Humanities

14 pages, 6843 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘The Figure of the Old with the Pathetic Tenderness of the New’: An Early Reading of Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey (1768)

by Daniel Reed

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060166 - 3 Dec 2024

Abstract

This essay introduces the Reed ASJ as a new primary source for the early reception of Laurence Sterne’s second novel, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) and draws on recent developments in marginalia studies to locate it within its contemporary historical [...] Read more.

This essay introduces the Reed ASJ as a new primary source for the early reception of Laurence Sterne’s second novel, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) and draws on recent developments in marginalia studies to locate it within its contemporary historical context. This framework informs discussion of the reader’s possible identity, their use of annotation, and wide-ranging responses to the novel such as comparative readings with Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), assessments of Sterne’s religiosity, and the depiction of French society and customs. Also explored are the reader’s strong interventions with passages in the novel that were beneath their expectations. And so, the recovery of the Reed ASJ suggests fresh possibilities for the reinvestigation of ASJ’s inherent paradoxes, its disputed sincerity in the sentimental mode and relationship to genre that fuel the novel’s ongoing popularity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Eighteenth-Century Novel and History)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 249 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bloody Transformations: Reinventing the Werewolf Through Explorations of Gender and Power in the Ginger Snaps Trilogy

by Megan Kenny

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 165; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060165 - 26 Nov 2024

Abstract

The wolf has stalked human society for centuries, becoming a figure of fear and reverence. It is unsurprising that such a figure would infiltrate culture via folklore, myth, and legend, most notably in the form of the werewolf. A review of historical references [...] Read more.

The wolf has stalked human society for centuries, becoming a figure of fear and reverence. It is unsurprising that such a figure would infiltrate culture via folklore, myth, and legend, most notably in the form of the werewolf. A review of historical references reveals that the figure of the ‘she-wolf’ also shadows human culture, providing an outlet for fears around women’s power, desire, and sexuality. As storytelling has shifted from oral traditions to cinematic portrayals, the she-wolf has been left to the sidelines. This paper seeks to explore how the Ginger Snaps trilogy (2000–2004) reset this imbalance, providing three distinct narratives centered on the female werewolf, intertwining the stories of the Fitzgerald sisters and their lycanthropic transformation. This trilogy served to reinvent the stereotype of the werewolf, using traditional lycanthropic tropes to explore issues of feminine monstrosity, the painful transitory period of adolescence, and enduring social anxieties under patriarchal societies. This paper argues that the Ginger Snaps trilogy is an integral set of texts for understanding how the werewolf motif has transitioned into contemporary society and how it continues to act as a release point for wider social anxieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-imagining Classical Monsters)

24 pages, 349 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Settler Maintenance” and Migrant Domestic Worker Ecologies of Care

by Rachel C. Lee, Abraham Encinas and Lesley Thulin

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 164; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060164 - 25 Nov 2024

Abstract

Oral histories of Latina domestic workers in the United States feature hybrid narratives combining accounts of illness and “toxic discourse”. We approach domestic workers’ illnesses and disabilities in a capacious, extra-medical context that registers multiple axes of precarity (economic, racial, and migratory). We [...] Read more.

Oral histories of Latina domestic workers in the United States feature hybrid narratives combining accounts of illness and “toxic discourse”. We approach domestic workers’ illnesses and disabilities in a capacious, extra-medical context that registers multiple axes of precarity (economic, racial, and migratory). We are naming this context “settler maintenance”. Riffing on the specific and general valences of “maintenance” (i.e., as a synonym for cleaning work, and as a term for the practices and ideologies involved in a structure’s upkeep), this term has multiple meanings. First, it describes U.S. domestic workers’ often-compulsory use of hazardous chemical agents that promise to remove dirt speedily, yet that imperil domestic workers’ health. The use of these chemicals perpetuates two other, more abstract kinds of settler maintenance: (1) the continuation of socioeconomic hierarchies between immigrant domestic workers and settler employers, and (2) the continuation of (white) settlers’ extractive relationship to the land qua private property. To challenge this logic of settler maintenance, which is predicated on a lack of care for care workers, Latina domestic workers have developed alternative forms of care via lateral networks and political activism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Care in the Environmental Humanities)

13 pages, 257 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Finding Justice in Memory: Exploring Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Cosmopolitan Ideals in His Novels

by Yingxue Zhang

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060163 - 22 Nov 2024

Abstract

In the realm of literary criticism, cosmopolitanism research provides a fresh perspective for evaluating literary works, highlighting the importance of respecting individual specific identities while linking personal destinies to broader global narratives. Against the backdrop of the current rise in cosmopolitan thought, this [...] Read more.

In the realm of literary criticism, cosmopolitanism research provides a fresh perspective for evaluating literary works, highlighting the importance of respecting individual specific identities while linking personal destinies to broader global narratives. Against the backdrop of the current rise in cosmopolitan thought, this article explores the cosmopolitan themes in The Sympathizer and The Committed by Vietnamese American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen, drawing on Martha Nussbaum’s cosmopolitan ideals. As the first writer of Vietnamese descent to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Nguyen reflects on the Vietnam War through his works by constructing dual identities, critiquing power structures, and reshaping the Vietnamese national character. These themes are explored within the context of globalization, offering profound reflections on colonial history and the recognition of personal identity. Nguyen’s contributions provide an important literary and cultural perspective for understanding the complex issues in today’s world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

13 pages, 341 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dr. Cinderella and the Bronze Artifact, Cardinal Napellus and the Copper Globe: Was Gustav Meyrink an Early Adopter of M.R. James’s Ghostly Fiction?

by Martin Voracek

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 162; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060162 - 21 Nov 2024

Abstract

Hitherto unnoticed similarities between two short stories by Gustav Meyrink and two of the most renowned and widely read ghost stories of M.R. James are detailed through comparative literary analysis. Specifically, one early occult horror tale of Meyrink, The Plants of Dr. Cinderella [...] Read more.

Hitherto unnoticed similarities between two short stories by Gustav Meyrink and two of the most renowned and widely read ghost stories of M.R. James are detailed through comparative literary analysis. Specifically, one early occult horror tale of Meyrink, The Plants of Dr. Cinderella (1905), shows no less than about 15 congruences beneath the plot level (concerning specific story requisites) with M.R. James’s ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ (1904), as does, to the same extent, a later, widely known Meyrink tale (The Cardinal Napellus, 1914) vis-à-vis M.R. James’s Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance (1911). Although direct, conclusive evidence is unavailable, a nexus of circumstantial evidence, building on extensive biographical and bibliographical inquiries, convergently attests to these assumed literary influences on Meyrink: for both cases, the chronology is intact and thus possible; Meyrink was expertly fluent in English and well-connected to England and English literature; and, these borrowings are reminiscent of other, already known originality issues surrounding Meyrink’s work. Altogether, these new discoveries shed fresh light on idiosyncrasies of Meyrink’s creative process, imagination, and literary production; on his still under-researched literary inspirational sources; as well as on the early reception of M.R. James’s ghostly fiction beyond the anglophone sphere. Full article

15 pages, 265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mass Observation, Counterculture and the ‘Art of Living’

by Jill Marsden and Rebecca Harris

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060161 - 21 Nov 2024

Abstract

Mass Observation was the most ambitious and controversial investigation into cultural life in Britain in the twentieth century. Buoyed by a democratic spirit yet riven by eclectic intellectual allegiances, the project, in its inception, revelled in contradictions, many of which have endured in [...] Read more.

Mass Observation was the most ambitious and controversial investigation into cultural life in Britain in the twentieth century. Buoyed by a democratic spirit yet riven by eclectic intellectual allegiances, the project, in its inception, revelled in contradictions, many of which have endured in its legacy. This paper revisits the early countercultural aspirations of Mass Observation in order to reflect on the significance of these contradictions for the fate of popular writing. It is argued that the tensions between art, philosophy and science, as articulated in the inaugural statements of Mass Observation, are illuminated by the anti-elitist agenda of the founders. Building on these insights, the paper revisits controversies in the use of Mass Observation data for research and calls upon the findings from a recent recreation of Mass Observation Diary Day (12 May 2024) to argue that Mass Observation’s ‘science of ourselves’ be reconsidered as creative cultural production and a contribution to the ‘art of living’. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Transdisciplinary Humanities)

14 pages, 278 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Revisiting Charles Perrault’s Iconic “Bluebeard” Serial Killer in Modern French Variants

by Christa Catherine Jones

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060160 - 19 Nov 2024

Abstract

“Bluebeard” (ATU 321: Maiden-Killer), a fairy tale about a wealthy noble man and serial killer, is the most gruesome of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales. Bluebeard epitomizes evil and horror. In Perrault’s tale, Bluebeard’s evilness is linked to patriarchy and power, as symbolized [...] Read more.

“Bluebeard” (ATU 321: Maiden-Killer), a fairy tale about a wealthy noble man and serial killer, is the most gruesome of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales. Bluebeard epitomizes evil and horror. In Perrault’s tale, Bluebeard’s evilness is linked to patriarchy and power, as symbolized by the villain’s iconic blue beard. Historically linked to Henry VIII (1491–1547), King of England, Bluebeard has also been associated with Breton commander Gilles de Rais who was hanged for sorcery and satanic abuse. This article examines how contemporary francophone “Bluebeard” variants refashion and redefine evil and whether they contain any new morals linked to evilness. Do they depict Bluebeard as a satanic, intrinsic force of evil or do they portray him in a less Manichean manner, as contemporary tales tend to do with monsters? Starting with Perrault’s famous tale, this article reveals how Bluebeard, the evil mass murderer figure and polygamist, is recast in a variety of contemporary francophone texts from Morocco, Belgium and France, with retellings by Michel Tournier (1981), Marie Darrieussecq (2002), La Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard) (2009), Amélie Nothomb (2012), Tahar Ben Jelloun (2014), Jacqueline Kelen (2014), and Cécile Coulon (2015). These modern variants illustrate Elliott Oring’s ideas about comparison and cultural context (see Oring 1986). A discussion of various French contemporary versions with a special emphasis of Ben Jelloun’s Moroccan retelling of “Bluebeard” open avenues for cross-cultural dialogue, highlighting how this tale evolves to fit different cultural contexts and continues to resonate today. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Depiction of Good and Evil in Fairytales)

10 pages, 234 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gloria Anzaldúa’s New Mestiza Consciousness Through Kristevan Female Writing and the Re-Shaping of Divine Maternal Archetypes

by Yuanjiang Wang

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060159 - 18 Nov 2024

Abstract

Faced with the hegemony of racial superiority, the oppression of gender dominance, and the demands of religious homogeneity, Mexican American Gloria E. Anzaldúa proposes a New Mestiza Consciousness that seeks to achieve a multifaceted transcendence of La Frontera (Borderlands). Using Krsiteva’s semiotics and [...] Read more.

Faced with the hegemony of racial superiority, the oppression of gender dominance, and the demands of religious homogeneity, Mexican American Gloria E. Anzaldúa proposes a New Mestiza Consciousness that seeks to achieve a multifaceted transcendence of La Frontera (Borderlands). Using Krsiteva’s semiotics and mythology-based feminism as a theoretical guide, this paper will analyze the cultural, gender, ethnic, and religious manifestations of New Mestiza Consciousness and the logic behind this consciousness in terms of women’s writing in the Chicana women’s literary community and the re-shaping of the maternal mythological archetype in indigenous culture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

19 pages, 346 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is Your War over Now? Nationalism, Nostalgia, and Japan’s Long Postwar from Gojira (1954) to Godzilla Minus One (2023)

by William M. Tsutsui

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060158 - 15 Nov 2024

Abstract

This essay explores the political dynamics of the Godzilla film franchise over the past 70 years, arguing that critical and scholarly characterizations commonly oversimplify the movies’ complicated messages, which reflect the complex, often contradictory responses of Japanese filmmakers and audiences to the experiences [...] Read more.

This essay explores the political dynamics of the Godzilla film franchise over the past 70 years, arguing that critical and scholarly characterizations commonly oversimplify the movies’ complicated messages, which reflect the complex, often contradictory responses of Japanese filmmakers and audiences to the experiences of war, the atomic bombings, defeat, occupation, lasting subordination to the United States, and a seemingly endless postwar period. The analysis focuses on Honda Ishirō’s Gojira (1954), in which pacifist sentiments are tempered by depictions of military weaponry and patriotic pride, and Yamazaki Takashi’s Godzilla Minus One (2023), where ahistorical narratives, misty-eyed nostalgia, and ultranationalist tropes co-exist with strong anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment themes. By contextualizing these two films within the contested history of early postwar Japan and the polarized politics of the early twenty-first century, this essay suggests that the Godzilla series has shown remarkable continuities over time and has captured the profound ambivalence with which the Japanese people have negotiated memory, nationalism, and the charged relationship between Japan and the United States since the end of World War II. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Godzilla at 70: The Giant Monster’s Legacy in Global Popular Culture)

17 pages, 290 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bad Shakespeare: Performing Failure

by Anna Blackwell

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 157; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060157 - 15 Nov 2024

Abstract

The Shakespearean actor is a readily recognisable figure within the transatlantic cultural landscape. They may move regularly between the theatrical environs, which garnered them the appellation and more mainstream fare in television or film, but they are always, somehow, Shakespearean. However, if [...] Read more.

The Shakespearean actor is a readily recognisable figure within the transatlantic cultural landscape. They may move regularly between the theatrical environs, which garnered them the appellation and more mainstream fare in television or film, but they are always, somehow, Shakespearean. However, if easily identified, the Shakespearean actor is harder to define. For example, the multi-volume Great Shakespeareans shortlists individuals who, in editors Peter Holland’s and Adrian Poole’s words, have had ‘the greatest influence on both the interpretation, understanding and reception of Shakespeare, both nationally and internationally’). But such scholarly endeavours consistently stop short of describing any social or cultural function which the Shakespearean may fill or any implicit ideological work at hand in the naming of actors as Shakespeareans. These omissions are all the more curious because, while its attribution is inherently positive in the examples above, popular culture also abounds with rather less illustrious Shakespeareans. Consider, for instance, how Niles and Frasier Crane watched, appalled, while their childhood icon, Jackson Hedley (Derek Jacobi), gurned and groaned on stage. Playing a caricature of himself in Extras, meanwhile, Ian McKellen confides that he knew what to say in The Lord of the Rings because ‘the words were written down for me’. Welcome to bad Shakespeare: a trope that has existed for as long as there has been the potential for ‘good’ Shakespeareanism. For evidence, one needs only consider Hamlet’s stubborn insistence that actors deliver their lines ‘trippingly on the tongue’. Bad Shakespeare has no such luck, however. From Mr Wopsle in Great Expectations to Alan Rickman’s frustrated thespian-turned-science-fiction-star in Galaxy Quest (‘How did I come to this? I played Richard III. There were five curtain calls’), these Shakespeareans are hammy, self-congratulating and embarrassing; they exhibit what David McGowan calls ‘visible acting’. Reversing a more typical focus on prestige and skill, this article will reflect on what it says about our relationship to Shakespeare that we take such evident and knowing pleasure in watching highly respected performers apparently fail at their jobs. Building on film studies and scholarship on badfilms, I will consider whether these fictional performances of failure only reify existing norms of ‘good’ performance or if they offer more subversive possibilities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Shakespearean Performance: Contemporary Approaches, Findings, and Practices)

26 pages, 351 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Five Serizawas and the Practice of Sacrifice: Reframing the Stereotypes of Scientists in Godzilla Media

by Rachel L. Carazo

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060156 - 11 Nov 2024

Abstract

With the growing popularity of Godzilla and kaijū media, scholarship on these topics is also increasing. While science themes (i.e., nuclearism, genetics, and environmentalism) are regular aspects of these publications, a research gap on the scientists themselves exists. Therefore, this article focuses on [...] Read more.

With the growing popularity of Godzilla and kaijū media, scholarship on these topics is also increasing. While science themes (i.e., nuclearism, genetics, and environmentalism) are regular aspects of these publications, a research gap on the scientists themselves exists. Therefore, this article focuses on the five Serizawas (Daisuke, Eiji, Ishirō, Ren, and Shigeru) of Godzilla media (namely films, novelizations, and a webtoon) to examine their significance. Haynes’ six scientist stereotypes and Frayling’s considerations of how scientists are disconnected from laypeople provide frameworks for the analysis. Yet the complexities of the Serizawas ultimately suggest that interpreting them through a lens of sacrifice (of their families, loves, creations, and lives) provides a more solid thread by which to understand these men and their utilization of what can be deemed ‘Godzilla science’—a method to (re)assert the natural order of the world on (and in) which humans and kaijū must learn to live. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Godzilla at 70: The Giant Monster’s Legacy in Global Popular Culture)

14 pages, 293 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of the Arctic Cultural Circle in Three Ethnographic Works from China, Russia, and Canada

by Yang Mu and Di Ma

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060155 - 8 Nov 2024

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) within the Arctic Cultural Circle by comparing three influential texts: the Russian travelogue Dersu, the Trapper (1923); the Canadian memoir People of the Deer (1952); and the Chinese novel The Last Quarter of the Moon [...] Read more.

This paper analyzes the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) within the Arctic Cultural Circle by comparing three influential texts: the Russian travelogue Dersu, the Trapper (1923); the Canadian memoir People of the Deer (1952); and the Chinese novel The Last Quarter of the Moon (2005). By examining these texts, which depict the Indigenous cultures of the Nanai, the Ihalmiut, and the Ewenki, the study identifies shared ecological perspectives. These include an emphasis on the sacredness of nature, as seen in their animistic worship and spiritual connection to the environment; a holistic relationship between humans and nature, characterized by a wise and sustainable use of resources and a minimal sense of ownership; and a sense of reciprocity among all living beings, fostering mutual care and respect within the natural world. The paper further contends that the TEK of the circle offers valuable reference for addressing contemporary environmental and social challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss, particularly in the context of modernization and globalization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Literature and World Literature: Toward a Global Cultural Community through a New Cosmopolitanism)

15 pages, 297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mind the Gap: On the Absence of Writing Women in German-Language Literature of the Czech Lands

by Veronika Jičínská and Anna-Dorothea Ludewig

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060154 - 7 Nov 2024

Abstract

The absence of female writing forms a particularly striking gap in the historiography of German-language literature in the Czech Lands during the decades around 1900. Women participated significantly in the literary scene of the period but were largely forgotten. Our article will discuss [...] Read more.

The absence of female writing forms a particularly striking gap in the historiography of German-language literature in the Czech Lands during the decades around 1900. Women participated significantly in the literary scene of the period but were largely forgotten. Our article will discuss the conditions and discourses that enabled women to be active in the public space but later led to their absence in literary history. Approaches are sought that make future inclusion possible again. The first step for (re-)establishing a female presence in this area is to reconstruct biographies with a focus on female-specific social realities at the time and on the interaction of cultural, social and historical factors. In the next step, attention is brought to the “minor” or “simple”, rather non-canonical literary genres that were often used by women authors at the fin de siècle. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prague German Circle(s): Stable Values in Turbulent Times?)

26 pages, 6944 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artifacts of Glory and Pain: Evolving Cultural Narratives on Confederate Symbolism and Commemoration in a New Era of Social Justice

by John H. Jameson

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060153 - 6 Nov 2024

Abstract

The American Civil War has been commemorated with a great variety of monuments, memorials, and markers. These monuments were erected for a variety of reasons, beginning with memorialization of the fallen and later to honor aging veterans, commemoration of significant anniversaries associated with [...] Read more.

The American Civil War has been commemorated with a great variety of monuments, memorials, and markers. These monuments were erected for a variety of reasons, beginning with memorialization of the fallen and later to honor aging veterans, commemoration of significant anniversaries associated with the conflict, memorialization of sites of conflict, and celebration of the actions of military leaders. Sources reveal that during both the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras, many monuments were erected as part of an organized propaganda campaign to terrorize African American communities and distort the past by promoting a “Lost Cause” narrative. Through subsequent decades, to this day, complex and emotional narratives have surrounded interpretive legacies of the Civil War. Instruments of commemoration, through both physical and digital intervention approaches, can be provocative and instructive, as the country deals with a slavery legacy and the commemorated objects and spaces surrounding Confederate inheritances. Today, all of these potential factors and outcomes, with internationally relevance, are surrounded by swirls of social and political contention and controversy, including the remembering/forgetting dichotomies of cultural heritage. In this article, drawing from the testimony of scholars and artists, I address the conceptual landscape of approaches to the presentation and evolving participatory narratives of Confederate monuments that range from absolute expungement and removal to more restrained ideas such as in situ re-contextualization, removal to museums, and preservation-in-place. I stress not so much the academic debate but how the American public is informed about and reacts to the various issues related to Confederate memorialization. My main point, where my premise stands out in the literature, is that, for the sake of posterity, and our ability to connect and engage with a tangible in situ artifact, not all Confederate statues should be taken down. Some of them, or remnants of them, should be preserved as sites of conscience and reflection, with their social and political meanings ongoing and yet to be determined in the future. The modern dilemma turns on the question: In today’s new era of social justice, are these monuments primarily symbols of oppression, or can we see them, in select cases, alternatively as sites of conscience and reflection encompassing more inclusive conversations about commemoration? What we conserve and assign as the ultimate public value of these monuments rests with how we answer this question. Full article

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Motions in Pictures: From Habermas’s Informal Political Sphere to Formal Politics in the Films Footloose, Land and Freedom and The Beguiled

by Jane Thomas and Sean Tunney

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060152 - 4 Nov 2024

Abstract

This article analyses three historical fiction films, Footloose, Land and Freedom and The Beguiled, to help illuminate aspects of politics and political theory. We study them to explore the relationship between Habermas’s concepts of the lifeworld and political spheres, which analysts have [...] Read more.

This article analyses three historical fiction films, Footloose, Land and Freedom and The Beguiled, to help illuminate aspects of politics and political theory. We study them to explore the relationship between Habermas’s concepts of the lifeworld and political spheres, which analysts have critiqued as opaque. Drawing on Habermas’s theory of communicative action, we debate prevailing understandings of the implications of his work for deliberative democracy via an exploration of the films. By expanding the definition of the term ‘motion’ (otherwise known as ‘draft resolution’), we relate this concept to these Habermasian themes. Thus, this paper analyses feature film case studies as they incorporate motions into fictionalised accounts. We suggest that focusing on these movies’ motions, embedded in unfolding narratives, can help reconceive Habermas’s work to illustrate fluidity in how people and ideas may move between informal and more formal spheres. Ultimately, by showcasing the importance of motions in political participation, via these movies, we advance the idea that motions may be seen as part of a ladder of involvement, providing further opportunities for encouraging participation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Politics in Literature and Film)

23 pages, 416 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gadamer, Descartes, and the Problem of Method

by Michel Dalissier

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060151 - 1 Nov 2024

Abstract

In this paper, I demonstrate that, beyond the notion of prejudice, it is the whole Cartesian framework that Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics seems to reject in Truth and Method. I buttress this argument by addressing a gamut of central concepts, namely doubt, evidence, history, [...] Read more.

In this paper, I demonstrate that, beyond the notion of prejudice, it is the whole Cartesian framework that Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics seems to reject in Truth and Method. I buttress this argument by addressing a gamut of central concepts, namely doubt, evidence, history, life, subjectivity, language, and, most importantly, method itself. In the course of the discussion, I emphasize many fine details of Gadamer’s approach to Cartesianism. I further ask whether Gadamer really succeeds in disentangling himself from a methodical demand that is fundamental for Descartes but that he also underscores in the works of other philosophers, such as Hegel and Heidegger. I suggest that Cartesianism thus appears enlightening to point out the complexities of Gadamer’s hermeneutics. Full article

11 pages, 260 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Between Emptiness and Enslavement: The Role of Interpersonal Relationships in the Work of Ernst Weiß, Hermann Ungar, and Ludwig Winder

by Michal Smrkovsky

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060150 - 1 Nov 2024

Abstract

This article explores the complex struggle for identity in the works of three prominent Moravia-born Prague German writers of the early twentieth century: Ernst Weiß, Hermann Ungar, and Ludwig Winder. It delves into the recurring motif of fear of intimacy and the paradoxical [...] Read more.

This article explores the complex struggle for identity in the works of three prominent Moravia-born Prague German writers of the early twentieth century: Ernst Weiß, Hermann Ungar, and Ludwig Winder. It delves into the recurring motif of fear of intimacy and the paradoxical actions of their characters, who often view affection as a threat to their autonomy. Drawing on the psychoanalytic theories of Ronald Fairbairn and Harry Guntrip, the study examines how these authors depict this schizoid dilemma—the wish for interpersonal relationships, contrasting with the fear that love will lead to the destruction of the self. By analyzing selected works, the article identifies various coping mechanisms employed by the characters, such as emotional detachment, withdrawal into fantasies, and the creation of safe but ultimately hollow relationships. Through a comparative analysis, the paper reveals how these literary figures navigate their need for interpersonal connections while grappling with the terror of their own desires. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prague German Circle(s): Stable Values in Turbulent Times?)

8 pages, 199 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Co-Implications: Rethinking the Relationship Between Psychoanalysis, Literature, and Philosophy

by Isabelle Alfandary, Michael Levine and Alessia Ricciardi

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060149 - 31 Oct 2024

Abstract

Psychoanalysis, literature, and philosophy—these practices and disciplines are linked by a dual paradigm of affinity and asymmetry [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis)

11 pages, 278 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Shattering Reality: Monsters from the Multiverse

by Kristine Larsen

Humanities 2024, 13(6), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060148 - 29 Oct 2024

Abstract

Kaijū media frequently features dangerous scientific experiments as a central theme, invented by scientists who are falsely convinced that they both completely understand and control their advanced technology. In the past few decades, this has included the introduction of high-energy physics (HEP) experiments—especially [...] Read more.

Kaijū media frequently features dangerous scientific experiments as a central theme, invented by scientists who are falsely convinced that they both completely understand and control their advanced technology. In the past few decades, this has included the introduction of high-energy physics (HEP) experiments—especially mammoth particle accelerators—that, among other destructive results, allow for the entrance of equally large and dangerous creatures into our world from parallel dimensions. Public concerns voiced about the safety of the creation of two groundbreaking energy accelerators—the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe—in the early 21st century are tied to related science fiction media that capitalize on such fears (including Godzilla vs. Megaguirus [2000], Pacific Rim [2013], The Cloverfield Paradox [2018], The Kaiju Preservation Society [2022]). Particular attention is paid to the Netflix original series Stranger Things (2016–) as a detailed case study. This study concludes with an analysis of scientists’ attempts to embrace the popularity of Stranger Things in their communication with the general public, and suggests that ongoing issues with conspiracy theories have been fueled in part by such attempts, coupled with long-standing issues with the HEP community and their peculiar scientific naming conventions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Godzilla at 70: The Giant Monster’s Legacy in Global Popular Culture)

Journal Description

Humanities

Latest Articles

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Highly Accessed Articles

Latest Books

E-Mail Alert

News

Topics

Conferences

Special Issues

Topical Collections

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI