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"Petrarca ist wieder in Sicht" : letture italiane nella biblioteca di Paul Celan a Marbach
No full textThis paper aims to provide a catalogue of the Italian books (those belonging to the Italian literary canon, as well as those dedicated to the language and culture of Italy). Then follows a commentary on the collection, in which Celan’s annotations are also reported. Finally, the essay attempts at drawing a portrait of Celan as a reader, thus suggesting possible fresh interpretations of his literary work as well as intertextual connections
How Does the Mind Do Literary Work?
Get PDFLiterary linguistics assumes the forms of literature emerge from the human capacity for language. In this view, the regularities and peculiarities of literary form can be captured by the machinery of linguistic theory. This paper argues against this assumption, considering evidence from literary forms that do not generalise to the formalisms of linguistic theory. Instead, we argue that literary forms are related to, but distinct from, the linguistic system, and that their diversity requires a clear-cut distinction between the different domains.
To understand how literary forms may require specific systems, we first discuss a number of mismatches between metrical and linguistic form (here, mainly phonological and semantic form). In our proposal, they all constitute evidence for the domain specificity of meter. Following Fabb & Halle (2008), we then show that metricality is best captured by form-specific computations, rather than by regular phonological processes. The empirical advantages of this theory are finally shown by the scansion of loose meters, which the extra-linguistic metrical system explain in a way that strictly phonological systems cannot (Fabb 2008).
We then consider whether syntax may be given a similar explanation. The syntax of poetic texts can be highly unusual, often contrived to meet the demands of formal characteristics like metricality or parallelism. As with meter, these literary forms are often analysed as products of a `poetic syntax' (Fowler 1966; Austin 1984; Fitzgerald 2007), a variation on the standard syntax; however, we show that these systems cannot generate the variety of syntactic forms found in literary texts. Instead we demonstrate that these forms are generated by a separate mental system which obeys general principles of mental computation. This system is shown to be removed from syntax just like the metrical system is removed from phonology.
To conclude, we consider the possible relationship between these two extralinguistic mental systems. The evidence discussed provides a clear indication that literary linguistics need not assume that the forms of literature are a natural outgrowth of linguistic systems. The variety of forms in literature indicate an ontologically radical theory of how the mind processes literature has significant advantages, both empirically, in accounting for a greater range of forms, and theoretically, in opening the way towards a more coherent theory of literary form. We finally propose that a theory of literary cognition must develop into a modular approach to forms.
References
Austin, T., 1984. "Language crafted: a linguistic theory of poetic syntax."
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Fabb, N., 2008. "What is a line of verse?." Paper delivered at ESSE 2008, Aarhus.
Fabb, N., M. Halle, 2008. "Meter in poetry: a new theory". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fitzgerald, C., 2007. "An optimality treatment of syntactic inversions in English verse", Language Sciences Vol. 29, pp. 203-217.
Fowler, R., 1966. "Essays on style and language: linguistic and critical approaches to literary style". London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Hanson, Kristin & Paul Kiparsky. 1996. "A parametric theory of poetic meter", Language 72, 2: 287-335.
Hayes Bruce. 1989. "The Prosodic Hierarchy in Meter". In Paul Kiparsky and Gilbert Youmans, eds., Rhythm and Meter, Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 201-260.
Hayes, Bruce. 2000. "Faithfulness and Componentiality in Metrics". To appear in The nature of the word: Essays in honor of Paul Kiparsky, ed. by Kristin Hanson and Sharon Inkelas. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Nespor, M., I. Vogel. 1986 "Prosodic Phonology". Dordrecht, Foris
Meraviglie dalla Puglia. Viaggio immaginario di Bachofen a Canosa
No full textOggetto di questo intervento è la descrizione della tomba di Medella che lo storico e giurista di Basilea Johann Jacob Bachofen premette alla sua opera su La dottrina dell’immortalità della teologia orfica. Il discorso dello studioso di Basilea prende le mosse dal contenuto figurativo di alcuni vasi ritrovati nell’ipogeo canosino, e si spinge poi, alla luce delle considerazioni che egli trae da esso, all’investigazione della teologia orfica.
Non avendo Bachofen mai visitato il luogo fisico dell’ipogeo, si è qui cercato di interpretare la descrizione preliminare nel senso di un “viaggio” immaginario, leggendo attraverso le scelte stilistiche dell’autore non una semplice volontà descrittiva, bensì una sorta di “soglia” del testo attraverso cui l’autore prepara il lettore alle tensioni simboliche che egli rintraccia nel ritrovamento canosino. Ci è sembrato oltremodo significativo che Canosa, o forse più ancora il toponimo Canusium, divenisse per Bachofen il polo attorno a cui si articola il suo immaginario religioso e simbolico.
Si sono ricercate nel testo le particolari scelte lessicali o i dettagli sottolineati nella descrizione degli spazi del complesso funerario (appartenente agli ipogei Lagrasta), che sono state interpretate e commentate in base alle suddette tensioni simboliche, che nel pensiero di Bachofen sempre si dispiegano intorno alle dicotomie vita-morte, o simbolo-racconto.
L’idea che regge questa ricerca è che ogni testo descrittivo pone in atto un mondo, dal punto di vista logico, del tutto autonomo. Che Bachofen dunque premetta alla sua ricerca di storia delle religioni una descrizione (sia pure mediata da quella di Prosper Biardot, cui egli espressamente si rifà, e da alcune altre circolanti al tempo in cui egli scrive) dell’ipogeo significa la sua volontà di richiamare agli occhi del suo lettore la potenza simbolica dei sepolcri. L’immagine della “Tomba di Medella”, che tanto aveva attratto l’attenzione degli eruditi di tutta Europa, si costituisce qui come il mondo stesso dell’immaginario bachofeniano, proteso verso le antichità della Daunia apula
"...es sind die furchtbaren Zaesuren..." 21 marzo 1959 : Una lettera di Paul Celan a Walter Jens
No full textIl contributo fornisce una trascrizione, una fotocopia anastatica, e una traduzione di una lettera inedita di Paul Celan a Walter Jens. Il testo è anche corredato di un'introduzione e di note al testo ad opera dell'autore del contributo
How Germanic Features can appear in Italian Metrical Poetry
No full textThe problem: What is a Germanic form like, in the context of Italian 20th century poetry? How can a feature get hold of a text when its appearance is not explicit? In this paper I bring out three relevant examples of such problematic derivations, and I suggest that they all entail some kind of Germanic feature.
The theoretical framework: In order to do so, I first sketch out a frame theory following Fabb 2002 two-part proposal on literary form. Then I proceed to scrutinize the examples, looking at how some of their formal elements can be categorized according to the dichotomy between a pragmatic and a generated form. The framework also implies that in some cases the predicate “Germanic” can be understood as a loose specification, and that in the process of derivation the feature can be modified and adapted to the host poetic tradition.
The examples: The case studies I address here include Cesare Pavese and the poetic form he invented for his first poetry collection, Lavorare stanca; then some cases of quirky sonnets in Eugenio Montale’s poetry, and, last but not least, a new proposal for scanning some long lines in his literary production. I argue that the three instances should be considered as Germanic influences holding of these texts’ form: Cesare Pavese claimed his poetry to be shaped by the work of Walt Whitman and other American authors, and Eugenio Montale clearly displays formal elements, which are not interpretable as Italian features, but rather as a complex interaction of a different tradition (mainly English) with the Italian one. I also suggest that the last point receives further support by a strong comparative argument, mainly recalling that Montale’s work as a translator and critic of English poetry yields up such parallel.
Conclusion: After briefly reconsidering the role of the research question and of the framework, I conclude by presenting a possible perspective for further research. The different forms addressed can be better spelled out according to an epidemiological perspective (Sperber 1996, Constable 1997). That is, representations stick from one culture to another, and in the process of translation they get transformed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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