Ancient Greek Origins of the Construction of Femininity in Spanish Proverbs

This paper intends to trace, in Ancient Greek philosophy and oral literature (particularly in Hesiod, Homer and Aristotle), possible roots of the image of women transmitted through Spanish proverbs. In this paper, proverbs are conceived as cultural products which reflect the worldview of the community that once coined them and, at the same time, they are understood as a power tool which guides the interpretation of reality and influences human behavior. The article states that the image of femininity was built from the masculine perspective, which defined it through a process of estrangement emerged from considering women as “the other” and from projecting on that image men’s point of view on how women are and how they should be.

Key words: femininity, verbal art, folk literature, Spanish proverbs, Ancient Greek literature and philosophy.

The present paper describes some orientalist stereotypes concerning women and manifesting themselves in Le Harem entr’ouvert (1919), a short story collection by Aline Réveillaud de Lens (1881–1925), a French painter and writer, whose works are devoted mainly to North Africa. The paper focuses on three, most common, stereotypical representations of the Oriental woman according to which she is, firstly, a beautiful odalisque serving the man; secondly, extremely sensual and thus unfaithful and, finally, jealous and, sometimes, very cruel. The author attempts to explain the origins of those representations and to answer the question why A.-R. de Lens used them in her writings

Tracing the origins of cinematic devices of literature in the so call perceptual revolution of 1905—1915 by Donald M. Lowe, as well as in Avant Garde movements, the author of this article explores film making techniques in the work of some contemporary Spanish American novelists. Along with stream of consciousness technique and its cinematic devices examined by Robert Humphrey, the author highlights semantic, syntactic or pragmatic montage as the basic technique for cinematic effects in literature.

Key words: Spanish American novelists, cinematic effects, montage.

The paper argues that the first and second Journaliers, a sort of diary kept by Isabelle Eberhardt (1877–1904), a Suisse writer and traveler of Russian origins, may be considered as autobiogeographical. The term autobiogeography has been coined at the beginning of the 21st century and describes the interactions between the autobiographical self and geography, or space. The autobiogeographical character of two first Journaliers is presented in three parts. The first focuses on the specificity of the text and its relationship with geography. The second talks about the links between particular cities and the Eberhardtian self. The third depicts the relationships between the self and the landscape: not only does it show how geography influences the self, but also what the impact of the self is on the way we look at the space.

The Crime of Count Neville is primarily a story of a complex father–daughter relationship, culminating in the attempted murder of the count’s daughter by her own father. Infanticide is inevitable for Sérieuse, which parallels the mythological story of Iphigenia. But Nothomb also develops on an extra-diegetic level, as the meta-narrative of the genesis of the Freudian Family Romance or the Novel itself. Between the concepts of “bastard” and “foundling,” this novel contains many autobiographical elements and borrows from other literary works, most noticeably from Oscar Wilde’s collection Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.

The purpose of this article is to present new sources of fear in short fantastic stories of Jean-Pierre Andrevon. First, it is necessary to underscore the anxiogenic role of the Uncanny – the malaise born out of rupture in everyday life which was once reassuring. The paper discusses the discourses of space and body – both origins of the Uncanny penetrate each other, become in the indubitable report, follow the reciprocate, often regressive dynamic. The familiar space metamorphoses into the space of a scary and distended geometry; the healthy, normal body transforms into a strange and alien one; the fragmentation of the body designates the disintegration of the familiar space. In brief, short fantastic stories of JeanPierre Andrevon emphasize particularly the isotopic acuity of the fragmentation of the body and the fragmentation of the space. The topic is analyzed using psychoanalysis and, especially, psychoanalytic terms like the Uncanny, the return of the repressed and the mirror stage.

Key words: fear, Uncanny, psychoanalysis, space, body, fantastic literature, Jean-Pierre Andrevon

In the nineteenth century, Paris was an uncertain place due to several causes. The middle-class felt a threat to a society which was being redefined in an unexpected way and lost its traditional marks. Paris, as a mythical and symbolic city, offers then an ideal framework to the detective novel from its origins, kind of novels that spreads the insinuation of the danger in the city. Emile Gaboriau, father of the French detective novel, plays on the fear and the anxiety towards this changing world. The capital presents a dark and scary atmosphere convenient to the mystery and crime. Thus, the lower class is seen as wild and dangerous; the city which spreads out presents blurred and disturbing borders; finally, the night strengthens the dark face of Paris exciting the fantasies and emphasizing the fears.

Key words: detective novel, Paris, nineteenth century, night, crime, border, popular class

Dans tous ses écrits, Régine Robin rend régulièrement hommage à ses compagnons préférés : parmi eux, une place particulière est faite aux écrivains juifs ou aux auteurs qui revendiquent vaguement des origines juives. Il y a d'abord Kafka, dont le livre est posé sur la table d'une photo noir et blanc de Régine (illustration ajoutée), Paul Celan, les deux Roth (Jozef et Philip), Romain Gary, les philosophes Steiner, Derrida, Arendt, et l'auteur moderne Patrick Modiano. Ce dernier l'a préoccupée dans le dernier livre publié de son vivant : Ces lampes qu'on a oublié d'éteindre. Ceci dit, personne ne semble plus important dans sa formation et sa vision de la littérature que Georges Perec. En effet, le célèbre membre de l'OULIPO (fondé en 1960) partage avec Robin de multiples aspects : tout d'abord, tous deux sont des enfants cachés (elle a trois ans de plus que Perec), ensuite, ils ont grandi dans le même "arrondissement", et enfin, tous deux pratiquent la littérature comme un moyen de garder vivante la mémoire du passé et de transcender sa nature traumatique. La littérature n'est jamais "Spielerei" mais doit être innovante et c'est ce dernier domaine que j'illustre comme étant brillamment "conversif". Tous deux entremêlent les lieux de la vie quotidienne avec leurs propres "souvenirs" et se consolent avec la musique et les films lorsque l'écriture est un fardeau trop lourd à porter. Tous deux réfléchissent à l'avenir des arts, à l'impact de la vie moderne et à l'invention de l'ordinateur personnel.