paul Auster’s novel Travels in the Scriptorium // El desecho americano: Una nueva versión de la conquista del Oeste en la novela Travels in the Scriptorium de Paul Auster

      The subject of the article is the 2006 novel Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster, which contains an embedded, alternative history of the USA. The article aims to demonstrate that Auster’s novel offers a revision of two essential myths of the American nation. The precise moment in the history of the USA that Auster’s novel reinvents is the time before the Mexican War and before taking over the Southwest and California. The Mexican War and its political consequences marked the transition of the USA from a republic upholding its libertarian and progressive ideals to an invading imperial power. The shift in the American policy toward its neighboring nations and peoples is reflected in Auster’s novel in the presentation of the westward expansion as a brutal invasion. Auster’s novel heavily revises the two formative myths of the American state, the myth of the West and the “errand in the wilderness,” with Manifest Destiny as its later incarnation justifying the imperialist mission. The wilderness itself is divested of spiritual significance, desacralized, as the Alien Territories are converted into the arena of carnage and indiscriminate slaughter. It is unreservedly sacrificed to the interests of the emerging imperialist enterprise, which is nothing less than the ultimate consequence of the original Puritan venture—the taming of the wilderness and the creation of a model Christian state for the rest of the world to admire. Resumen      El presente artículo gira en torno a la novela Travels in the Scriptorium (2006) de Paul Auster, en la que se narra una historia alternativa de los Estados Unidos. El artículo pretende demostrar que la novela de Auster ofrece una revisión de dos mitos esenciales de la nación norteamericana. El momento preciso de la historia de los Estados Unidos que reinventa la novela de Auster es la época anterior a la Guerra de Estados Unidos-México y antes de que se produjera la anexión del suroeste y de California. La Guerra de Estados Unidos-México y sus consecuencias políticas marcaron la transición de los EE.UU. desde una república que defendía sus ideales libertarios y progresistas a una potencia imperial invasora. El cambio de la política estadounidense con respecto a las naciones y pueblos vecinos se refleja en la novela de Auster al presentar la expansión hacia el oeste como una invasión brutal. La novela de Auster revisa en gran medida los dos mitos formativos del estado estadounidense: el mito del Oeste y la “misión en el desierto”, con el Destino Manifiesto como su encarnación posterior que justifica la misión imperialista. La propia naturaleza salvaje es despojada de su significado espiritual, desacralizada, a medida que los Territorios Foráneos se convierten en una arena para la carnicería y la matanza indiscriminadas. Esta naturaleza salvaje se sacrifica sin reservas en aras de los intereses de la empresa imperialista emergente, la cual es nada más y nada menos que la consecuencia última de la empresa puritana original: la domesticación de la naturaleza y la creación de un estado cristiano modelo para que el resto del mundo lo admire

El desecho americano: una nueva versión de la conquista del Oeste en la novela "Travels in the Scriptorium" de Paul Auster

The subject of the article is the 2006 novel "Travels in the Scriptorium" by Paul Auster, which contains an embedded story, presenting the alternative history of the USA. The article aims to demonstrate that Auster’s novel offers a revision of two essential myths of the American nation. The precise moment in the history of the USA that Auster’s novel reinvents is the time before the Mexican War and before taking over the Southwest and California. The Mexican War and its political consequences marked the transition of the USA from a republic upholding its libertarian and progressive ideals to an invading imperial power. The shift in the American policy toward its neighboring nations and peoples is reflected in Auster’s novel in the presentation of the westward expansion as a brutal invasion. Auster’s novel heavily revises the two formative myths of the American state, the myth of the West and the “errand in the wilderness,” with Manifest Destiny as its later incarnation justifying the imperialist mission. The wilderness itself is divested of spiritual significance, desacralized, as the Alien Territories are converted into the arena of carnage and indiscriminate slaughter. It is unreservedly sacrificed to the interests of the emerging imperialist enterprise, which is nothing less than the ultimate consequence of the original Puritan venture—the taming of the wilderness and the creation of a model Christian state for the rest of the world to admire.El presente artículo gira en torno a la novela "Travels in the Scriptorium" (2006) de Paul Auster, en la que se narra una historia alternativa de los Estados Unidos. El artículo pretende demostrar que la novela de Auster ofrece una revisión de dos mitos esenciales de la nación norteamericana. El momento preciso de la historia de los Estados Unidos que reinventa la novela de Auster es la época anterior a la Guerra de Estados Unidos-México y antes de que se produjera la anexión del suroeste y de California. La Guerra de Estados Unidos-México y sus consecuencias políticas marcaron la transición de los EE.UU. desde una república que defendía sus ideales libertarios y progresistas a una potencia imperial invasora. El cambio de la política estadounidense con respecto a las naciones y pueblos vecinos se refleja en la novela de Auster al presentar la expansión hacia el oeste como una invasión brutal. La novela de Auster revisa en gran medida los dos mitos formativos del estado estadounidense: el mito del Oeste y la “misión en el desierto”, con el Destino Manifiesto como su encarnación posterior que justifica la misión imperialista. La propia naturaleza salvaje es despojada de su significado espiritual, desacralizada, a medida que los Territorios Foráneos se convierten en una arena para la carnicería y la matanza indiscriminadas. Esta naturaleza salvaje se sacrifica sin reservas en aras de los intereses de la empresa imperialista emergente, la cual es nada más y nada menos que la consecuencia última de la empresa puritana original: la domesticación de la naturaleza y la creación de un estado cristiano modelo para que el resto del mundo lo admire

Five Lives of Raven, or about Polish Translations of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

The article examines five Polish translations of the famous ballad The Raven written by Edgar Allan Poe. The translations come from different periods; the efforts by Przesmycki and Beaupre belong to the period of “Młoda Polska”, and date roughly from the tum of the nineteenth and twentieth century. The translation by Kasiński, although it was created a few decades later, still shows a clear influence of the specific aesthetics of the “Młoda Polska” movement. These three translations, in spite of numerous differences, form quite a uniform set, with the dominant underlying strategy of domestication, which manifests itself in “ennoblement” and “clarification”. By contrast, the two contemporary translations, by Barańczak and by Kozak, lack the stylistic homogeneity of their predecessors. They are also characterized by the various departures from the original, motivated by the different subjective approaches taken by each translator. None of the five examined Polish translations has attained the satisfactory degree of equivalence with respect to the original text

The Question of Rendering the Addressee in the Polish Translations of Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

The subject of the article is the question of rendering the addressee in the Polish translations of Song of Myself by Walt Whitman, in which a certain indeterminacy in the shaping of the recipient can be observed. The crucial distinction between the intratextual addressee and the extratextual addressee projected by the text, based on the typology proposed by David Herman, allows taking into consideration the personal reader as the communicative partner of the speaker in the poem. Initially, the Polish translation of the poem by Andrzej Szuba projects a community as the addressee, whereas from the translation by Ludmiła Marjańska the image of the individual recipient emerges. However, further on in the translation by Szuba the collective addressee changes into the single one, whereas in the translation by Marjańska the opposite process takes place because in the final section the individual addressee turns into the collective one. But it is not an unspecified community that is the participant of the communicative situation projected by the text; it is an individual, it is each personal reader. It is the individual extratextual addressee that is the beneficiary of the poetic undertaking. Unfortunately, the existing Polish translations are not conducive to the understanding of the role assigned to the extratextual addressee by the text, and make it hard for the Polish reader to form a proper mental image of the recipient projected by the poem