London Academic Publishing Ltd.: Arts & Humanities Journals
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Lost in Translation: Medieval Romance, the Porous Female Body, Kingship, and Vassalage in Havelok the Dane
No full textMedieval romances feature many of the same tropes: reclamation of lost or forsworn titles, martial prowess, bravery squandered, damsels in desperate need of distress or saving. Havelok the Dane participates in these conventions but is a dramatic outlier in the way the author utilizes the female body as trope, narrative plot device, and ultimately as a signifier for kingship itself. The original version, Gaimar’s Estoire des Engleis, emphasizes Havelok’s supernatural and superhuman power, his kingship ordained by God, his birthmark, and his heirs. The English poet changes the source in his translation, dramatically strengthening the plotline around the visceral, physical threats to women. Instead, the increased threat of rape, the fecundity of female bodies, and the “porous” nature of females in the Lay foreground and become the story; the potential and real violence toward the women of the text create the foil to contemporary Arthurian romances
‘What Was There Behind it - Her Beauty, Her Splendour?’: Femininity and Masquerade in Psychoanalysis and To the Lighthouse
No full textThis essay explores the correlation between femininity and absence through Mrs Ramsay in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse alongside analyses of femininity in psychoanalysis. For Freud and Klein, femininity is built upon the absence of masculinity; the transition from girl to woman is catalysed by the castration complex. In ‘Womanliness as a Masquerade’, Joan Riviere suggests that the true nature of femininity is a mystery by insisting that there is no difference between genuine womanliness and femininity as masquerade. I use my analysis of Mrs Ramsay to emphasise how Freud and Klein fail to construct a well-rounded definition of femininity by equating it with absence. Much of the scholarship on Woolf’s novel suggests that Mrs Ramsay performs her role as the archetypal woman and mother; however, our knowledge of Mrs Ramsay derives from other characters’ perceptions of her. I reverse the notion that Mrs Ramsay performs her femininity by proposing that womanliness is projected onto her, obscuring her true character. Woolf problematises the notion that femininity is founded upon the absence of masculinity by refusing to reveal Mrs Ramsay’s true character. Thus, she challenges us to dismantle the structures that efface woman’s subjectivity to construct a more accurate understanding of femininity
Das absolute Wissen and the Dostoevskian Sobornost’. Reception and intercultural transformation between Hegel and Dostoevsky
No full textThis paper explores the intercultural encounter between Hegel’s concept of absolutes Wissen (absolute knowledge) and Dostoevsky’s reworking of the Orthodox notion of sobornost’. In nineteenth-century Russia, Hegelian philosophy represented both a powerful intellectual catalyst and a contested cultural paradigm, provoking divergent responses among Westernizers, revolutionaries, and Slavophiles. While Herzen, Belinsky, and Bakunin used Hegelian dialectics to justify progress or revolution, the Slavophiles opposed it but nonetheless engaged with it as a counter-model for reaffirming Orthodox tradition and communal life. Dostoevsky, situated within this philosophical and cultural milieu, absorbed and transformed Hegelian categories into his literary and existential vision. By confronting Hegel’s idea of absolute knowledge with the Orthodox concept of sobornost’, Dostoevsky reshapes the dialectic into a narrative of freedom, tragedy, and communal responsibility. The analysis highlights how sobornost’ emerges in The Brothers Karamazov not as an abstract utopia, but as a lived, fragile, and open-ended possibility grounded in love, forgiveness, and education. This comparative framework shows how philosophy and literature converge in addressing the tension between individual and community, universality and particularity, reason and faith. Ultimately, the dialogue between Hegel and Dostoevsky illustrates how intercultural reception generates creative reinterpretations that transcend national and disciplinary boundaries
Grief in Russian Émigrés’ Exilic Short Fiction: Bunin, Nabokov and Gazdanov
No full textThis essay focuses on the short fiction of three Russian émigré writers—Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin (1870-1953), Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) and Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971)—with the purpose of tracing not only their lives, but also a psychological/inner experience of exile evident within their writing techniques as related to time and space. Bunin, an exponent of the older generation of the first wave of Russian émigré writers, expressed profound emotions of nostalgia in his exilic short fiction by employing the techniques of “double exposure” and “diachronic topography,” harkening back to pre-revolutionary landscapes. Nabokov, a representative of the younger generation of Russian first-wave émigré writers as well as an all-encompassing writer of the second wave of Russian emigration, underpinned by his obsession with his childhood memories of butterflies as symbols of love and beauty, intertwined cosmic synchronization with stories of a protagonist in exile. Gazdanov, another representative of the younger generation of Russian first-wave emigration, had his protagonists disengage from the horror of the past, yet replicated feelings of suffering within their inner world and contemporary circumstances. Though Nabokov and Gazdanov, as younger voices from the first generation of Russian emigration, delved into a new world of literature and absorbed more writing techniques from literary movements of contemporary Europe, they continued to explore themes of grief and suffering in exile, much like the older generation of Russian first-wave émigré writers did
Constructing Identity through Children’s Literature (The Soviet Union 1938–1964)
No full textChildren’s literature, as a specialised text corpus, was established throughout the existence of the Soviet Union. This literature, besides its “function” as a fictional narrative, had another purpose as well – to construct the new Soviet person. Forming and shaping the new type of person was the main intention of identity politics of the Soviet Union. The study analyzes Soviet Russian and Soviet Georgian children’s literature, composed during 1938–1964 time period. The importance of the study is defined by the essence of identity politics – forming and shaping identity is a crucial part of any society. Therefore, studying already existing approaches and mediums (children’s literature, in this case) for shaping identity carries great importance. The analysis of the process of forming identity is crucial for understanding specifics of the history of the Soviet period, peculiarities of development of the Soviet culture, the role of literature in forming identity; also, the analysis is essential for defining the impact of local specifics
Introduction: Reading to Know, Learning to Hear, and Engaging in Respect
No full textThis “Introduction” is divided into three Sections: 1) “Opening Theoretical Remarks” i.e., a conceptual Preamble; 2) “A ‘Narrative’ of the Call for Papers” mapping the thematic ground and scope of an invitation to respond, and 3) “The ‘Happy Ending’ of the CFP: Respondents Write Back.” Indeed, the plurality of their contributions and points of view recognizes and answers the dialogical intent of our call
Reading in order to Hear: Accented Transcriptions and Compulsory Racialization in Reading “Ain’t I a Woman?”
No full textThis essay explores the complexities and challenges of reading, hearing, and comprehending transcripts that feature “nonstandard” speech, particularly through the use of descriptive markers that convey the speaker’s accent. While scholars have critiqued biases in transcriptions, there has been relatively little focus on how readers engage with these texts. I focus on Sojourner Truth’s speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, delivered in 1851, which has become one of the most notable public addresses in U.S. history. Interestingly, its most recognized transcript showcases Truth’s English as influenced by her Dutch accent and Southern dialect. In theorizing the reader’s experience prompted by this transcript—especially for individuals who themselves speak “nonstandard” English—I investigate the entrenched mechanisms of racialization and Othering that emerge as readers navigate unfamiliar vocabulary and contextual framing. I argue that the text encourages readers to actively engage with racializing practices that reflect colonial, white, middle-upper-class societal values, discriminating against those who do not adhere to a “standard” mode of speech. Yet, through self-reflection, readers gain insights into oppressive power structures. I conclude by urging scholars and activists to refrain from proposing “fixes” to the text and instead to follow the examined reading experience, meta-framing the speech to foster critical readings
Intersemiotic Literacy: Reading Heart of Darkness from Serialized Fiction to Contemporary Book Publication
No full text“The Heart of Darkness” was first published in 1899 as a serialized fiction in Blackwood’s Magazine. The publication of Heart of Darkness in book form and under this present title appeared three years later in the volume Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories. To understand how reading as a supposedly passive and personal experience evolves, the phenomenal success of this masterpiece written by the Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad (1867-1924) and its collaborations with different modes of publication would be investigated. This article outlines the publication story of this novella since the time of Conrad till the very present day. To enable an in-depth understanding on how the plot of the narrative interacts with various book cover designs, discussions would be made on whether the visual domain can also portray the juxtaposition of horrors in the exotic milieu with the dark side of humanity. In Re-Covered Rose (2011), the award-winning scholar and literary translator Marco Sonzogni (1971-) examines how book cover design is a form of intersemiotic translation. Being inspired by this stance, it is the aim of this article to dissect whether the contemporary book designs of Heart of Darkness enrich the interpretation of this novella and respond to its contemporary criticisms. The cover designs of Heart of Darkness from Penguin Classics will serve as a case study in understanding how a publisher addresses the rise of new critiques. In addition, 30 book cover designs of Heart of Darkness published since the new millennium will be studied to exemplify the relationships between a literary classic, its book covers and intersemiotic literacy
Surgical strategy and predicator of insular glioma in a tertiary centre
No full textIntroduction: The insular glioma is a rare condition in neurosurgical practice. The treatment of insular glioma lacks a distinct approach. This study aims to review the outcomes of insular glioma surgery and discuss strategies to minimise the risk in adults who have undergone initial or repeat resection of insular gliomas of all grades.
Methods: An observational study was done among 50 patients with insular gliomas who were admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery of a tertiary care centre during January 2015-August 2025. The treatment decisions and neurosurgical outcomes of the patients with insular glioma were analysed. All patients were assessed with either computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or both.
Results: Among the admitted patients, the youngest patient was 25 years, and the oldest was 76 years, while there were 30 males and 20 females. Most of the patients, 42 (84%), presented with headache and 32 (64%) presented with seizures of sudden onset. Right-sided insular gliomas were observed in 27 (54%) patients, but 23 (46%) patients had left-sided tumours, and 27 (57%) patients were operated on with the Transylvanian approach and 20 (42%) patients with the transcortical approach. Extent of resection above 90% or above was achieved in 52% of cases, and EOR of 70-90% in 48% of cases.
Conclusion: The surgical approach for insular gliomas requires technical mastery of intraoperative technologies to minimise postoperative morbidity
An Ethical Rupture: Brodsky’s Legacy and the Politics of Reading in a Time of Crisis
No full textIn an era of sharpening polarization, critics need methods beyond “defense” versus “condemnation” when confronting works that fuse aesthetic power with ethical harm. Focusing on the Anglophone reception of Joseph Brodsky after the full-scale outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine war (2022), this article theorizes An Ethic of Agonistic Care. Synthesizing Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic politics and bell hooks’s ethics of love, the framework treats conflict as inescapable yet channels it toward reparative dialogue and responsibility. It is operationalized as a five-step protocol for ethical reading: positional examination, emotional diagnosis, agonistic engagement, reparative re-reading, and critical re-contextualization. Close readings of Brodsky (poetry, essays) and comparative cases from post-socialist and contemporary geopolitical literatures demonstrate the approach’s transferability and limits, showing how it avoids both facile decanonization and aesthetic exceptionalism. The article argues that An Ethic of Agonistic Care supplies a rigorous, practicable method for addressing controversial cultural legacies and re-anchors “respect” and “love” as scholarly virtues in post–Cold War cross-cultural understanding, offering a pedagogical pathway for critical civic education