518 research outputs found
Introduction a "Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature"
No full textThe article aims at introducing the volume "Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature", edited By Ada Barbaro. The volume aims to provide lenses that examine, from various angles, a country, Iraq, in the aftermath of the quintessential trauma of its contemporary history, namely, 2003.The volume is thus a collection of "narratives", of
narrative acts that render the relationship between reality and its discourse almost oxymoronic. The present work, born in the wake of the conference «Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature», is therefore published as an outcome of the scientific project "Forms, Languages, and [Con]texts of Tàrìkh: Writing and Rewriting History in Iraq", of which the author of these pages is the Principal Investigator
Daniele Barbaro and the Foundation of the Botanical Garden for the University of Padua
No full textWhen in the Renaissance the Venetian authorities decided to establish the Botanical Garden at the University of Padua in order to carry out experimental studies directly on plants, they entrusted Daniele Barbaro with the role of administrative supervisor. This essay, by comparing the Garden as built with documentary information and historical records, advances the hypothesis of a role not exclusively focused on economic aspects but also on considerations of design. Although information is scarce, the author reasonably speculates that Daniele Barbaro, probably assisted by other scholars and botanical experts, may have conceived the Hortus Sphaericus of Padua, an original design that was never completed
The very short story in the time of revolution. al-Mihmāz (the Spur) and the Syrian author Zakariyā Tāmir
No full textThe mass protests swept through the Middle East in early 2011 underlined the role of modern information-communication technologies (ICT). From a literary point of view, the “Arab Spring” inevitably marked the birth of a new model of writing, characterised by a more participatory, global and immediate manner of expression that could be defined as Humanism 2.0. In this context, we may insert the experimental writing by the famous Syrian author Zakariyā Tāmir: on the al-Mihmāz (The Spur) Facebook page the writer begins a literary journey publishing daily posts and explicitly supporting the Syrian revolution. This contribution intends to analyse a few of Tāmir’s most significant posts published on Facebook. The time span is 2012, just one year after the Syrian revolution: thanks to aphorisms, posts and short stories, a new literary pact with potential readers is inaugurated, within a phenomenon that we can call al-adab al-raqmī (digital literature
Iraq after 2003: when trauma becomes art. Myth, history, and literature
No full textThe volume aims to provide lenses that examine, from various angles, a country, Iraq, in the aftermath of the quintessential trauma of its contemporary history, namely, 2003.The volume is thus a collection of "narratives", of
narrative acts that render the relationship between reality and its discourse almost oxymoronic. The present work, born in the wake of the conference «Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature», is therefore published as an outcome of the scientific project "Forms, Languages, and [Con]texts of Tàrìkh: Writing and Rewriting History in Iraq", of which the author of these pages is the Principal Investigator
al-Qārūrah (La bottiglia, 2004) dello scrittore saudita Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd. Quale “genere” di lettura?
No full textal-Qārūrah (The Bottle, 2004) is one of the best-known novels written by the Saudi author Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd (1964). Set in the timeline of the Gulf War (1990-91), the novel mainly reconstructs the life of Munīrah al-Sāhī, the female protagonist. Symbol of the general climate of violence towards women in her country, she decides to record women’s stories on pieces of paper that she places in the bottle given to her by her grandmother. Feminism, struggles for women empowerment and historical critique are – as one would expect – the central aspects of this novel. This article will try to introduce a different key reading, by assuming that the originality of the work probably lies in its unusual act of re-writing History. The single pieces of paper are single stories able to re-construct the collective History. So Munīrah becomes a particular ḥakawātiyyah, collecting stories in order to offer an historical narration
In nome del pane e della liberta’: Tawfīq Yūsuf ‘Awwād e il suo al-Raġīf
No full textWorld War I has often been the privileged setting for the artistic experience of many intellectuals, who tried to give their personal response to such an event that influenced the future of their society. Arab writers also offered a glimpse into an historical event whose effects were felt well beyond the confines of the “Western World”. The experience of Lebanese writer Tawfīq Yūsuf ‘Awwād (1911-1989) flourishes in this literary milieu. In his book al-Raġīf (The Loaf, 1939), ‘Awwād describes the Arab revolt against the Ottomans during World War I: this novel was soon recognized as a landmark in the literary expression of Arab nationalism. al-Raġīf becomes the symbol of the impoverished inhabitants of a village subjected to a feudal authority: the author uses the powerful image of bread, symbol par excellence of life, to describe the daily struggle of the individual against every form of authoritarianis
Perdition and getting lost in a lost short story by Ghassān Kanafānī: When hostile space (al-makān al-muʿādī) takes over narrative space
No full textThe literary space assumes essential semantic importance: from Bakhtin’s structuralist
analysis to the reading of space as in the concept of the “production of space” theorized
by Henri Lefebvre, the issue of spatiality has unquestionably gained importance in literary
studies. When the Jordanian writer Ghālib Halasā translated Gaston Bachelard’s
La Poétique de l’espace (1957) as Jamāliyyāt al-makān (1984), he observes the French
author does not address the hostile space (al-makān al-muʿādī). Halasā admits how
this subject has enriched the issue of spatiality with significant data. Building upon
these premises, the present contribution aims to offer an interpretation of this hostile
spatiality within a story by the Palestinian writer Ghassān Kanafānī. “ʿUlbat zujāj
wāḥidah” (Just a glass box)—included in the collection ʿĀlam laysa la-nā (A World Not
Our Own, 1963)—is the forgotten short story to which this article intends to devote
itself. Within this narrative space, two different forms of spatiality take shape—outside
and inside the titular glass box—both characterized by that hostile, unfamiliar trait to
which reference has been made thus far, and which we will try to investigate to expose
its distinctive features through the actors who act in this space
Birds as predators of the pine processionary moth (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae)
No full textInternational audienceThe beneficial role of insectivorous birds potentially contributing to the biological control of forest insect pests appears crucial in the context of climate warming, especially for species currently expanding their range such as the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa. Larvae of T. pityocampa are aposematic and carry true urticating setae which, together with overwintering in silk winter nests, prevent them from predation by most insectivorous forest birds. The present review aims at pointing out which bird species can regularly feed on this key forest defoliator throughout its distribution range, and which predation strategies allow birds to cope with the urticating setae carried by late-instar larvae. At least seven bird species can be considered as regular predators of the pine processionary moth: four large migrant specialists (great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius, common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus and Eurasian hoopoe Upupa epops) and three small sedentary generalists (great tit Parus major, crested tit Lophophanes cristatus and coal tit Periparus ater). Each species has developed morphological traits and foraging techniques to feed on different life stages of T. pityocampa throughout the year: (i) gizzard wall structure allowing the consumption of caterpillars with urticating setae (cuckoos); (ii) nocturnal foraging on moth imagos by aerial hawking (nightjars); (iii) ground probing on below-ground pupae with long curved bill (hoopoe); and (iv) shifted predation period in autumn and winter on eggs, early- and late-instar larvae, with particular feeding technique allowing to eat only the inner parts of urticating larvae stages (tits). Although several avian predators regularly feed on T. pityocampa, only a few specialist and generalist insectivorous birds may contribute to regulate its populations, especially when population density of the moth is low. Moreover, their efficiency may possibly be threatened by mismatches associated with climate change
Le Confabulationes di Poggio e il «palcoscenico» della Curia
No full textIl saggio prende in esame la struttura e l’organizzazione retorica del Liber facetiarum di Poggio Bracciolini, avanzando alcune ipotesi sul progetto narrativo dell’autore alla luce delle modifiche apportate nelle diverse fasi redazionali del libro. L’accento viene posto sulla costruzione di una cornice dialogica, che coordina le singole pièce narrative e riconduce l’atto del narrare alle conversazioni del circolo umanistico della Curia pontificia. Da un lato, Poggio recupera il modello della «lieta brigata» del Decameron, adattandolo al nuovo contesto della "confabulatio" umanistica; dall’altro, approfondisce la dimensione comica e scenica dello scambio verbale, istituendo uno stretto rapporto fra modalità di recitazione e contenuto dei microtesti. In quest’ottica, le Confabulationes – così l’autore definisce il proprio libro – si incaricano di riprodurre e codificare la nuova prassi della convivialità cortigiana, aprendo la strada alle successive riflessioni teoriche di Pontano e di Castiglione.The article reviews the structure as well as the rhetorical organization of Poggio Bracciolini’s Liber facetiarum. Furthermore, it suggests some hypothesis on the author’s narrative project by examining the amendments to the book occurred over the different editing stages. The article focuses on the dialogical setting, which coordinates the narrative pieces and brings the act of narration back to the conversations held within the humanistic circle of the papal Curia. Poggio chooses the pattern of Decameron «lieta brigata» and adapts it to the new context of the humanistic "confabulatio"; he also emphasizes the comic and the theatrical aspects of verbal interaction and creates a close relationship between the way of acting and the content of microtexts. In this way, the Confabulationes – according to the title chosen by the author for his book – represent and encode the new practice of the courtesan conversation, which will lead to the theoretical treatises of Pontano and Castiglione
«Alcesti non è più Alcesti». La tragedia secondo Alberto Savinio
No full textA partire dai suoi precursori ottocenteschi, la cultura moderna ha elaborato una visione in negati- vo del tragico, insistendo sul tema della ‘morte della tragedia’ e dell’inattualità del genere tragico. La visione problematica e relativistica del mondo, che caratterizza larga parte delle esperienze no- vecentesche, nega infatti le ragioni del conflitto fra uomo e dio, fra uomo e cosmo, ed erode nel profondo le fondamenta gnoseologiche, etiche ed estetiche su cui si fondava il dramma classico. In questo contesto, le tragedie di Alberto Savinio, scritte nell’immediato secondo dopoguerra, offro- no un punto di osservazione estremamente interessante, proprio perché tematizzano all’interno del testo il problema della rappresentazione del tragico in un’epoca che, a dispetto delle guerre e del sangue versato, egli giudica assolutamente «indrammatica». L’articolo si propone di mettere a fuoco l’originale concezione che Savinio ha della tragedia – come superamento del tragico e del- l’angoscia moderna – analizzando in particolare l’Alcesti di Samuele, il dramma più complesso e am- bizioso cui l’autore affida il compito di veicolare la propria visione estetica, etica e politica.Since its nineteenth-century precursors, modern culture has produced a negative view of the trag- ic, focusing on the theme of the ‘death of tragedy’ and the irrelevance of the tragic genre. The rel- ativistic view of the world, which characterizes a large part of the twentieth century experience, in fact denies the reasons for the conflict between man and God, between man and the cosmos, and undermines epistemological, ethical and aesthetic foundations of the classic drama. In this context, the tragedies of Alberto Savino, written after World War II, offer a very interesting point of view because they reflect, within the text, upon the problem of representation of the tragic in an age that, in spite of wars and of the bloodshed, he considers absolutely «indrammatica». The ar- ticle intends to focus on Savinio’s original conception of the tragedy – as overcoming the tragic and the modern anguish – with particular regard to Alcesti di Samuele, the most complex and ambitious drama with which the author would communicate his aesthetics, ethics and politics vision
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