Regarding intentio operis in the texts of legal acts

The aim of the paper is to present intentio operis as an interpretative strategy created by a text. According to Umberto Eco, this strategy can help to transcend the opposition between intentio auctoris and the interpreter’s unrestrained freedom. Although as a concept intentio operis belongs to literary texts, it seems to be an interesting construct to apply to legal interpretation, especially because it links different points of view on textual interpretation: the structural (‘how the text is constructed’) and the pragmatic (namely aspects of communication, such as the communicative intentions of the empirical author, the communicative intentions of the text).Celem artykułu jest zaprezentowanie intentio operis jako strategii interpretacyjnej wytworzonej przez sam tekst. Według Umberto Eco ta strategia może być pomocna przy przekroczeniu opozycji pomiędzy intentio operis a niepohamowaną wolnością interpretatora. Pomimo że intentio operis jest konceptem odnoszącym się do tekstów literackich, to wydaje się być interesującym konstruktem do zastosowania w interpretacji prawniczej, zwłaszcza że łączy strukturalny („jak skonstruowany jest tekst”) i pragmatyczny (aspekty komunikacji, takie jak: intencje komunikacyjne autora empirycznego, intencje komunikacyjne reprezentowane przez tekst) punkt widzenia interpretacji tekstu

Regarding intentio operis in the texts of legal acts

The aim of the paper is to present intentio operis as an interpretative strategy created by a text. According to Umberto Eco, this strategy can help to transcend the opposition between intentio auctoris and the interpreter’s unrestrained freedom. Although as a concept intentio operis belongs to literary texts, it seems to be an interesting construct to apply to legal interpretation, especially because it links different points of view on textual interpretation: the structural (‘how the text is constructed’) and the pragmatic (namely aspects of communication, such as the communicative intentions of the empirical author, the communicative intentions of the text)

A Text in the Communicative Dimension: The Relationship between the Open and Closed Text in the Context of Umberto Eco’s Ideas

The article addresses the relationship between open and closed texts. The aim of the study is to analyze the specifics of relationship between the open and closed text in the general context of communication between the author and the reader. While supporting mainly U. Eco’s concept in our article, we furnish it with the analysis of four approaches of openness/closedness, which we have singled out. Openness/closedness is conceptualized, firstly: as an ontological perspective of the opposition between the communication parameters: The text-as-process and text-as-outcome; secondly, as interpretation procedures that are common for the articulation of all texts, regardless of their form and contents; thirdly, as the ontological and technological potential of works’ physical unfinishedness that invite the recipient to co-authorship (for example, ‘the work-in-movement’ and hypertext); fourthly, as the ability of a text to provoke multiple or unambiguous interpretations. We also demonstrate that the way of text’s functioning is determined not only by the addressee's attitude to it, but text itself, in return, stimulates this attitude, predisposing to it by its specificity (as informative or artistic, kitsch or art, hypertext or linear text, digital or analog). However, as we explain in the conclusion, the dialectic of openness/closedness can affect the distinctness of these dichotomies: The text can use its openness manipulatively, which turns it into a closed text

Thresholds, boundaries, limits: Ideological analysis in the semiotics of Umberto Eco

This essay traces the evolution of Umberto Eco’s thinking from a particular point of view, that of his reflections on ideology and ideological discourse. The reason for this choice is that ideology is one of the themes that is associated with the mature phase of Eco’s work, generally regarded as beginning with the Trattato di semiotica generale (1975, A Theory of Semiotics). Moreover, by examining ideology it is possible to piece together a complex path of intellectual reconsiderations and redefinitions involving both the discipline of semiotics and the broader cultural context. To tackle this topic it is in fact necessary to refer both to the general ambit of Eco’s semiotics and the historic and cultural context in which these studies originated

Poetry and Theology in the Book of Lamentations: An Investigation of Lamentations 1-3 using the Aesthetic Analysis of Umberto Eco

The present study assesses how Lamentations 1-3 synthetically presents its theology. It accomplishes this task by assessing the poetry through the aesthetic analysis of Italian semiotician Umberto Eco to discover how, in terms of genre, structure, and poetics, theology is presented for the model reader of Lamentations 1-3. Chapter I introduces the problem of theology in Lamentations and the difficulties and possibility of focussing the present research upon Lamentations 1-3. Within this discussion, these chapters are set in their historical context. Chapter I concludes by suggesting that interpretation of theology remains a complex task and employs the metaphors of horizons "behind," "within" and "in front of' the text as theoretical tools by which different approaches could be categorised. Chapter 2 surveys past research using the metaphors of "behind," "Within," and "in front of' the text as a heuristic framework. Each horizon is assessed in tum: historical paradigms of Gottwald, Albrektson, Westermann, and Brandscheidt (world "behind" the text); literary paradigm of Renkema (world "within" the text); and the feminist approaches of Seidman, Guest, and O'Connor (world "in fromt of' the text). Finally, Chapter 2 adopts an "integrated" approach, typified by Dobbs-Allsopp, that takes seriously all three horizons in interpreting Lamentations 1-3. Chapter 3 provides an entree into the theory of Umberto Eco. His theory is useful because it coheres with the integrated approach adopted in the study, it provides a helpful means to assess aesthetic texts, such as Lamentations, and it enables distinctions between kinds of texts-how texts are designed differently to elicit different responses from model readers (open and closed). In light of the theological ambiguity in Lamentations, the open/closed distinction is shown to be useful. Finally, Eco employs the concept of the cultural encyclopaedia, a theoretical device that describes the cumulative amount of cultural data available to the producer of a text at the time of its production. Chapter 4 frames the borders of encyclopaedic content for research into Lamentations 1-3. It presents the possible genres, structures, and poetics suggested for Lamentations research in the past. The analysis shows that Lamentations cannot be reduced to one genre but rather exploits different genres to advance its theology. As to structure, analysis reveals that the acrostic is the most evident structuring device in the book. And finally, a number of poetic devices activated in the encyclopaedic world of Lamentations 1-3 are explored, including repetition, wordplay and enjambment, imagery, speaking voices, and allusion. This discussion frames the exegesis of Lamentations 1-3, accomplished in Chapters 5-7. Chapters 5-7 assess Lamentations 1-3 using Eco's aesthetic theory. Each chapter presents an introduction to the structure, genre, speaking voices, and strophic divisions of Lamentations 1-3, follows with detailed exegesis of the chapters, and then concludes with a catalogue of the ways in which structure, genre, and poetics impinge upon theological portrayal in the poetry. Analysis shows Lamentations 1-3 tends towards "open" rather than "closed" textual strategies for their model readers. Recognition and cataloguing of the persistent poetic use of repetition proves to be an area that the present study adds to scholarly discussion, as well as how repetition impinges upon theological presentation in the book. There are two primary functions of repetition: intensification (upon suffering, sin, judgment) or combination (to recast previously held understandings or to provide interpretative depth). Repetition provides a variety of interpretative horizons for the reader in regards to the book's theology. Chapter 8 concludes with a summary of results, an initial discussion of Lamentations 4 and 5, and the possible purpose of poetry and theology in Lamentations 1-3. The study concludes that the theology varies, but this is part of the function of the poetry. The poetry is designed to bring the reader on an interpretative journey through its contents rather than to teach a particular perspective. Despite the various ways in which the relationships can be configured, the poetry persistently drives the reader to address YHWH in prayer: each of the poems includes, and concludes with, prayer to the deity concerning various sources of pain. That the poetry highlights prayer to YHWH-even when he is the cause of pain-reveals this interpretative journey has a destination. The poetry of Lamentations 1-3 is designed to enable the reader to address God in light of the perspectives adopted and sufferings endured through the reading process

Brand extensions into the hospitality industry by luxury fashion labels and national identity: the cases of Hotel Missoni Edinburgh and Maison Moschino

The luxury fashion industry is closely intertwined with the phenomenon of brand extension. Italian labels have been particularly active in this regard, consistently associating their name with a variety of products and extending into sectors that are sometimes rather distant from the core where they operate, like in the hospitality business. This thesis gives an insight into this phenomenon that sees Italian luxury fashion labels expand their brands into hôtellerie by unpacking the relationship it holds with Italianicity. Examining the cases of two iconic Italian luxury fashion labels, Missoni and Moschino, and the hotels associated with their names, Hotel Missoni Edinburgh and Maison Moschino, this thesis investigates the different ways in which they refer to Italy and its culture. It is contended that within Hotel Missoni Edinburgh and Maison Moschino there are corporate strategies at play that are aimed at deploying their Italianicity as a means to increase their prestige and strengthen their association with the identity of their parent brands. Moreover, it is contended that the hotels employ strategies of cultural opportunism that see the deployment of characteristic traits associated with Italy and its culture as a way to augment their offerings, maximising the brand extension potential of those labels. However, while Missoni Hotel Edinburgh and Maison Moschino rely on traits of Italianicity for their identity, they also contribute to the construction of ideas of Italianicity

Torah in Servant-form: Torah, Servant, and Disciples in the Book of Isaiah

This dissertation examines the concept of torah in final-Isaiah (FI) towards a construal of the intentio operis, understood as the model author’s aim to produce model readers who are servant-disciples (Isa 54:13, 17). It develops with attention to the contribution of Marvin A. Sweeney, and asks whether the prophetic book subserves Ezra’s reforms or has a separate program for the restoration and reform of Judah and Jerusalem. To surmise the intentio operis, linguistic, literary, and rhetorical approaches are used as appropriate to a holistic theological reading of the received text. Research focuses on passages where the term hrwt appears; its range of meaning is assessed within the broader lexical and conceptual framework of FI, and associated terms, concepts, and images are handled within properly defined units as parts within the larger whole. The investigation observes profound intra-textual connections signaling a bond between prophet and disciples, and a solidarity connecting the servant, herald, and servants, concluding that the conception and use of hrwt in FI is inextricably bound to servant-discipleship and the correlative theme of righteous-suffering. Though hrwt never has a technically precise sense in FI, it has legal, didactic, and sapiential connotations (analogous to the deuteronomic model of catechesis) and refers primarily to the words and acts of Isaiah and YHWH’s servant. Since hrwt does not refer to the giving or interpretation of a fixed (external) corpus, but corresponds to the Mosaic model, it is illegitimate to reduce/restrict FI to propaganda literature for Ezra’s Mosaic Torah-oriented reform measures. Instead, FI urges the community taught by God to accept God’s purpose and adopt God’s ways according to a distinct Isaianic ‘logic’. Independent of Ezra’s reforms and without subordination to Mosaic Torah (or wisdom torah), FI is a prophetic guide for life suitable for interpreting Israel’s traditions, fashioning its communal identity, and defining its vocation in the world. As torah in servant-form, FI summons and shapes disciples who humbly seek YHWH, abandon evil ways, and serve God in the hope of hastening the fulfillment of its programmatic vision for a day marked by international peace and cosmic order

Negotiating Nationhood through Images: The visual language of French political cartoons from 2015 to 2017

Particularly pertinent given the explosive power of political cartoons that has been witnessed in Europe in recent years, the central focus of this research is a decoding of the visual rhetoric of satirical media in France today. These images are analysed as rich sources of coded content pertaining to concepts of nationhood and identity, a pressing issue of contention given the current tumultuous socio-political climate in France. Conceived primarily through an argument of images and play of metaphor, these political ephemera are powerful sites of symbolic meaning-making, wherein ‘elite’ concepts of national identity may be challenged as well as strengthened. With this research, then, I hold that an exploration of the poetics of political imagery reveals enduring myths about France and its inhabitants, one that arguably forms part of a wider, nationwide dispute about citizenship that extends beyond formal, legal definitions. Within these connoted elite concepts of Frenchness and its corresponding marginalised Other, the signifying practices of satire, and its purpose and misuse, emerge as especially significant. Remarkably central in renewed nationhood debates stoked by the current identity and ideological crisis felt in France, the satirical political cartoon often appears to represent an irreconcilability between French and Muslim values. In such a context, further, the customarily subversive deployment of satire in contemporary France, whilst ‘punching up’ at threats and intimidation, often simultaneously appears to align with elite, hegemonic scopic regimes and social positions, dislocating its proper societal function. For a postcolonial France with an increasingly fractured populace, the ‘dangerous signs’ of the satirical political cartoon, then, become disputed space for meaning-making, with its contemporary application, and the semiotic ideologies contained therein, entangled with new socio-political implications