Open Access Scientific Journals of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Verona
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Let the Plan(e)t Speak for Itself: Agency, Empathy, and Subjectivity in Sue Burke’s “Semiosis”
No full textIn Sue Burke’s 2018 novel Semiosis, a small group of humans leaving a decaying earth to colonize planet Pax discovers that it already has an ecosystem and is inhabited by sentient plants. The narrative unravels over the first century of human presence on it, across seven generations. It is told entirely in the first person by eight different narrators: seven humans and one plant, the rainbow bamboo.In this essay, I will explore the ramifications of the use of a first-person non-human narrator, commenting on how this allows us to better understand the agency and subjectivity of the character itself within the narrative. Relying mainly on Suzanne Keen’s understanding of narrative empathy (2006) and on Rosi Braidotti’s “becoming-earth” formulation (2013), I will also argue that the bamboo’s perspective situates the reader in a privileged position to consider and discuss these topics, and that the interaction between the human and non-human narrators shows that relinquishing an inherently anthropocentric view of a given planet might lead to a more balanced ecosystem, one that will thrive rather than wither away
The Eminent Victorian and the Philosopher: Canine Perspectives in Virginia Woolf’s “Flush: A Biography” and Italo Svevo’s “Argo e il suo padrone”
No full textThis study investigates the representation of two literary dogs: Flush, the cocker spaniel protagonist of Virginia Woolf’s Flush. A Biography, and Argo, the protagonist and narrator of Italo Svevo’s novella Argo e il suo padrone. With the rise of the phenomenon of language skepticism around 1900, the topos of narrating dogs became of particular interest and both these works can be placed in the fashion of dog novels, but while Svevo, although with reversed roles, draws from the literary fashion of the philosopher dog, in which “canine narrators eloquently master the human language” (Driscoll and Hoffmann 2018), Woolf plays with the very British, and Victorian, tradition of ‘illustrious biographies’ and writes the biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s cocker spaniel. By means of a zooanthropological reading of the two works, the article enquires whether the two writers try to resist anthropomorphic constructedness in the narration of their nonhuman characters and what kind of narrative device they enact to underline similarities and differences between humans and dogs. It will also try to understand if the underlying presumption of the two writers is that language is only ‘linguistic’ language, or if diverse and alternative, but equally valid, forms of communication and reciprocal understanding exist
Sustaining Languages and the Language of Sustainability: The Need for Change
No full textThis paper attempts to tackle a number of connected philosophical questions regarding the role of language in the debate surrounding sustainability. One of the most obvious effects of globalisation and our current ecological crisis is the disappearance of languages and the impoverishment of our linguistic resources. The paper initially contrasts the experience and nature of biological and linguistic extinction in order to better understand the effects of language death on sustainability. The paper then moves to examining the disempowering effects of predominant discourses and truncated repertoires in what is largely monolingual behaviour, with particular reference to current crises and attempts to alleviate them. Language teaching and practices are considered with a focus on the opposition of neoliberal globalising tendencies and policy on the one hand, and the actuality of the complexities of localised understanding on the other. It is suggested that sustainable policy and practice require sustainable linguistic means and uses, and will be informed by deeper, more detailed debate, rather than searching for sweeping solutions. The paper proposes a renewed approach to language policies regarding learning, teaching, testing and governance that are non-exploitative but, at the same time, respect the requirements of meritocratic values. The importance of receptive skills in (inter-)cultural interactions and the role of languages in the appreciation of truth values is also underlined
“To Cross into a War Should be Difficult”: Borderlands and Transcultural Identities in Elliot Ackerman’s “Dark at the Crossing”
No full textSet a few years after the start of the Syrian civil war, Elliot Ackerman’s novel Dark at the Crossing (2017) offers a close look at the life along the border between Turkey and Syria while following the protagonist’s quest for purpose and his paradoxical attempt at crossing into war-torn Syria. This essay argues that the novel constructs the borderland as a space of violence influenced by economic and political interests that separate people both physically and spiritually, while global capitalism builds a sanitized environment to the benefit of diplomats and aid workers, as the shopping malls and luxury hotels of Gaziantep stand in stark contrast with the explosions a few miles away in Azaz. I use Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity to situate the protagonist Haris Abadi, a former Iraqi interpreter who acquired American citizenship, as well as many of the characters living in the borderland as transcultural characters influenced by European and American imperialism who struggle to find their place in the world, all unfortunate victims of an imagined line—or, in Gloria Anzaldúa’s words, “unnatural boundary”—drawn by Western powers a century earlier. Through their hybrid nature they pose an inherent challenge to traditional notions of citizenship and belonging and expose the imperialist practices at work in and around the Syrian civil war. While most American border writing is understandably concerned with the southern border with Mexico or the concept of the frontier, I argue that Dark at the Crossing offers a unique perspective on the ramifications of war, globalization, and American imperialism in the Middle East
Reflections on the creation of a database of chivalric motifs: a scientific and digital challenge
No full textSe presentan unas reflexiones sobre las dificultades del trabajo de catalogación de motivos caballerescos, a partir del trabajo realizado por el grupo de investigación del Progetto Mambrino de la Università di Verona sobre el corpus de las traducciones y continuaciones italianas de los ciclos narrativos españoles. Se examinan algunos de los principales problemas metodológicos que el estudio de los motivos plantea, considerando las experiencias previas y los índices de motivos ya existentes, incluso en otras áreas científicas. Finalmente, se quieren analizar las posibilidades que el entorno digital ofrece en el ámbito de este intento de catalogación en una base de datos.The article aims to give an overview of the issues encountered so far in the creation of a catalogue of chivalrous motifs, presenting the work carried out by the research group of Progetto Mambrino, from the Università di Verona, on the corpus of Italian translations and sequels of Spanish chivalric novels. We will examine some of the main methodological problems posed by the study of motifs, taking into account previous experiences and existing indexes of motifs, also in other scientific areas. Finally, we want to explore the possibilities that the digital environment offers in the composition of a database of motifs of chivalric novels
Una tipología de los vehículos en los libros de caballerías (medios de transporte en el Belianís de Grecia)
No full textThe objective of this study is to offer a typology of the means of transport found in the books of Belianis written by Jerónimo Fernández, one of the books of chivalry that covers a wider geography, in order to review these vehicles, their descriptions, the narrative function they perform and the repercussions of their incorporation in the story and in the perception of it by the reader. Since there is no classificatory study of the means of transport in the books of chivalry, although some attention has been devoted to magical vehicles, the typology established for the Belianis offers the possibility of serving as a basis for future research that might include other works of the genreThe objective of this study is to offer a typology of the means of transport found in the books of Belianis written by Jerónimo Fernández, one of the books of chivalry that covers a wider geography, in order to review these vehicles, their descriptions, the narrative function they perform and the repercussions of their incorporation in the story and in the perception of it by the reader. Since there is no classificatory study of the means of transport in the books of chivalry, although some attention has been devoted to magical vehicles, the typology established for the Belianis offers the possibility of serving as a basis for future research that might include other works of the genre.
El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer una tipología de los medios de transporte que existen en las cuatro primeras partes del Belianís de Jerónimo Fernández, uno de los libros de caballerías que abarca una geografía más amplia. Para ello se revisan los vehículos existentes, sus descripciones, la función narrativa que realizan y las repercusiones de su incorporación en la construcción del relato y en la percepción de este por parte de los lectores, además de las diferencias entre las dos primeras partes de 1545 y las continuaciones publicadas en 1579. Puesto que no existe ningún estudio clasificatorio de los medios de transporte en los libros de caballerías, aunque se ha dedicado alguna atención a los vehículos mágicos, la tipología establecida para el Belianís ofrece la posibilidad de servir de base para investigaciones futuras que comprendan otras obras del género
“And Outside Where Do We Begin?”: Indigenous Hawaiian Culture and the US Criminal System in Ciara Lacy’s “Out of State”
No full textThe recent debate on the politics of life has developed in different directions, from Waste theory (Bauman, 2004) to Necropolitics (Mbembe 2004, 2019) and Butler’s idea of precariousness (2004, 2009). Despite their relevant differences, such critical perspectives reflect on how power has appropriated a semantics of disposability, superfluousness, and death. This essay explores the intersections of the US prison system, the abjection of colored lives, and Hawaiian Indigenous cultural resurgence. My chosen text for this exploration is Ciara Lacy’s powerful documentary Out of State (2017). The film follows a group of Native Hawaiian inmates to a private, for-profit prison, dislocated thousands of miles away from their island home, deep in the desert of Arizona. In this unfamiliar, barren space, Native Hawaiian inmates find a community and rediscover their cultural identities by teaching one another native culture, language, and traditional dance. As two of the men complete their sentences, the film uses their particular journeys for a much more universal story on the difficulty of re-entering a society that casts subjects into a residual existence. Lacy’s documentary thus complicates the logic of a clear separation between the inside and outside of prison. Yet, the film turns the metaphor of being out into a space of self-awareness and recognition that can eventually spark change
Unstoppable Crises: Hurricane Katrina in Film and Media Representations
No full textThis paper examines how film and media representations have become a crucial tool of political response to the Katrina emergency, by framing it as emblematic of the compounded crises that so-called ‘extreme natural events’ highlight, involving the exacerbation of social injustice and second class citizenship, the questioning of the relationship between natural phenomena and man-made disaster, and the special vulnerability of coastal cities to the effects of climate change. By analyzing four visual texts emerging from the Katrina crisis—Spike Lee’s When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006), Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s Trouble the Water (2008); HBO’s Treme (2009-2013), Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)—this paper frames eco-catastrophe as a new conceptual paradigm of modernity
Digital Humanities and Spanish literature of the Middle Ages: the integration of Transkribus in the COMEDIC database
No full textLa base de datos COMEDIC. Catálogo de obras medievales impresas en castellano nace en 2012 con el objetivo de analizar la recepción y transmisión de los textos literarios medievales en la imprenta quinientista. Los avances en la aplicación de herramientas de las Humanidades Digitales y las sucesivas renovaciones del proyecto lo han conducido al empleo de estos útiles en la investigación que desarrolla. En el presente artículo se hace un estado de la cuestión y una proyección sobre los objetivos que se pretenden conseguir mediante la aplicación del programa Transkribus.The database COMEDIC. Catálogo de obras medievales impresas en castellano was created in 2012 with the aim of analysing the reception and transmission of medieval literary texts in the 16th century print. Advances in the application of Digital Humanities tools and the successive renewals of the project have led it to apply these tools to its research data. This paper offers a state of the art and a projection of the goals to be achieved in the application of the Transkribus software
De editor analógico a editor digital
No full textEn el artículo se cuentan los recientes desarrollos del proyecto colaborativo 7Partidas Digital. En concreto, se señalan los principales rasgos del trabajo filológico tradicional y se apuntan los posibles avances que pueden ofrecer los medios informáticos a la hora de realizar una edición crítica digital. Entre los aspectos más destacados, insistimos en la transcripción automatizada de testimonios impresos y en el uso de sistemas de colación automática, dos recursos que de manera concreta agilizan y semplifican el trabajo filológico.The present article is centered on the recent developments of the collaborative project 7PartidasDigital. Specifically, the main aspects of traditional philological work and the possible advances that computational tools can offer in the making of a digital critical edition are pointed out. Among the most outstanding aspects, we insist on the automated transcription of printed testimonies and the use of automatic collation systems, two resources that concretely speed up and simplify philological wor