The contradictions of exile : escape, testimony, and ethics in Gao Xingjian’s One man’s Bible

The present essay proposes to focus more closely on One Man’s Bible as encapsulating some of the tensions and contradictions of exile as a theme in Gao’s work and worldview

Brand gender and cross-gender extensions.

Afin de se développer et de générer des profits, la plupart des marques de luxe utilisent les stratégies d’extension de marque, c'est-à-dire qu’elles essaient de s’introduire dans de nouvelles catégories de produits. En complément, une nouvelle tendance émerge : il s’agit des extensions de segments de marché (par exemple un horlogers masculin visant les femmes). L'objectif de cet article est de discuter du concept du genre de la marque et de son influence potentielle sur les extensions de segments de marché (homme – femme). Plus spécifiquement, nous souhaitons décrire comment les marques féminines s’étendent sur le marché d'hommes et vice-versa. Une recherche qualitative, de type sémiotique structurale, est effectuée sur un échantillon de huit marques de luxe. Les techniques sémiotiques permettent de comprendre les significations profondes du discours des marques au travers de leur communication. Les résultats exploratoires soulignent l'importance de la cohérence entre le genre de la marque et le genre utilisé pour parler au segment de marché opposé. Ce constat fort qui ressort des analyses est en conformité avec la littérature sur les extensions de marque et l’importance de la congruence.In order to develop brands and increase growth, most luxury brands rely on extensions on different product categories. On top of that, the current trend is the cross-gender extensions (eg. Masculine watchmakers targeting female audience). The objective of this paper is to discuss the concept of brand gender and its potential influence in crossover extensions. More specifically, we intend to describe how female brands extend on the men market and vice versa. Using semiotic analysis, a qualitative research is performed on a sample of eight brands. The semiotic techniques allow to understand the deep meanings of their products, communication, web sites and narratives. The exploratory findings highlight the importance of brand consistency in terms of values while addressing both male and female segments. These findings, specific to luxury brands, provide support to the brand extension literature.Luxe; Masculinité; Brand gender; Genre de la marque; Cross-gender extensions; Extensions de segments de marché; Masculinity; Femininity; Luxury; Féminité;

Gao Xingjian, Wolfgang Kubin, and the Nobel Prize Debate Ten Years On

Chinese literature and its significance or insignificance is a continued subject of heated debate in China. From May Fourth, when anti-traditionalist thinkers called on literature to assume a pioneering role in transforming subjects into citizens, to its use as propaganda during World War Two and on both sides of the Strait after 1949, it was seen as a crucial vector of political ideas. During the “Enlightenment” of the 1980s, literature was again called upon to play a central – though politically very different – role in helping society come to terms with the officially still taboo traumas of the Cultural Revolution. However, “Enlightenment” this time was not only synonymous with anti-traditionalism: critical reflection on the iconoclasm of the Cultural Revolution, emphasizing literature’s role as a moral conscience, also led to an enthusiastic rediscovery of cultural tradition, often against May Fourth ideals, among the writers of the “roots” (xungen) movement. It was only in the aftermath of the failed Tiananmen protests of 1989 that younger writers began to substantially question the need for literature to play a central role in society and in intellectual debate

Building a Public Consciousness

This text is transcribed from the recording of a panel discussion organised on 13 April 2009 by the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China, as part of the symposium “Between public and private : A space for independent Chinese cinema.” Jia Zhangke’s answers to two additional audience questions have been inserted into the discussion where they seemed most relevant

Active hip orthosis for assisting the training of the gait in Hemiplegics

The gait restoration is a significant component of the rehabilitation of patients with hemiplegia after central nervous system lesion. The typical symptom of the disability is the lack of hip extension during the stance phase and hip flexion during the swing phase of the affected leg; therefore, asymmetry and perturbed balance while walking. We developed a new modular orthosis for assisting hip flexion and extension during the therapeutic sessions of the gait in hemiplegic individuals based on thorough analysis of the gait characteristics of normal gait. The system is designed to fit into the powered postural controller Walkaround®. The system is developed based on the estimation of torque and power requirement for the gait at speeds up to 1.1 m/s. The model used for the simulation is a known double pendulum in the sagittal plane. The kinematics and dynamics used as the input for the simulation have been recorded in the gait laboratory with eight cameras and force platforms. The system needs to be clinically evaluated before it possibly can be turned into innovation. © 2018, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science

Propaganda and Pastiche

The two Mao films of 2009 and 2011 set a new standard in the confluence of commercial and propaganda productions in terms of sheer scale. While they are not fundamentally new in repackaging propaganda as entertainment, or even in co-opting parodic elements within official discourse, this essay argues that, viewed against the background of recent policy speeches, they contribute to defining the new “mainstream socialist culture” set out as a cultural policy goal by Hu Jintao. By the same thrust, they redefine the figure of Mao and the role of the CCP in an attempt to stake out a popular consensus on the contemporary Chinese polity

Le subversif « plaisir de penser »

Wang Xiaobo, Wang in Love and Bondage. Traduit du chinois et préfacé par Hongling Zhang et Jason Sommer, Albany, SUNY Press, 2007, 155 pp

Zhang Yinde, Le Monde romanesque chinois au xxe siècle. Modernités et identités

L’ouvrage de Zhang Yinde, fruit d’un travail de longue haleine, est la première somme en langue française consacrée à la littérature chinoise du xxe siècle à la fois dans sa diversité (République populaire, Taiwan, Hong Kong, époque du 4 mai 1919, réalisme socialiste, renouveau de l’après-1979, littérature de genre), et avec un souci de réflexion théorique et historique. Les 24 chapitres qui le composent, regroupés en trois parties, sont une mine d’informations, accompagnés d’un glossaire de ..